Fall Burning Program-87
 

 

 

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The agricultural burning program is designed to improve air quality in the Sacramento Valley and, at the same time, allow the continuation of open field burning in agricultural operations.

The 1987 fall agricultural burning program began on September 15 and concluded on November 16, for a total of 63 days. Meteorological conditions varied during this period but they generally followed the standard fall pattern of warm days and stagnant atmospheric conditions.

September and October had unusually strong and persistent upper level inversions that limited rice field burning. Despite these less than favorable conditions, approximately 217,000 acres were burned and good air quality levels were maintained. Only 13 complaints were received by the Air Resources Board, the lowest of any year since the program has been in operation.

1987 Brought Program Changes

Several changes were made in the agricultural burning program during 1987. They included changes in the communication network, central computer operation, involvement of public agency burning, and testing of revised allocation formulas.

In the communication system change, Weather Network was used as a bulletin board for linking and distributing files. Files were automatically uploaded into Weather Network for access by counties, the central computer operator, Nowcasting, Air Resources Board, and Fife Environmental. The system had a few intermittent problems caused by overlapping characters in files and network operating software, but it generally worked well.

Software at central computer operations was transferred from Apple computers to an IBM compatible provided by the Yuba County Air Pollution Control District. Basin distribution and file generation programs were rewritten for the Lotus 123 spreadsheet to provide better editing capabilities, modeling options, faster operation, and more flexibility.

Public agency burning was incorporated into program operations as required by a change in state law. Meetings were held with agency representatives to discuss the agricultural burning programs and reach general understandings on how public agency burning would be meshed into the established Sacramento Valley fall burning program. Few public agency burns were carried out in the fall of 1987 because extensive wildfires and extreme fire danger kept prescribed burning to a minimum.

The Air Resources Board and Fife Environmental tested two revised allocation models, developed independently, to better correlate air quality and meteorological conditions with acreage allocations.

 

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