PRESTON — Wood burning ordinances enacted in municipalities throughout Franklin County, including the county itself, during 2012 are now being enforced because of poor air quality levels in the area that are expected to continue deteriorating over the next couple of days.

    “This is the very first air quality advisory that has been issued for Franklin County since the ordinances were put in place,” said Melissa Gibbs, airshed coordinator for the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality’s Pocatello Regional Office.

    As part of a plan to help Franklin County meet national ambient air quality standards, ordinances were adopted throughout the county that ban the burning of wood when levels of air quality fall to the point of being problematic for those with health issues that make them sensitive to poor air quality.

    That threshold, in technical terms, is met when the 2.5 fine particulate matter reaches a level of 25.4 micrograms per cubic meter. Not only has the air quality deteriorated to that level, but Gibbs said the DEQ also expects a high-pressure system that will create an inversion effect to cause the air quality to worsen through Wednesday.

    “We are predicting it will get worse in the next couple of days,” she said. “We hope to be able to lift the advisory on Thursday.”

    The Cache Valley, which includes Franklin County and runs down into Utah, is one that is subject to frequent inversions, causing a situation where particulates in the lower atmosphere are unable to rise or move out of the area, leading to a consistent increase in those particulates through the course of the inversion. This has caused the area to be dubbed one of nonattainment when it comes to national air quality standards.

    That nonattainment status has led to actions attempting to overcome that condition, including establishing the wood burning ban ordinances.

    Under those ordinances, no wood burning is allowed with just two exceptions. Those wood stoves that are EPA certified — that would mean they are relatively new — can still be used, as well as stoves that are the sole source of heat for a residence.

    Those living in Franklin County have several options to monitor that real-time air quality data. There is a 24-hour hotline, at 208-239-5028, which is updated each morning.

    That information can also be e-mailed to those interested in having it. To get that information e-mailed to you, go to the Daily Air Quality Reports and Forecasts page on DEQ’s website, at www.deq.idaho.gov/air-quality/monitoring, and clicking the link for those reports. Once on that page, click the “Subscribe to this page” link at the top of the page.

    Folks can also access that data in real time — its updated hourly — by going to that same page above and clicking the link for the “Real Time Air Monitoring” page. Once on the air monitoring page, click the “Get Access to Data” drop down box on the left rail.