As temperatures in Kentucky increase, officials are warning about the health risks during “Ozone Season.”
Summer is a time when restrictions go into place regarding what and when items can be burned in certain locations in the commonwealth. Burning items can create ground-level ozone.
Roberta Burns is an environmental scientist advisor with the Kentucky Division of Air Quality. She said increased levels of ground-level ozone can respiratory issues for some.
“It can make you feel like you have a sunburn inside your lungs, so it's going to make everyone uncomfortable if they breathe a lot of it, but especially young people who breathe more rapidly than adults do.”
Burns said the elderly are also susceptible to health issues caused by an increase in ground-level ozone and burning isn't the only action that create these problems.
“It's also going to mean things like mowing your lawn in the evening, versus during the day, because when you mow in the evening with a gas powered mower, the fumes and emissions from that mower are less likely to form ground-level ozone.”
Kentucky's Ozone Season runs from May through September.
During this time outdoor burning of household rubbish, brush, tree limbs, leaves and natural growth from land clearing is not permitted in Boone, Boyd, Bullitt, Campbell, Kenton, and Oldham counties.
A portion of Lawrence County is also subject to open burning restrictions during ozone season. Open burning is restricted year-round in Jefferson County.
All of these counties have, at one time or another, exceeded air quality standards for ozone or particulate matter pollution.
Painted, stained or treated wood products such as fence posts, pallets, and furniture are illegal to burn, because they release dangerous toxins into the air. Items that cannot be recycled should be taken to a state-permitted landfill.
To report illegal open burning or to learn more about open burning restrictions in your area, please call the Division for Air Quality at 502-782-6592.
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