By Nick Draper
Idaho Falls Post Register (Idaho)
Copyright 2006 The Post Register
All Rights Reserved
Air quality warnings have been issued for Salmon, Challis and Leadore, but Idaho Falls’ air is OK.
Idaho National Laboratory didn’t blow up Thursday.
Thursday’s hazy skies were caused by wind blowing smoke from three large wildfires near Stanley, said Dawn Harmon, meteorologist for the National Weather Service, dispelling a rumor that a meltdown at INL had caused the smoke.
The fires that did cause it — the Potato Fire and the dozens of blazes that make up the Boundary Complex and Middle Fork Complex — have burned more than 43,000 acres in the Salmon-Challis National Forest, creating smoke that’s canceled a junior high school football game and made the Tetons disappear for some.
“We can’t see the mountains real well,” said Charles L. Frantz, owner of Books N Things in Driggs. “I can barely see a little outline.”
The people hit hardest live in Salmon and Challis, where the football game was canceled.
The Idaho Department of Environmental Quality issued a health advisory for the two towns and Leadore, saying physical activity should be limited.
“You’re not at risk going out to the grocery store, (but) you’d want to think twice about going out for your mountain bike ride or something like that,” said Shawn Sweetapple, an air-quality analyst for the IDEQ.
Salmon’s air quality Thursday was the worst it’s been all year, Sweetapple said, but he added it could improve today if conditions are right.
“If you get a wind shift or you actually get a front in that brings in some rain, that’ll all have an effect on how things go,” he said.
Despite hazy skies in Idaho Falls on Thursday, the city’s air quality wasn’t harmful, Sweetapple said.
“It looks hazy around here, but our numbers are pretty good,” he said. “We don’t have that valley situation like they have in Salmon. They’re a lot more susceptible (to smoky conditions).”
Harmon said a front moved through the area early Thursday morning and will linger until the weekend, bringing a chance of thunderstorms. Those storms have the potential to be an asset but also a burden.
“It may create more fires and more problems,” Harmon said.