Hazardous air quality, wildfire smoke impacting Camas-Washougal area

Air quality throughout the Camas-Washougal area has plummeted into the “hazardous” zone due to multiple wildfires burning in Southwest Washington and Northwest Oregon. 

As of 9 a.m. this morning, the official Air Quality Index for Camas-Washougal was at a 311, in the hazardous range, the most severe on the air quality index. 

Air quality in the nearby Columbia River Gorge was just slightly better: Stevenson in Skamania County was at a 171 on the index, in the “unhealthy” range. 

The hazardous air conditions prompted the city of Camas to cancel curbside pickups at the Camas Public Library on Friday, Sept. 11. Library staff are in the building and available via phone to arrange pickups for next week. 

Meteorologists with the National Weather Service said Friday that there are reasons to be optimistic about the upcoming weather in the region. 

“Chances for rain return early next week,” NWS Portland tweeted Friday morning. “Marine air (will) gradually (be) working inland (over the) next few days, pushing the worst of the smoke out.” 

There are several wildfires burning in the region, including the Riverside and Beachie Creek fires southeast of Portland, which have burned at least 310,000 acres since Monday, Sept. 7, and caused mass evacuations throughout Oregon’s Clackamas and Marion counties; and the Big Hollow burning east and north of the Trapper Creek Wilderness area near the Yale Reservoir in Southwest Washington, which prompted Level 1 (Get Ready) and Level 2 (Get Set) evacuation notices for communities in North Clark County this week.

According to the Clark Regional Emergency Services Agency (CRESA), most of the smoke in the Camas-Washougal and Vancouver region is not coming from the Big Hollow fire but rather from the wildfires burning in Oregon and California.

For more information about air quality in the area, visit AirNow.gov. 

AirNow, a partnership of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Park Service, NASA, Centers for Disease Control and tribal, state and local air quality agencies, warns that wildfire smoke impacts everyone’s health, but especially those who have heart of lung disease; older adults; children, including teenagers; people with diabetes; and pregnant women. 

“If it looks or smells smoky outside, it’s probably not a good time to mow the lawn or go for a run,” AirNow warns on its website. “And it’s probably not a good time for children, especially children with asthma, to be vigorously active outdoors, or active outdoors for prolonged periods of time.” 

For more information about how wildfire smoke can affect your health, visit airnow.gov/air-quality-and-health/how-smoke-from-fires-can-affect-your-health.