To burn or not to burn - who makes the call?

Steve Cannon, an upcountry forester and president of the Amador Resource Conservation District, recently penned a guest commentary in the Ledger Dispatch on what he sees as a shrinking number of days when burning of yard, orchard or brush clearing debris is allowed.

Research into the matter has determined that three entities are involved in the decision to declare burn days: the California Air Resources Board, the Amador Air District and CAL FIRE.

The initial declaration comes from the meteorology department of the ARB, which conveys its determination to the local air district, whose decision can be vetoed by a fire-wary CAL FIRE. The meteorologists can make one of three calls: permissive burn day, marginal burn day or no burn day. Once they have made a decision and informed the local office, it becomes the local officer's choice to either agree with the ARB or be more restrictive.

"The purpose of the Amador Air District is to protect the people's health," said Air Pollution Control Officer Jim Harris, whose agency was criticized in Cannon's piece.

As the name suggests, on permissive burn days, burning of leaves, prunings, cut brush or other agricultural waste is allowed, provided the burning is done within the applicable rules. For more information, visit www.amadorapcd.org.

On a marginal burn day, prescribed burning by authorized entities is allowed, with a smoke management plan filed with and approved by the AAD. In Amador County, these entities are CAL FIRE, the United States Forest Service, Sierra Pacific Industries, Bureau of Land Management and California State Park and Recreation Commission.

No-burn days are self-explanatory - no one is allowed to burn.

ARB meteorologists Jason Branz and Rajinder Sahota shared some details of the decision-making process. Several different factors enter in, they said, including atmospheric stability, wind speed and wind direction, and, to a lesser extent, moisture in the area and the overall weather pattern. If there is high stability, the smoke will not be allowed to rise. Some wind is desirable, more than 5 mph, but not too much. Branz and Sahota couldn't specify an upper wind speed limit, which, they said, is dependent upon numerous additional factors.

Conditions that trap the smoke are not good, Branz and Sahota continued. "Right now, we're stuck in a stagnant pattern." Cognizant of the forecast for a change in the weather by Wednesday or Thursday, they predicted that the burn restrictions currently in place will be lifted then.

Amador County is one of nine California counties in the ARB district designated mountain counties, which stretch from Plumas County in the north to Mariposa County in the south. High pressure over the district, which the meteorologists call high stability, will prevent smoke from rising, to be dissipated in the upper atmosphere.

"We don't have a meteorology department (in Amador County)," Harris explained. "I watch the weather every morning and pay attention to the air situation."

Discounting the known dry months from May through October, when outdoor burning is banned on the basis of fire danger, Harris estimated that there are "maybe 90 to100 burn days." For historical records of burn days permitted by the state ARB, visit www.arb.ca.gov./smp/histor/histor09/histor09.htm.

"We don't have a say on the pollution side," said CAL FIRE spokesman Charlie Blankenheim. "During the winter, we don't have any restrictions, although, if there is an extreme danger, like highly windy conditions, we might step in."

"The primary pollutant of concern is particulate level," Harris said. "Anything smaller than 10 microns is respirable. Less that 2.5 microns will aggravate the condition of anyone with a chronic condition." Harris described the process by which this pollutant level is measured, adding that the county doesn't have one of the expensive and delicate devices capable of gathering and weighing the exact amount of particulate matter gathered in a 24-hour period.

Harris would like to see a general reduction in open burning. "We've got a lot of vegetation that could be used for its BTUs," he noted. "There are wood-waste facilities throughout the state of California, and no reason we can't do that right here in Amador County."

There is a dormant power generation facility in Jackson Valley, which was fueled by lignite coal mined on location on Coal Mine Road. This asset is under consideration for a renaissance as a wood-waste facility that could provide some part of a solution to the problem of dealing with combustible waste.

"There was some hope for the coal mine plant," Harris recalled, "but the national economy has restricted the project. Over the years, there have been about ten people who have made moves toward re-opening the plant."

Harris does have some advice for residents who burn: Burn only dry material and don't use pollutants to start fires, such as gasoline, kerosene or diesel. He said that there are commercially available firestarters at stores in the county. He specifically mentioned the Amador Fireside Center in Jackson.

For burn day information, call 223-6246.