Wildfire activity across California and the Western United States can from time to time significantly impact air quality within the City of Davis (and greater Sacramento region), including the possibility of particles of ash accumulating outdoors. During these periods, the City may request that residents and businesses alike avoid activities that will increase airborne particulate.  

For the Air District’s e-notification sign up and air quality and smoke maps, click here. 

What Criteria is Used to Determine if it is an Air Quality Concern?

Conditions that would result in recommendations to avoid the use the of leaf blowers include local AQI values exceeding 100 (unhealthy for sensitive groups) for two consecutive days, presence of wildfire ash and/or future air quality forecasts.

The information in this section refers to an emergency action that is no longer in place. 

Why Would the City Enact Temporary Restrictions on the Use of Leaf Blowers?

During the summer and fall months of 2020, wildfire activity across California significantly impacted air quality within the City of Davis and contributed to particles of ash accumulating outdoors. Concerns about air quality and the further distribution of ash particles in the air were a significant point of discussion in the community, as well as at the City’s Natural Resource Commission and City Council – particularly around impacts of using leaf blowers for outdoor landscape maintenance on days with poor air quality and on accumulated ash.

The immediate concern about the impact to air quality with their use during the time of the COVID-19 pandemic led the City Council to ask the City Manager to use his existing authority to issue Executive Proclamation and Order No. 02-2020, declaring an emergency relating to airborne particulate matter and other pollutants during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and wildfires burning across the State. With this emergency declaration, prohibitions were placed on the use of leaf blowers during periods of poor air quality, as defined by the proclamation and order. On October 6, 2020, this order was ratified by the City Council, and remained in place until it was terminated on February 28, 2023, coinciding with the termination of the state emergency. 

Proclaimed and Ordered September 26, 2020: Air Quality Emergency Declaration and Emergency Order Banning Leaf Blowers (PDF)

Proclaimed and Ordered October 2, 2020: Air Quality Emergency Declaration and Emergency Order Banning Leaf Blowers (PDF)

Links to Commission and Council Items On the Temporary Ban on Leaf Blowers