About time for a smoke break: October rain to wash away wildfire haze

Published 5:00 pm Thursday, October 20, 2022

GOLD BAR — Employees at A Greener Today Marijuana in Gold Bar are used to dealing with smoke, but this week has been something else.

“We’ve seen smoke, we’ve seen wildfires, but we’ve never seen what happens after this long without rain,” said Sam, an employee at the dispensary who declined to give her last name.

Between the thick wildfire smoke that has settled in the Skykomish River valley for weeks and the intermittent closures of U.S. 2, sales have been down for nearly every business in Gold Bar, she said. The dispensary’s regular customers, who are often elderly, are opting to stay inside, Sam said.

Still, Sam said: “The air conditioning is better here than at my house. I know I’d rather be here breathing the filtered air and making some money.”

Relief from the haze was expected to arrive Friday. A much-needed rainstorm should dampen the wildfires and knock down smoke particles, with showers in the forecast for days in a row.

In Darrington, the air quality index hit 450 on Wednesday, well into “hazardous” territory. It remained above 180 into Thursday evening, on the upper end of what’s still considered “unhealthy.”

Molly Clark, manager of the Burger Barn on Emens Avenue N, said the mood among customers has been notably lighter since the town got a sprinkling of rain Thursday morning. Rain clouds mixed with the smoke cast a dreary gray pall overhead, but it’s welcome for a region that has hardly seen a drop in weeks.

“For some people it doesn’t seem to affect them much, but most people are avoiding the outdoors as much as they can,” Clark said. “I like to go out, but recently I just want to go right home and hope I feel a little bit better.”

Clark’s employees at Burger Barn have complained of headaches, itchy throats and tight chests the past few days, and customers are forgoing the dining room for curbside delivery to limit their time outside.

Clark grew up in Darrington. She said this year’s smoke levels feel similar to what she’s seen in recent years. The town sits in a bowl created by the convergence of two valleys, often leading smoke to collect over Darrington each fire season. The difference this year, Clark thinks, is how long it has hung around.

The lingering haze is the result of an unseasonably warm and windless early fall, according to meteorologists and air quality experts. That pattern is expected to break this weekend, with the National Weather Service predicting rain and cooler temperatures starting Friday and extending into next week.

With the rain comes new risks, though. The National Weather Service warned in a Twitter thread Wednesday that heavy rains on burned ground stripped of vegetation can cause debris flows and mudslides. The burn scar left by the ongoing Bolt Creek fire north of Skykomish is especially a concern because of its proximity to U.S. 2 and several towns, the statement said, and the highway could again be closed if debris becomes an active threat.

The 14,700-acre Bolt Creek fire, a major contributor to smoke pollution across Western Washington, was 43% contained Thursday afternoon, approaching the state Department of Natural Resources’s goal of 50%. The Loch Katrine fire north of North Bend was still active and funneling haze into the Puget Sound region.

In Everett, where the air quality remained solidly in the “very unhealthy” category, some residents like Cory Calhoun took air filtration into their own hands.

Calhoun discovered the concept of Corsi-Rosenthal boxes online during the early days of COVID-19. It’s essentially a homemade air purifier, consisting of a fan on top of a “box” made of MERV-13 furnace filters.

The box came in handy again when smoke swept in. It’s not HEPA-quality, but it made a noticeable difference inside Calhoun’s house, and he said it was relatively easy and affordable to put together. All the parts could be found at a hardware store for around $100, and instructions are readily available online, Calhoun said.

Jeff Rivers, a Mountlake Terrace resident, normally commutes around town by bike. Even with an N95 mask, exercise has been unbearable the past few days, Rivers said.

“After two years of working from home, I’ve been meaning to get out and exercise more,” Rivers said. “But the smoke makes a convenient excuse not to, since I’m not sure the health benefits of cycling cancel out the deleterious effects of the smoke.”

Rivers and his wife got into the habit of holding socially distanced hangouts with friends in their driveway over the pandemic. He’s going to bring the tradition back one last time to celebrate the end of smoke season this weekend.

“We’ll sit in the open garage, as we did on many sunny summer evenings, drinking beer and listening to music,” Rivers said. “We will watch the rain flush the smoke out of the sky.”

Riley Haun: 425-339-3192; riley.haun@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @RHaunID.