The Olympic Region Clean Air Agency (ORCA) is moving away from a paid residential burn permit model and toward an educational approach, county staff told the Crescent advisory council on Sept. 3.

County and ORCA officials said the regional agency had explored charging for residential yard‑waste burn permits to recover enforcement and investigative costs, but the idea prompted concerns. Instead, ORCA staff told county officials they plan to pursue public education and to work with local fire districts on outreach to reduce illegal or unsafe burns, county staff said.

“Originally, the proposal from ORCA was kind of somewhere in the middle, which was we'll call this a permit, but it'll be free, and it'll be mostly for educating people,” a county official said. After feedback and outreach, ORCA intends to focus on education rather than instituting a paid permit for residential burning, the official said.

Why it matters: changes in how residential burning is managed affect public-health concerns (smoke and air‑quality) and local enforcement workloads. County staff said Orca will meet in October and that residents can join the ORCA board meeting to comment.

Next steps: ORCA board to discuss the approach at its October meeting; county staff expect ORCA to develop an education plan with fire-district partners. No regulatory ban or fee was adopted at the Sept. 3 meeting.