A SMOKY START
Photos by DEVIN HEILMAN/Press Playgrounds throughout the county were vacant on the first day of school as unhealthy air quality advisories recommended students be kept inside and outdoor activities be canceled. This sign was placed outside the office at Bryan Elementary School.
Tony Verdal, left, of Hayden Lake, and Dave Gerzina of Coeur d’Alene work to clean up manhole covers in a Front Avenue intersection. Verdal and Gerzina were among those who worked in the heavy smoke Tuesday following an air-quality advisory restricting outdoor activities and recommending heavy work be avoided. “It’s not bugging me,” Gerzina said of the smoke.
DEVIN HEILMAN/Press Lead Coeur d'Alene Parks Department worker Larry Walters moves dirt Tuesday in McEuen Park as a heavy haze hangs over The Resort and Lake Coeur d'Alene. The Idaho Department of Environmental Quality deemed North Idaho's air quality Tuesday as “unhealthy” to “hazardous” and advised residents to limit time outdoors.
DEVIN HEILMAN/Press Steve and Gaylyn Meyers of Los Alamos, N.M., walk their black Lab Joey on the Dike Road by North Idaho College as smoke blankets Lake Coeur d'Alene and reduces visiblity on Tuesday.
Playgrounds were empty on the first day of school in North Idaho — except for the hovering clouds of wildfire smoke.
"If it stays like it is right now — and it's pretty bad — we'll continue to keep the kids indoors as much as possible," Coeur d'Alene School District communications director Scott Maben said Tuesday. "We may be in for a week's worth of smoke here, or at least until the weekend."
School districts moved recess indoors, canceled soccer games and otherwise postponed outdoor activities because of the Stage 1 forecast and degraded air quality caution issued for the five northern counties by the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality.
"The high-pressure system continues to direct the weather pattern for North Idaho," reads the forecast, released Tuesday afternoon. "Air quality will reach the very unhealthy to unhealthy or even hazardous ranges for all areas. Numerous wildfires around the western U.S. and Canada will continue to send smoke into the area. Be aware of changing conditions to protect your health."
Lakeland School District posted on its home page that "staff will remain aware of students with respiratory health issues and contact the nurses if they have any concerns on individual students" and requested parents send notes with inhalers or medications students may need.
Panhandle Health District, in conjunction with the DEQ, released a wildfire smoke advisory Tuesday that deemed air quality as "'unhealthy' to 'hazardous.'"
The advisory recommended:
- Avoid heavy work or exercise outdoors.
- Set air conditioning units and car vent systems to re-circulate.
- Limit time outdoors, especially if you have respiratory conditions or heart disease.
- Drink plenty of water. Staying hydrated helps dilute phlegm in the respiratory tract, making it easier to cough out smoke particles.
- Seek medical treatment for uncontrolled coughing or breathing difficulties.
- Stay up-to-date on air quality in your community.
"We have not seen an increase in the number of people who we are seeing for respiratory issues," Kootenai Health communications director Kim Anderson said. "We're just seeing the same number of patients we normally see for respiratory."
Anderson said Kootenai Health staff had a planning meeting about the smoke. Staff recommended people stay inside with doors and windows closed for the best air quality.
Although people are encouraged to stay indoors, many outdoors workers went right back to the job and into the smoke after the long holiday weekend.
“It's not bugging me,” said Dave Gerzina of Coeur d'Alene, who worked cleaning asphalt off freshly paved-over manhole and water covers in a Front Avenue intersection.
"I think it’s slowed us down a little bit," said his colleague, Tony Verdal of Hayden Lake. "I have COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) to where it bothers me more than it bothers him. I have my inhaler in the truck in case I need it."
Coeur d’Alene Parks Department lead maintenance worker Michael Kempton and some of his employees tended to tasks in McEuen Park. He said some opted to wear respirator masks while they were in the smoke.
"It’s the worst smoke I’ve ever seen here in town," he said. "We got smoked out pretty good a couple times, but nothing like this. It’s been weeks, really. Today’s the worst it’s been the entire time."
Coeur d'Alene City Beach was devoid of visitors, save for one brave soul planted in the middle of the sand. The Centennial Trail along the lake and Spokane River was also quiet, with the exception of a student scurrying to class or out-of-towner trying to see the lake through the dense smoke.
"Our trip has been planned for a year, so it's kind of like, well, it's hard to stop the presses," said Gaylyn Meyers of Los Alamos, N.M., who walked with her husband, Steve, and dog, Joey, along the Dike Road.
"Los Alamos was evacuated twice because of fires where we lived," Steve said. "We get burned out down there too. We're sympathetic. It's not great when you're on vacation, but it's even worse when you live here because your favorite place might have just burned up."
Schools will be closely monitoring the smoke situation on a day-by-day basis and keeping communication open with parents, Maben said. Outside activities will be put on hold until conditions improve.
As for the weather, Press meteorologist Randy Mann sees things improving a bit later in the week.
"I’m told this is now the worst fire season for the West in history," Mann said. "We should start to see a little moisture toward the middle to the end of the month."