Because of exceptionally high levels of air pollution, officials have issued a Stage 2 burning ban in Clark County.
Use of all fireplaces, pellet stoves, wood stoves and inserts — including those meeting certification standards — is prohibited until air quality improves and the ban is lifted.
People who only have wood to heat their homes can continue using their stoves, but are asked to burn as cleanly as possible.
The Southwest Clean Air Agency declared a Stage 1 ban Thursday, prohibiting the use of stoves and fireplaces that don’t meet certification standards.
The agency moved to a Stage 2 ban — the highest level — Monday morning because of weather and topographical conditions that trap pollution in low-lying areas.
“We recognize we’re asking people not to burn on the coldest days of the year,” said Jackie Brown, an air quality specialist and the agency’s lead forecaster. However, pollution from fine particulate matter has risen to levels where “it’s now unhealthy for all groups and bordering on seriously unhealthy.
“We don’t expect to lift it until Wednesday morning, at the very earliest, and more likely on Thursday,” she said.
According to an agency news release, fine particulate matter in smoke can reach deep into the lungs. Episodes of high fine particle pollution can trigger asthma attacks, cause difficulty breathing, and make lung and heart problems worse.
Particulate levels recorded at an Orchards-area monitoring station were from double to triple the federal standard for those pollutants, she said.
People might assume that winds coming through the Columbia River Gorge keep the air moving throughout Clark County, but that’s not the case, she said.
“The area that gets Gorge winds is not the majority of Clark County,” she said, and many people live in areas that trap stagnant air.
The ban has some teeth to it, Brown said.
“We do enforce it. Penalties can run up to $1,000 an occurrence. If we see a chimney smoking, we may very well come to the door and write a ticket,” she said. “We have not issued many tickets. We have been rather light on enforcement. Our practice is not to assess a penalty on the first violation, but that is not a guarantee.”
The law has been on the books for three years, and “it’s my sense there will be a lot more enforcement in the future,” Brown said.
All outdoor burning is also prohibited during this ban.
When air quality improves, Brown expects that all burning would be allowed, and she said it’s unlikely that the agency would move back down to a Stage 1 ban.
