Wood stove season is here in Fairbanks. That means cozy evenings, a stacked woodpile, and, when the inversion settles in, air quality alerts. Here's what the alerts actually mean for your house and how to burn cleaner so we see fewer of them.
Who issues Fairbanks air quality alerts?
The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) handles it. After borough voters passed Prop 4 in 2018, the borough no longer regulates wood and coal heaters, so DEC issues the alerts, curtailment announcements, and enforcement for the Fairbanks and North Pole PM2.5 nonattainment area. DEC's alert page is the one to bookmark.
What a Stage 1 air alert means for your wood stove
A Stage 1 alert is called when the 24-hour fine particle level (PM2.5) hits or is expected to hit 20 micrograms per cubic meter. During Stage 1:
- Open burning is not allowed.
- Wood, coal, and pellet stoves have to shut down unless you have a current DEC Stage 1 waiver, a NOASH (No Other Adequate Source of Heat) waiver, or the alert lists an exception.
- If your stove isn't covered, stop adding fuel and make sure there's no visible smoke from the chimney within three hours of the alert's start time.
What a Stage 2 air alert means
Stage 2 kicks in at 30 micrograms per cubic meter. The rules are the same, except Stage 1 waivers no longer count. Only NOASH waivers and listed exceptions can keep burning. DEC's curtailment details page spells out both stages.
A few other things worth knowing from recent DEC alerts:
- The burn-down rule doesn't apply during a power outage.
- Even waiver holders have to stay under the 20% visible smoke limit.
- From Nov 1 through Mar 31, all open burning, including burn barrels, is banned in the nonattainment area. Campfires and bonfires aren't included.
- You can sign up for alert notices and apply for waivers through DEC's waiver page.
Chimney and wood stove tips for a cleaner burn
Our take: the cleaner your stove burns, the less smoke hangs over town and the fewer alerts we all sit through. Most of it comes down to a few habits.
- Burn dry wood. State rules require it, and wet wood smokes, coats your chimney with creosote, and gives you less heat. Split it, stack it off the ground, and cover the top.
- Get the chimney swept and inspected before the deep cold. A dirty flue is a fire risk, and Fairbanks firefighters have already said structure fires are up this year.
- Burn hot, not slow and smoldering. A choked-down fire is the smokiest one.
- Check the door gasket and glass. A leaky gasket means a fire you can't control.
- Keep your backup heat ready. When an alert hits, you need the furnace, boiler, or baseboards to carry the house. Change the filter and make sure it fires up now.
When your backup heat won't kick on
If an alert comes and your furnace or boiler won't start, that's the worst time to find out. We can get someone out for no heat in Fairbanks, and our Fairbanks handyman can help with the small stuff around the stove like door gaskets, wood storage, and weatherstripping. And if a season of wood smoke has left the couch smelling like a campfire, there's upholstery cleaning for that too. For a bigger reset of soot on the walls, vents, and floors, The Alaska Cleaning Company is the local cleaning crew to call at 907-341-4086.
Painting: Good Hand Co.