Relief for Tri-Cities dirty air ‘poofing out.’ Hanford workers and students told to stay home

Smoke continued to blanket the Tri-Cities on Monday as a cold front expected to start clearing the air did not materialize.

“Sad to say, the clearing that should have been here by now is not only tardy but is poofing out as a lackluster weather feature that won’t do much for us,” said Ranil Dhammapala, of the Washington state Department of Ecology, writing on the Washington Smoke blog.

The National Weather Service has extended its air quality alert for the Tri-Cities through noon Friday.

The Benton Clean Air Agency said on Monday that air quality could remain hazardous through noon Friday and still be unhealthy after that.

The air quality in the Tri-Cities was rated as hazardous on Monday for the fourth day in the row.

Smoke is coming from wildfires in Oregon and could get a little worse before it gets better, according to the Department of Ecology’s smoke forecast for Tuesday.

Significant relief from the smoke in the Tri-Cities could start Friday when a new weather system moves into the state of Washington with winds from the north and possible showers. Only a slight chance of rain is forecast for the Tri-Cities.

The Tri-Cities had been getting smoke from the Cold Springs fire to the north near Omak when the wind previously blew from the north, but firefighters have been making progress in putting it out. It was 50% contained Monday morning and had burned 188,852 acres.

Students, workers stay home

Some private schools that had started in-class learning told students to stay home because of the poor air quality.

They included Christ the King School in Richland and Kingspoint Christian School in Pasco. The Paterson School District also did not hold in-person classes. Kingspoint also will be closed Tuesday.

Kennewick and Pasco public schools reacted by canceling meal and homework delivery Monday, although meals could be picked up at some schools. In the Kennewick School District on-site remote learning support and YMCA on-site child care were canceled.

Book giveaways this week throughout the Tri-Cities to mark Read with a Child Week have been postponed by the Children’s Reading Foundation.

Hanford nuclear reservation workers, many of them already teleworking because of the COVID-19 pandemic, were told to stay home swing and night shift on Sunday and not to report to work on any shifts Monday unless their jobs were essential to immediate site safety.

Those already working from home continued to work from home.

The Mid-Columbia Libraries canceled curb-side pickup at its libraries Sunday and Monday.

A layer of ash covered parked cars in some locations Sunday afternoon and Monday in the Tri-Cities area.

Air quality alert

While the air quality had been so bad that it topped off the Department of Ecology’s rating scale of 1 to 500 on Saturday, it ranged from about 350 to 390 from early Sunday morning into Monday. Any rating above 300 is considered hazardous.

The National Weather Service lifted its dense smoke advisory on Monday for the Tri-Cities area, as some improvement in visibility for drivers was noted, but continued the air quality alert.

Visibility of as little as a quarter mile had gradually improved starting Sunday to a half mile in parts of the Mid-Columbia with drivers still advised to keep their lights on.

Safety tips

When air quality is rated as hazardous, people with heart or lung disease should ask their healthcare provider if they should leave the area, according to the Department of Ecology. Anyone with serious symptoms from the smoke, such as shortness of breath, irregular heartbeat or chest pain, should get medical help immediately.

The state departments of health and ecology give these additional tips to protect your health:

▪ Stay indoors, advice that’s particularly important for children, older adults, pregnant women and those with health conditions such as diabetes, a history of stroke, lung disease or heart disease. Don’t do strenuous activities, even indoors.

▪ Close your windows and doors to reduce intake of smoke. However, ventilation is good for helping prevent COVID-19, so when air quality is good, open them to get fresh air and reduce potential viral load.

▪ Improve filtration of indoor air in your home and create a clean air room where you spend most of your time. Making your own box fan filter can be a less expensive option to filter air and improve indoor air quality in a single room. Filtering indoor air is an effective way to reduce fine particles from wildfire smoke.

▪ Avoid burning candles or incense, smoking inside, frying or broiling, or vacuuming unless your vacuum has a HEPA filter.

▪ Wear your cloth face covering to slow the spread of COVID-19. While cloth face coverings may help a small amount with smoke, they won’t filter out the fine particles or hazardous gasses. N95 respirators, if fitted and worn properly, can reduce exposure to wildfire smoke, but as the supply remains limited, these need to be reserved for workers that are required to wear them for their job.

This story was originally published September 14, 2020 at 12:03 PM.