Fresh air ends indoor burning ban.Byline: Jack Moran The Register-Guard OAKRIDGE - City Administrator Gordon Zimmerman was suffering Monday from a head cold, but was pleased to say that for the most part, everyone else in town was breathing easy. Air quality in Oakridge returned to moderately healthy levels over the weekend, ending the city's first-ever "red advisory" alert that bans the use of fireplaces and wood stoves to heat homes. Oakridge residents answered their telephones Friday morning and heard a pre-recorded message sent out citywide by the Lane Regional Air Pollution Authority advising them not to use wood to heat their homes because of poor air quality in the area. Under a city ordinance A law, statute, or regulation enacted by a Municipal Corporation. An ordinance is a law passed by a municipal government. A municipality, such as a city, town, village, or borough, is a political subdivision of a state within which a municipal corporation has been established in February 2003, anyone in Oakridge who does not comply with such an advisory, and who has not qualified for a waiver The voluntary surrender of a known right; conduct supporting an inference that a particular right has been relinquished. The term waiver is used in many legal contexts. , could face a $500 fine. Explaining the need for the advisory, Zimmerman said: "Our assumption was that everybody would come home Friday night and burn wood, and that it would continue all weekend." As it turned out, air quality in Oakridge began to improve a few hours after LRAPA LRAPA Lane Regional Air Protection Agency (formerly Lane Regional Air Pollution Authority) issued the red advisory. The improving trend continued through the rest of the weekend. Oakridge didn't cite anyone for violating the city's wood-heating ordinance, Zimmerman said. City police have the authority to enforce the burning ban. Oakridge has some of the dirtiest air in Oregon, and each winter the community skates Skates may refer to:
Last year, air regulators installed the $20,000 computer system that calls each Oakridge resident with news on unhealthy air days. Air quality in Oakridge deteriorated last week when a stagnant stagnant /stag·nant/ (stag´nant) 1. motionless; not flowing or moving. 2. inactive; not developing or progressing. air mass hung over the city and its surrounding valley, trapping trapping, most broadly, the use of mechanical or deceptive devices to capture, kill, or injure animals. It may be applied to the practice of using birdlime to capture birds, lobster pots to trap lobsters, and seines to catch fish. pollutants pollutants see environmental pollution. at ground level. Oakridge isn't the only Lane County city with air problems this winter. Several days so far this winter, LRAPA officials have issued alerts in the Eugene-Springfield area asking residents to voluntarily refrain from burning wood stoves - a step below a mandatory ban. Wet weather this weekend helped drive out the stale stale horseman's term for the act of urination by a horse. air and improve air quality throughout the region. LRAPA updates its home-wood heating advisory daily. Visit www.lrapa.org or call 746-4328 to hear the latest status for Oakridge, as well as for the Eugene-Springfield area. No restrictions were in effect late Monday, although LRAPA officials urged residents throughout Lane County to burn dry wood in their homes to minimize the amount of smoke emitted into the air. Oakridge residents can apply for an exemption from the city's burning restrictions if they have a financial hardship or if wood is their only source of home heat. Call Oakridge City Hall at 782-2258 for exemption information. |
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