The West is not only battling wildfires, but poor air quality as well, caused by ash lofted thousands of feet in the air. Ash is also settling in Colorado, something that has become all too familiar.
As massive wildfires engulf swathes of land in the West and Canada, air quality alerts have extended as far as the Northeast. The closer the fires are, the worse the air quality will be.
In the area of the Dixie Fire, sensors registered readings higher than 800, exceeding the hazardous level on the “beyond index.”
“The entire state of Colorado has periodically received influxes of wildfire smoke over the past week, and particularly the eastern half of the state (including Denver). This has increased fine particulate concentrations (PM2.5) and also enhanced ozone pollution throughout the Front Range region,” said Scott Landes, the Air Pollution Control Division’s chief air quality meteorologist for Colorado.
