Wildfires cast smoky haze over Northwest
Later-than-normal wildfires rage in five Northwestern states in what’s shaping up to be one of the worst fire seasons in terms of land burned.
BOISE, Idaho — Heavy winter snow and an unusually wet spring for the Western U.S. generated predictions the 2017 wildfire season would be tame. But it’s shaping up to be one worst in U.S. history in land burned.
Across the region, smoky haze in cities and towns prevented people from going outside except for short periods and prompted potential bans of high school football games. In some areas where homes have burned, people have stayed in makeshift shelters for weeks.
Some of the biggest fires this year started in early September, when the wildfire season usually starts winding down.
A look at the impact of the fires across the region:
Idaho
High school soccer games have been canceled this week because of smoky air — and now football stadiums could remain vacant for the biggest games this Friday night.
That’s because Idaho air quality is so bad in some places that children and teens must be kept indoors and activities like football and soccer must be avoided, said the state Department of Health and Welfare.
“There would be a lot of disappointed kids and disappointed parents if games are canceled,” said Kathleen Tuck, spokeswoman for the Nampa School District in southwestern Idaho. “But our top priority is the safety of our students.”
Northern Idaho residents are now breathing some of the worst air in the U.S. with an air quality indicator over 460 Thursday morning. A rating above 150 is considered unhealthy and levels above 300 are hazardous, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
Montana
Ted Linford doesn’t like to leave the filtered air inside his home for long, but stepped outside Thursday for some bow practice just in case the hazardous air stubbornly clinging to the town of Seeley Lake lifts while there’s still some hunting season left.
Seeley Lake, in a valley next to the Bob Marshall Wilderness, usually empties of summer tourists and fills up with hunters at this time of the year. But this year has been anything but normal because of the thick smoke surrounding the area.
“It’s like a ghost town,” Linford said. “It’s more like winter, when you just see local people.”
Air quality hurt by a wildfire burning less than 2 miles from Seeley Lake got so bad that health officials last month recommended that people sleep elsewhere. Most of the town of 1,600 was evacuated when the fire threatened to spread from the ridge where it was burning.
Oregon
Fires have already scorched an area half the size of the U.S. state of Rhode Island and the smoky haze is even bad in cities with no major wildfires nearby.
Pendleton, small a city in eastern Oregon, has had air quality that ranked as unhealthy or hazardous all week even though it is 165 miles away from a major fire burning in the state’s famed Columbia Gorge.
Images of the city’s downtown in the East Oregonian newspaper on Monday showed clear air and crisp visibility. A photo taken from the same vantage point Tuesday showed so much smoke that the outlines of buildings were barely visible.
Another fire in southwest Oregon that ranks among the biggest U.S. blazes forced school officials to delay the start of classes for children a week in the town of Brookings, a coastal community near the California state line.
California
Helena, once a 19th century mining camp, is on the Trinity River in far northwestern California and is typical of the many rural communities throughout the state enduring the severe fire season.
More than 30 square miles of forest and 72 homes have burned since August and as many as 15 displaced residents have stayed each night at a Red Cross shelter in nearby Weaverville.
More than 9,500 firefighters were fighting two dozen large California wildfires and authorities warned of potential for more in the far north as thunderstorms produced dry lightning.
Washington
Relief is finally in sight for Seattle metropolitan area residents who have suffered through days of smoky skies from wildfires.
Several large wildfires continue to burn in Washington state, but are not growing much. And the National Weather Service says air conditions should start getting better.
However, a lightning caused wildfire east of Mount Rainier National Park stood at 68 square miles on Thursday and was 8 percent contained by 370 firefighters.