Mike Salsbury/The Olympian
Bill McTurnal stands atop a pile of tree stumps from several commercial and residential sites. With more burning bans in place, McTurnal said, the need for wood recycling businesses, like the one he operates in Mason County, is greater.

Mason County regulates debris burning

DUGGAN KINNE, FOR THE OLYMPIAN

MASON COUNTY -- Open burning is becoming increasingly regulated here, and the alternatives are becoming more attractive.

No open fires are allowed within Shelton city limits, or the urban growth area surrounding Shelton. Within smoke-management zones, which include a significant part of the more populated areas of the county, no land-clearing fires are allowed, although fires related to commercial timber operations are permitted under certain conditions.

In the rest of the county, land-clearing fires are allowed, as long as the person doing the burning has a permit and is following the permit's conditions.

At the beginning of this year, the Department of Natural Resources stopped issuing permits for land-clearing debris fires. Under state law, unless a permitting process was available, no land-clearing debris fires would be allowed in that jurisdiction.

"The county commissioners wanted a permitting process developed to allow land-clearing debris fires within Mason County," said Dave Salzer, Mason County's fire marshal. "The county's department of emergency management put together a program, and so far, we've issued 11 permits."

Most land clearing occurs during the drier times of the year, and when it gets too dry and the fire danger increases, the fire marshal imposes a burn ban, in which debris and almost all other fires are forbidden. A majority of the wildland fires that are DNR's responsibility to extinguish are started from poorly managed debris fires, and DNR would like to see alternatives developed.

"In the past five years, about two-thirds of the wildland fires we've fought have been started by out-of-control debris fires, and for some reason, Mason County has more of these kinds of fires than surrounding counties," said Chuck Frame, a DNR fire operations administrator. "If we can encourage the development of feasible alternatives to burning the debris, we'll have fewer fires to put out, and there will be less timber destroyed."

In the past several weeks, DNR staff have been meeting with groups of Mason County officials to introduce and obtain support for a grant application that would encourage alternatives to burning debris. Specifically, DNR hopes to obtain a $25,000 grant from the Multi Agency National Fire Plan to hire a consultant to analyze the economic feasibility of a debris chipping operation in Mason County.

"We're not proposing that DNR or any other agency set up a profit-making venture to chip debris," DNR staff member Tammie Wilson said.

"This consultant would determine the markets for chipped products -- as fuel or a retail composting product or whatever -- as well as the costs of producing these products and the costs to haul the debris to the chipping site."

According to a list available at the Mason County Fire Marshal's office and other locations, 19 firms in or near Mason County accept some or all types of land-clearing debris.

Bill McTurnal owns one of the debris-handling companies, McTurnal & Dugger, in Shelton.

"We're a complete recycler," he said. His company handles all types of material, including wood debris.

Land-clearing debris is chipped for paper or turned into hog fuel -- larger pieces burned for fuel. His company also picks up yard and pruning debris for $10 per yard. For instance, pruned branches from several apple trees could be disposed of for $100 or less, he said.

"We'd turn that into compost," he said.

This type of full-scale operation is similar to what DNR is hoping to support.

"We'd like to see the best possible use made of this debris and not just have it stored to become some future hazard," Wilson said.

Duggan Kinne is a correspondent for The Olympian.

For related stories go to the Communities section.

For more information

- Call the Mason County Fire Marshal's Office at 360-427-7535 or DNR's Jane Potter or Tammie Wilson at 360-825-1631.

- The county's smoke management zones, in which land-clearing fires are no longer allowed, include all major lakes in the county, the west side of Hood Canal up to the Kitsap County line, the north and south shores of Hood Canal, Hoodsport, Lake Cushman, Union, Belfair, Grapeview, Allyn and Victor.

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