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EPA Calls Outdoor Burn Ban for the Yakama Indian Reservation in Washington

Release Date: 02/06/2007
Contact Information: Bill Puckett, (206) 553-1702/ puckett.william@epa.gov, Keith Rose, (206) 553-1949/ rose.keith@epa.gov

(Seattle, Wash. – February 6, 2007) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 10 has called a burn ban on all outdoor burning on the Yakama Indian Reservation until further notice due to stagnant air conditions in Yakama County and increasing air pollution levels in Yakima.

The burn ban applies to all outdoor and agricultural burning, including camping and recreational fires within reservation boundaries. Ceremonial and traditional fires are exempt from the outdoor burn ban.

EPA also requests that Yakama Reservation residents reduce all sources of air pollution, including excess driving and idling and the use of woodstoves and fireplaces, unless it is your only source of heat.

Air pollution can have significant health impacts. Cooperation from the community will help people who are at risk during this period. Those most at risk are children, the elderly, pregnant women and those with respiratory, cardiac or pulmonary diseases. Those at risk should avoid outdoor exercise and minimize exposure to outdoor pollution as much as possible.

Please call 1-800-424-4EPA and ask for the FARR Hotline or visit the Federal Air Rules for Reservations (FARR) website for the current burn status at www.epa.gov/r10earth/FARR.htm.