LRAPA discourages wood-burning fires for three Lane County cities

KLCC | By Brian Bull

Published January 24, 2023 at 2:06 PM PST

Sorry, Mittens, but your owners would best snuff the fire and turn up the thermostat until Thursday afternoon.

Burning wood for heat and other purposes is being strongly discouraged between now 4:00pm today (1/24) and 4:00pm Thursday (1/26.)

The Lane Regional Air Protection Agency has issued its so-called yellow home wood heating days advisory for Eugene, Springfield, and Oakridge, due to a high-pressure front over the Pacific Northwest.

LRAPA says this is causing stagnation in Lane County, so any smoke added to the air will linger until a new air mass rolls in. The agency encourages people to warm up with natural gas, propane, or electric heaters to protect local air quality.

More yellow days are possible if the forecast stays stagnant.

Environment

Brian Bull

Brian Bull is a contributing freelance reporter with the KLCC News department, who first began working with the station in 2016. He's a senior reporter with the Native American media organization Buffalo's Fire, and was recently a journalism professor at the University of Oregon.

In his nearly 30 years working as a public media journalist, Bull has worked at NPR, Twin Cities Public Television, South Dakota Public Broadcasting, Wisconsin Public Radio, and ideastream in Cleveland. His reporting has netted dozens of accolades, including four national Edward R. Murrow Awards (22 regional), the Ohio Associated Press' Best Reporter Award, Best Radio Reporter from the Native American Journalists Association, and the PRNDI/NEFE Award for Excellence in Consumer Finance Reporting.

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