Home Wood Heating Program

Is Burning Allowed?



Daily Advisory

A green advisory means air quality is good and burning is allowed.

advisory means air quality is good and burning is allowed. A yellow advisory indicates that air quality is deteriorating and burning is cautioned against.

advisory indicates that air quality is deteriorating and burning is cautioned against. A red advisory indicates that air quality is poor and burning is prohibited. Stoves may be used if they produce no visible emissions.

With the onset of colder weather, fireplace and wood stove usage increases dramatically in Lane County. This results in large quantities of particulate matter being released into the local air shed. Wood smoke contains over 200 chemicals and compound groups. These toxins cause a number of problems when inhaled. Although these chemicals may affect sensitive individuals first, they have a detrimental effect on all people.Lane County has a Home Wood Heating Advisory Program that lets people know when air quality is becoming unhealthy and informs them if burning is allowed. A person is in violation of the program if their home's chimney emits visible smoke during a "red" advisory. The program is mandatory in Eugene, Springfield, Oakridge, and voluntary throughout the rest of the county. LRAPA understands that pollution has no boundaries and asks that all local residents abide by the advisory program.The system uses a simple red, yellow, green system to indicate the daily advisory from October 1 thru May 31.

Opacity

Please make sure that the opacity levels of the smoke from your chimney or stack remains transparent and easy to see through. The smoke should be barely visible at the outlet of your chimney or stack when you are using dry wood and burning hot and clean. The Eugene and Springfield ordinances allow for up to 40% opacity, meaning it should be fairly easy to see through the smoke plume. The Oakridge ordinance allows for up to 20% opacity.



100% opacity means the smoke plume is a solid color and one is unable to see through the plume. At 10% opacity one is able to barely detect smoke emissions. At 20% opacity a faint smoke plume would be identifiable. At 40% opacity a smoke plume is easily identifiable, but still transparent enough to see through the plume a contrasting background. Opacity levels of up to 20% generally indicate efficient combustion. Above 20% opacity indicates inefficient combustion.