DEQ forecasts continued poor air quality through the weekend

The Idaho Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) issued an Air Quality Advisory to residents of Boundary, Bonner, Kootenai, Shoshone and Benewah Counties at 12:30 p.m. Friday. DEQ warned that some members of the general public may experience health issues due to unhealthy conditions caused by smoke from the Turner and Upper Smith fires in Boundary County.

The DEQ forecasts poor air quality to continue today. However, on Sunday and Monday, they expect it to improve.

The National Weather Service expects wind to play a major role. 

“We’ll get winds out of the Southwest, into the early part of the weekend,” said NWS meteorologist Charlotte Dewey. “Then, when the winds shift, it is going to move where the smoke is going. With enough wind, we should push through that smoke and that poor air quality.”  

A Kootenai County-wide burn restriction has been issued, banning all outdoor open flames and burning. Burn restrictions have been placed on nine North Idaho counties and are expected to persist through the weekend. 

There were thunderstorms over the late week in many parts of North Idaho, something that Dewey said did not help the fire danger heading into the weekend. 

“The widespread regional thunderstorms that we’ve had have produced a lot of lightning and they are not producing a lot of precipitation or rainfall,” she said. 

She described the thunderstorms as “dryer,” and said that lightning without rainfall presents an elevated wildfire risk.

Dewey expects the weather to dry out over the weekend. 

“Temperatures are going to stay pretty warm over the weekend,” she said. “Maybe some breezy winds here and there across the region.”

Over 170 fire personnel have responded to the Turner Fire, which continues to burn, leaving all current Boundary County evacuation orders in place. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.

“We are continuing to monitor fire behavior and suppression efforts and significant progress has been made but not enough to warrant a change in evacuation status,” said Boundary County Sheriff Travis Stolley in a press release Friday.

The U.S. The Forest Service determined Tuesday that lightning was the cause of the Upper Smith fire, and containment efforts continue as watchduty.org reports the fire at 0% contained. 

Watch duty estimates that the Upper Smith and Turner fires are both just under 600 acres. 

For more information on air quality, visit the DEQ website.