Wildfire smoke moves into Western Washington
Nov 13, 2018, 4:28 PM
Haze near Mount Rainier. (Image from KIRO 7 tower)
(Image from KIRO 7 tower)
It may be short lived, but the haze you’re seeing over Western Washington is smoke from the wildfires in California.
“It’s mainly thickest aloft so surface air quality isn’t bad, but it’s noticeable!,” KIRO 7 Meteorologist Morgan Palmer tweeted on Tuesday.
Palmer added that the haze will clear out Tuesday night as rain moves in.
According to the National Weather Service in Seattle, air quality remains good to moderate, despite the smoke.
Some smoke visible along the horizon this afternoon. This is due to #CampFire in northern California and #CAFires. Air quality still in the good to moderate range across western WA and should improve with rain tonight. #wawx pic.twitter.com/hse1zOhzIS
— NWS Seattle (@NWSSeattle) November 13, 2018
The Camp Fire is the deadliest, most destructive wildfire in California history, a wildfire blamed for at least 42 deaths.
The flames all but obliterated the Northern California town of Paradise, population 27,000, and ravaged surrounding areas last Thursday. The exact number of missing was unclear, but many friends and relatives of those living in the fire zone said they hadn’t heard from loved ones.
Before the Paradise tragedy, the deadliest single fire on record in California was a 1933 blaze in Griffith Park in Los Angeles that killed 29.
At the other end of the state Tuesday, firefighters continued making progress against a 150-square-mile (388-square-kilometer) blaze that has killed two people in star-studded Malibu and destroyed well over 400 structures in Southern California.
Gov. Jerry Brown said California is “pretty well maxed out” from fighting several deadly wildfires, and he expressed gratitude for help from surrounding states and the federal government. He said the state is doing everything possible to prevent fires, but “some things only God can do.”
The cause of the fires remained under investigation, but they broke out around the time and place two utilities reported equipment trouble. Gov.-elect Gavin Newsom, who takes office in January, sidestepped questions about what action should be taken against utilities if their power lines are found to be responsible.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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