New Puget Sound Burn Ban Issued Due To Deteriorating Air Quality

PUYALLUP, WA - A new burn ban goes into effect Tuesday at 2 p.m. for much of the Puget Sound region. The Puget Sound Clean Air Agency is enacting the stage-one burn ban due to poorer air quality from wildfire smoke. The ban covers all of King, Snohomish, and Pierce counties.

Under penalty of a $1,000 fine, residents are prohibited from lighting cooking fires - including charcoal barbecues - and recreational or campfires.

Wildfires burning in British Columbia have socked the region with smoke over the last week. Air quality returned to normal levels on Saturday, but has been deteriorating since Sunday. Air quality in areas like Tacoma, Puyallup, Kent, and North Bend is now considered "unhealthy" for sensitive groups like children, the elderly, and people with heart and lung disease.

Burn bans are typically indefinite and usually last until air quality returns to healthy levels. The National Weather Service predicts that weather patterns will keep the smoke flowing into the Puget Sound region through at least Wednesday.

"In addition, atmospheric ventilation in the interior lowlands of Western Washington will remain poor. Weak low level onshore flow will continue to bring better air quality to the coast and areas along the Strait of Juan de Fuca," the weather service said in a special weather statement.

Image via Gig Harbor fire