Air Quality & Wildfire Awareness

This week is National Air Quality Awareness Week and the Washington Department of Ecology would like everyone to join them in helping to prevent and reduce air pollution in the state. Washington’s main air pollution sources are motor vehicles, smoke from outdoor burning, including wildfires, and wood smoke from home-heating devices. Ecology’s Sean Lundblad shares a couple of the things we can all do to help reduce air pollution.

LUNDBLAD: If you burn wood to heat your home, make sure your wood stove meets Washington standards - always pay attention to burn bans. You can also drive less, and turn off your vehicles engine when you’re waiting in a line or a parking lot.

Use the Washington Department of Ecology’s Air Quality Advisory tool for tracking air quality in your area. It uses color-coded categories to show when air quality is good, moderate or unhealthy.

In celebration of Wildfire Awareness Week, May 6 - 12, the Washington State Department of Natural Resources is inviting the public to join in Wildfire Awareness Week activities which will focus on Smokey Bear’s now famous message, “Only You Can Prevent Wildfires.” Volunteers will be asked to visit campgrounds, clean out designated fire pits in preparation for the start of the new recreation season, and complete a basic assessment of each pit. Everyone is invited to participate and no RSVP is necessary. For more information visit the DNR’s website.

And be sure to visit us at aginfo.net for more ag related stories.

I’m Lacy Gray and that’s Washington Ag Today on the Northwest Ag Information Network.