Jacob Gutridge
Editor-in-Chief
On Friday the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality Air Quality Division reported increased air pollution and heavy smoke across Southeast Idaho. The National Weather Service predicts that widespread smoke and haze will last in the Pocatello area until Wednesday night.
“Due to elevated pollutant levels, the air quality remains unhealthy for sensitive groups in Bannock, Bingham, Bear Lake, Caribou, Franklin, Power, and Oneida Counties,” according to the Department of Environmental Quality in an updated report on Monday. “Air quality is expected to fluctuate between unhealthy for sensitive groups and unhealthy for all through the weekend. This advisory will remain in effect until air quality has significantly improved.”
The National Weather Service reported that the smoke in Idaho is due to the over 500 wildfires in Oregon and California. In California over 1.1 million acres have burned over the last two weeks — five times the size of New York City.
As of Monday morning, the Department of Environmental Quality was still reporting unhealthy levels of air pollution in the Pocatello area and has asked the public to avoid any nonessential burnings — including indoor wood stoves and outdoor burnings — up until Wednesday at the earliest. The Pocatello Fire Department will not issue any new burn permits.
The Department of Environmental Quality and National Weather Service are warning that individuals with increased sensitivity to poor air quality should avoid outdoor activities.
“[I]ndividuals who are sensitive to increased particulate or smoke levels are encouraged to avoid prolonged or strenuous outdoor activity,” according to the National Weather Service. “All others should limit prolonged or strenuous outdoor activity.”
Over the summer Idaho State University sent out an alert warning about a brushfire on Red Hill. The Pocatello Fire Department was able to control the blaze in under 45 minutes. However, that fire was only one of many that have happened at Idaho State University in the past couple of years, including fires at Rendezvous, Schubert Heights and South Complex.
Idaho State is not the only college campus being impacted by fires. According to an article by the New York Times evacuation orders in Santa Cruz, including the campus of the University of California, Santa Cruz, resulted in over 48,000 people being displaced.
The same New York Times article attributed increasing amounts of wildfires in California to climate change, increased populations, historical fire suppression and regional wind patterns — specifically the Santa Ana winds.
In contrast to California, the National Interagency Fire Center — which compiles wildfire data from multiple federal agencies — reported that Idaho had over 284,000 acres scorched in 2019, making the state fourth for the most acres burned behind Alaska, California and Arizona.
The National Weather Service is predicting that air quality will return to “healthy” levels on Thursday.
