Washington state can have backyard campfires again, after a decade-long ban

US environmental regulators have approved a change to Washington state's air quality plan, allowing small recreational fires in Thurston County. This reverses a ban that was accidentally included in the state's plan ten years ago.

A decade ago, a local air agency and the state accidentally banned backyard campfires in one county. They just proved to federal regulators that the ban was never actually needed to keep the air clean. This means local agencies can now correct old mistakes in air quality plans without triggering new federal reviews, as long as they can prove no harm to air quality.