Burn ban issued for Snohomish, Pierce counties

Stagnant, cold air has prompted a burn ban for Snohomish and Pierce counties.

The Puget Sound Clean Air Agency issued a Stage 1 burn ban effective at 4 p.m. Tuesday. The agency says moderate air quality is expected throughout the region and air unhealthy for sensitive groups is expected in areas where wood burning is common.

Wood smoke is a key contributor to poor air quality during the cooler months, according to Phil Swartzendruber, air quality scientist with the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency.

Swartzendruber said air quality is generally worse in the winter months.

There is good news. Because we’re neighbors to the Pacific Ocean, the Northwest is about the cleanest air you can breathe in the Northern Hemisphere.

“Most of the time, we actually have pretty good air coming in, unlike the East Coast or the Midwest, who is right in their neighbor’s exhaust,” Swartzendruber said.

Not only that, but he said the air we breathe is improving. More efficient cars, newer standards for emissions, and better technology to reduce emissions are helping our air quality, according to Swartzendruber.

“We’re seeing a reduction overall,” Swartzendruber said. “Year by year, the levels keep dropping, not super fast, but enough that we’re encouraged.

However, Swartzendruber said wildfire smoke from California or even pollution drifting from Eastern Asia in the spring are reminders that we’re all emitting pollution into the atmosphere and we’re “sitting in our own bath here breathing our own exhaust.”