{"id":10712,"date":"2020-09-15T23:50:31","date_gmt":"2020-09-16T06:50:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/?p=10712"},"modified":"2020-09-16T07:03:48","modified_gmt":"2020-09-16T14:03:48","slug":"post3-88","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/?p=10712","title":{"rendered":"“Some of the Planet\u2019s Most Polluted Skies Are Now Over the West Coast”, The New York Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Mike Baker, Seattle, Sept. 15, 2020<\/span><\/p>\n

Smoke from the wildfires in the West was also spotted high in the skies over Washington, D.C. Firefighters continued to battle blazes that were still spreading.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n
\n

SEATTLE \u2014 The billowing wildfire smoke that has blanketed much of the West Coast with a caustic haze also began settling into the atmosphere thousands of miles away on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

While more favorable weather has allowed firefighters to make some progress against the devastating blazes in Oregon, the crisis was far from over: The largest fires were still mostly uncontained, the air has been some of the most polluted on the planet for a week, and the state was setting up a mobile morgue as crews continued to sift through the rubble for missing people.<\/p>\n

In California, where 25 people have died this year and 3.2 million acres \u2014 a modern record \u2014 have burned, officials had both successes and setbacks: Firefighters there contained two fires, one in Yuba County and the other north of Willits, and were trying to suppress 33 new blazes as stiff winds in the northeast pushed fires into new territory. There was still no significant rain in sight, and lands parched by warm weather remain at risk of igniting.<\/p>\n

At the North Complex Fire, which has burned more than 270,000 acres northeast of Sacramento, winds whipped the flames across a clearing that had been plowed by bulldozers.<\/p>\n

Capt. Michael McIndoe and his crew were trying to stamp out any embers crossing a road. \u201cIt\u2019s really challenging to stop it,\u201d said Captain McIndoe, who was sent north by the Los Angeles Fire Department to join the fight.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n

Crews back in Los Angeles were working on Tuesday to beat back one wildfire that approached to within 500 feet of the famed Mt. Wilson Observatory, according to the U.S. Forest Service.<\/p>\n

West Coast residents from San Francisco to Seattle and beyond have for days suffered from the smoke, which has sent air-quality readings soaring to hazardous levels, closed some schools and led officials to shut parks and beaches while pleading for people to stay indoors. In Seattle, Harborview Medical Center reported seeing a rise in the number of people seeking help for breathing issues \u2014 many of them people with underlying conditions such as asthma or lung disease.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe air outside right now is at historically polluted levels,\u201d Gov. Jay Inslee of Washington said.<\/p>\n

\"Smoke<\/picture><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
Smoke from the Creek Fire near Fresno, Calif., lingered over Shaver Lake on Tuesday.<\/span>Credit…<\/span>Daniel Dreifuss for The New York Times<\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n

Air that was considered unhealthy to breathe was recorded as far away as Montana and up into Canada, though the high-level haze extended much further. Propelled by the jet stream and a high-pressure system over the Great Lakes, the smoke began arriving at higher altitudes across much of the continent.By midday on Tuesday over Washington, D.C., the sun and the sky had blurred together into one diffused and omnipresent bright light.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n

Brian LaSorsa, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in the Baltimore and Washington region, said he first noticed the smoke over the region on Monday, in the upper levels of the atmosphere.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously we don\u2019t see smoke very often from wildfires,\u201d Mr. LaSorsa said.<\/p>\n

But on the ground along the East Coast, the air quality remained clear. There was a possibility the smoke could descend, possibly later this week if a cold front comes through, Mr. LaSorsa said, but he expected it to stay aloft through Tuesday night.<\/p>\n

The wildfires along the West Coast that are generating the atmospheric pollution had flared dramatically last week when winds whipped them into infernos that overwhelmed cities and razed hundreds of homes in Washington, Oregon and California. Wildfires have also been sparked in Idaho, where a blaze of nearly 70,000 acres near the Oregon border forced the evacuation Monday of dozens of residents and campers.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
Wildfires in the West \u203a<\/a><\/div>\n

Live Updates<\/a><\/h2>\n
\n

Sept. 16, 2020, 9:26 a.m. ET<\/span>30 minutes ago<\/span><\/div>\n

30 minutes ago<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n