Air Quality Advisory in effect through Saturday
A couple bicycles along Lake Coeur d'Alene against a backdrop of smoky skies on Thursday.
HAILEY HILL/Press
COEUR d'ALENE — Most of North Idaho is under an Air Quality Advisory as several wildfires continue to burn throughout the region.
The Idaho Department of Environmental Quality issued the advisory Thursday morning for Kootenai, Shoshone, Bonner and Benewah counties.
Air quality is expected to worsen into the weekend and is projected to be "unhealthy for sensitive groups," though little risk is posed to the general public, DEQ said in a release.
Open burning is also prohibited under the advisory, which is in effect until Saturday.
Smoke from several massive fires to the northeast of Vancouver is being pushed south into the Inland Northwest by wind conditions, according to the latest forecasts from AirNow.
Over 160 active fires have burned nearly 18 million acres in Canada this year, the latest data from the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre shows.
The largest active fires in North Idaho, the Lightning Creek Fire in Bonner County and the Ulm Creek Fire at the Idaho/Montana border, are each sitting at over 2,000 acres. Several active fires in northeastern Washington have burned thousands of acres.