By Lynne Terry/Oregon Capital Chronicle
August is turning out to be a smoky month in Oregon.
The Department of Environmental Quality issued an alert Wednesday for southern and central Oregon, where wildfires are clogging the air with smoke. The advisory covers Deschutes, northern Harney, northern Klamath and Lake counties. Other counties could also be hit with smoke, according to Michael Loch, a DEQ spokesman.
“We are expecting eastern Douglas, Jackson, eastern Lane and northern Malheur counties to experience intermittent smoke,” Loch said. “Harney and Malheur counties do stretch into eastern Oregon, which we’re expecting the northern parts of those counties to experience smoke from wildfires.”
The agency issues an air advisory when the air in an area is expected to be unhealthy for at least 24 hours for “sensitive” groups, who include infants and young children, people with heart or lung disease, older adults and pregnant people.
Health officials advise Oregonians, especially those groups, to stay indoors, close windows and doors and use HEPA air filters, if possible. Run air conditioning on recirculate, or if it’s too hot, move to another location.
Most masks do not filter out the harmful particulates in smoke, but N95 or P100 respirators approved by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, or NIOSH, offer protection, provided they fit properly.
Some areas in eastern Oregon are relatively smoke-free. The agency’s air monitoring network had a green, or relatively clean, air quality rating Wednesday afternoon for Pendleton, Cove and Ontario, with a yellow, or moderate rating for La Grande, Baker City and Enterprise.
The latest warnings, which are expected to last to Friday afternoon, follow successive air quality alerts issued by DEQ this summer – all caused by wildfires. There are currently 20 fires that have spread across at least 100 acres in Oregon and two are bigger than 100,000 acres: The Falls Fire northwest of Burns, which has spread to 151,166 acres, and the Battle Mountain Complex of fires west of Ukiah, which have scorched 182,870 acres.
Fire season usually peaks about now, which means that more fires could emerge – and more bad air.
“While I can’t predict how many air quality advisories we will issue this month, there is plenty of wildfire season still ahead of us,” Loch said.
This story first appeared in the Oregon Capital Chronicle.
