Smoke from the September 2013 36 Pits fire near Estacada made for smoky (but beautiful) sunsets over the Gorge.
Ben MitchellIf you’ve noticed some smoky skies and spectacular sunsets and sunrises in the Gorge lately, a wildfire currently burning near Estacada is the culprit.
According to Hood River Fire and EMS, the haze that has blanketed the Gorge the past few days comes from smoke produced by the 36 Pit fire burning approximately 10 miles southeast of Estacada in the Mt. Hood National Forest.
As of press time, the fire, which started Saturday afternoon, has burned 2,300 acres of grass and timber and closed a 4-mile portion of Highway 224 according to Inciweb, a fire incident management website. The fire has been determined to be human-caused, but is still under investigation.
The fire has caused a reduction in air quality throughout the upper Willamette Valley, with air quality listed as “Unhealthy” in the cities of Salem and Corvallis late Monday afternoon according to the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality air quality index website. The index states that an Unhealthy rating means “everyone may begin to experience some adverse health effects, and members of the sensitive groups may experience more serious effects,” due to the air pollution.
The closest air monitoring site in the Gorge is located in The Dalles, and though the Gorge has experienced hazy skies, air quality was listed as “Good” throughout the day on Monday.
Readers can look at the DEQ’s air quality index website at http://www.deq.state.or.us/aqi/index.aspx.
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