Washington Fruit Fined $24,000 for Illegal Burning

A Royal City fruit growing and packing company has been fined by the Washington State Department of Ecology.

The DOE says Yakima-based Washington Fruit and Produce Company put the community’s health at risk and violated air-quality rules when they burned tree branches and roots without a permit on days with a burn at their Tyee Ranch facility.

A DOE inspector also found metal, treated posts and plastic irrigation supplies in the burn piles.

The Department was tipped off to the possible illegal burning and did witness the violation.

Washington Fruit has 30 days to appeal the penalty.

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