EPA to Outlaw Many Wood Burning Stoves

SEATTLE - The Puget Sound Clean Air Agency has issued a Stage 1 burn ban in Pierce County prohibiting the use of fireplaces and uncertified wood stoves until further notice.

The burn ban takes effect at 1 p.m. Saturday.

"Agency forecasters expect the current high-pressure weather system to continue through Sunday night and with it the cold and still weather conditions we’ve been seeing," the agency said in a prepared statement. "That, coupled with weather inversions in the evening, will likely result in air pollution becoming trapped near ground level."

The purpose of the burn ban is to reduce the amount of pollution from excessive wood smoke. The Clean Air Agency will continue to closely monitor the situation.

During the burn ban:

• No burning is allowed in fireplaces or uncertified wood stoves. Residents should rely instead on their home’s other, cleaner source of heat (such as their furnace or electric baseboard heaters) for a few days until air quality improves, the public health risk diminishes and the ban is canceled. The only exception is if a wood stove is a home’s only adequate source of heat.


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