Three South Whidbey residents who want to see the state and federal governments rid Washington beaches of creosote-impregnated wood used red balloons last weekend to demonstrate how common the problem is.

Freeland’s Tony Frantz, his wife Amy and friend Gary Reeves nailed and otherwise attached 185 helium balloons to logs, beams and other creosoted pieces of wood at Double Bluff beach on Dec. 22. The display was a repeat of a less public action Frantz took in July, when he marked more than 200 pieces of creosoted wood in the Navy’s restricted Lake Hancock Reserve.

This time around, hundreds of beach visitors saw the balloons, which stayed in the air until Tuesday morning, when Frantz removed them.

Franz said his small group barely touched on the problem at Double Bluff.

“I could have put out 10 times the balloons,” he said.

For the past few months, Frantz has been telling anyone who will listen that the aromatic hydrocarbons in creosote poison both people and fish in Whidbey Island’s tidal areas. In a room last month with federal and state officials, he pitched an invention designed to remove creosoted pilings from marine and terrestrial structures around the state. He said plans to build and market the device within the next year.

At present, creosoted wood is still the material of choice for some marine structures and as telephone and electric line poles. Bulkheads and docks around Puget Sound are constructed from the material. Frantz, who owns a bulkhead construction business, says state residents must find alternative materials and remove the old wood as soon as possible.

Frantz’s position received some backing this year when the European Union banned the trade of creosoted wood. Lacking that sort of government action, Frantz said he will continue to mark creosoted wood on Whidbey Island beaches to increase awareness.