Field fire sets off foes of burning

When several hundred acres of bluegrass stubble accidentally caught fire on the Rathdrum Prairie on Wednesday afternoon, cell phones and hotlines for air quality regulators and watchdog groups lit up instantly, a reminder that people in North Idaho keep a close eye on the annual practice of field burning.

Wednesday was a “no-burn” day, according to the Idaho Department of Agriculture and the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality.

Patti Gora, director of Safe Air For Everyone, an anti-burning watchdog group, said she was driving south on U.S. Highway 95 and was well south of Coeur d’Alene when she saw the towering beige plume of burning bluegrass coming from longtime farmer and former state legislator Wayne Meyer’s farm Wednesday afternoon.

“Right after the plume became visible, my phone began lighting up,” Gora said. “Our members really watch the burn calls closely. They knew it was not a burn day.”

Dan Redline, an air quality analyst for the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality, said he, too, got a call and drove across the prairie to investigate.

“We got a couple calls from people saying ‘Hey! It’s a no-burn day and they are burning on the prairie.’ ” Redline said. “It shows people are aware.”

Farmers who grow commercial grass seed in North Idaho typically burn off the stubble as the quickest and cheapest way to prepare the perennial plant for the next year’s harvest. As the region’s population has increased, field burning has been challenged as a threat to public health, especially for people with breathing difficulties. Farmers have become targets of lawsuits aimed at stopping the practice. Washington state regulatory agencies, citing public health concerns, banned grass-field burning in Spokane County, and Idaho growers have been increasingly scrutinized.

Farm insurance companies have dropped coverage for field burning and, as a result, fewer than 2,000 acres of bluegrass stubble are expected to be burned this summer on the Rathdrum Prairie – an all-time low.

Historically, Redline said, grass growers on the prairie don’t burn off their stubble until early August, which is when Meyer said he had expected to burn the field that caught fire Wednesday. The fire is believed to have been caused when chaff on a combine muffler ignited and then fell off the machine onto the dry straw in the field.

Swirling winds quickly kicked the fire across an estimated 400 to 500 acres. Redline said a new, Spokane-based meteorologist had cited bad wind conditions as part of his ruling to declare Wednesday a no-burn day.

“Poor dispersion conditions, combined with residual smoke” from Canadian wildfires, Redline said, prompted the no-burn ruling.

Winds out of the west initially aimed the tall plume of smoke at nearby Coeur d’Alene, Redline said. He said it was fortunate that the wind did kick the plume of smoke high into the sky instead of hugging the ground.

“It’s lucky in that respect,” that there were few complaint calls, Redline said.

Smoke from burning fields has been blamed for several deaths in North Idaho. The Idaho Supreme Court has yet to rule on the constitutionality of legislation that intends to shield farmers from lawsuits. The Agriculture Department’s director, Pat Takasugi, annually makes a determination that grass seed farmers have no economically viable alternative to burning. His 2004 determination is being challenged in an Ada County court case expected to have been filed late Thursday, Gora said.

“We are saying the director acted in an arbitrary and capricious manner,” she said. The challenge has been filed by SAFE, the Idaho Conservation League and the Idaho-Nevada chapter of the American Lung Association. The groups contend Takasugi’s determination is speculative and is not based on an accurate accounting of costs associated with burning fields and mechanical removal of stubble.