As the weather turns cooler and wetter, the risk of wildfire smoke impacts on our communities drops – though it doesn’t really disappear until winter rains come in force. But impacts from more localized smoke increase.
Cooler nights and early mornings mean more residents are firing up their wood stoves. Also, wetter conditions mean local burn bans get lifted, so residents are allowed to burn their yard waste.
Those two actions have the potential to generate smoke in neighborhoods.
Fortunately, there are means to reduce the amount of smoke produced from those fires, and there are great resources available to help everyone keep track of their current air quality.
Reducing Smoke: Wood Stoves
To really cut down on smoke from your wood stoves – especially those old, uncertified wood stoves – consider alternative heat sources. ORCAA plans to once again offer financial incentives to replace your old, uncertified wood stove with heat pumps, gas stoves, or even pellet stoves. This program should relaunch by late October. You can find all the details at Wood Smoke Reduction Program.
If you want to keep your wood stove, please make sure you are using it efficiently and cleanly. That means burning only well-cured dry firewood, and keeping your fire hot and efficient – don’t choke your fire off with the damper to “hold” the fire overnight. Burn hot and cleanly. For more tips on clean burning, visit Indoor Wood Heating.
Reducing Smoke: Outdoor Burning
Residential yard waste burning has the potential to create significant nuisance smoke in neighborhoods. To be a good neighbor, be sure to:
- Don’t burn in ‘no burn’ areas – these include cities and urban growth areas (UGAs)
- Burn only natural vegetation grown on the property where the burn takes place.
- Get permits (for ORCAA or your local fire district) when required. Residential Yard-Waste Burn Permits
- Follow all permit terms for smoke control and fire safety
- Consider alternatives to outdoor burning (orcaa.org)
Getting Air Quality Information
ORCAA maintains air monitoring stations in each of our six counties. You can access the data from those monitors and find more information about the program at Air Quality – ORCAA
The EPA-maintained Fire and Smoke map provides a one-stop resource for the data from public and private air monitoring devices in the U.S. and Canada. AirNow Fire and Smoke Map
