Author: Bill Gabbert

Smoke from wildfires in southwest Oregon is being trapped by unstable air, causing the air quality index in some areas to reach “very unhealthy” and even “hazardous” levels, according to the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality. One of our loyal readers in the Rogue Valley wrote to tell us that the smoke has been dense enough to set off smoke alarms inside some buildings, and said:

Some folks are heading north to Eugene or Portland to escape it. I just walked to another building on our corporate campus and back, and my hair smells like smoke. Some fools are still out running in this, but others are starting to wear masks.

Some of the cities affected are Grants Pass, Medford, and Ashland. Much of the smoke is coming from the 28,000-acre Douglas Complex which began after 54 fires were ignited by lightning west of Medford on lands protected by the Douglas Forest Protective Association.

An air quality index (AQI) of less than 50 is considered “Good”. The next level up is “Moderate”, eventually working up to the highest level which is “Hazardous” beginning at an AQI of 300. We checked the levels at Medford at 3:20 p.m. Thursday and it was 229, “Very Unhealthy”. We understand that the smoke disperses more during the day, but settles into the low-lying areas at night, making conditions worse.

You can find the very handy map above at the web site of the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality. The dots indicate the location of real-time air quality monitoring stations; the darker dots have the worst air quality. When you’re there, click on them to see the details.

About masks for protection from smoke — disposable dust masks or bandannas over your nose will do NOTHING to protect you from the EXTREMELY TINY smoke particles that are so small that if you dropped one from near the ceiling in a room with calm air, it would take eight hours for the particle to fall to the floor. You need a particular kind of respirator if you really want protection. Here is an excerpt from the Mail Tribune on the subject:

People who must be outside should avoid physical exertion and wear a particulate respirator if possible, [Jackson Baures, Jackson County public health division manager] said. Masks that help filter out the tiny particulates have the acronym “NIOSH” — National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health — printed on it, along with “N95” or “P100,” he said. Wearers should make sure the respirator fits properly and does not leak around the sides. Dust masks that are not NIOSH-certified may not protect wearers from fine particulate matter, even if they are worn properly, he said.

Mary Emerick has written an interesting article about getting out of firefighting after 26 years. She says she really means it this time.

Below is a short excerpt — you can read the rest of article here. You may have to answer a couple of stupid questions there to see the whole piece.

…All firefighters have stories of lucky breaks and last-minute escapes — when certain tragedy was averted only by a wind shift, quick thinking or plain chance. There was a wonderful monotony in the work itself, seeing just how far I could push my body past exhaustion. I worked 48-hour shifts, coughing into a grimy bandanna pulled tight across mouth and nose, hauling 40-pound containers of drinking water up a mountain, watching the ceaseless motion of moving vegetation out of a slim line that might stop the fire — or not.

There were things I missed by fighting fire: love, marriage, kids — even though I wasn’t sure I wanted that kind of life. I missed out on the vacations that normal people enjoy — swimming in lakes, lying in hammocks.