Smoke finally begins to clear as air quality improves across Seattle, Tacoma area

SEATTLE — Air quality is beginning to improve from Seattle on to Tacoma, with smoke expected to continue clearing out on Thursday.

As of early Thursday morning, air quality in between Seattle and Puyallup sat at the “moderate level,” while Tacoma is back up to “good.” This comes after a tough day for smoke on Wednesday, where the AQI level in many parts of the South Sound ranged between “unhealthy” and “hazardous.”

Officials say this week’s smoke has likely been driven by a combination of a smattering of nearby wildfires and lingering smoke from Fourth of July fireworks.

“We had some wildfire smoke first come into the region from British Colombia fires and then for the Fourth of July we had firework smoke, and I would wager there might have been some outdoor fires going on, some recreational fires, and then we also had a brush fire in Mason County, that was putting out quite a lot of smoke,” said Phil Swartzendruber, air quality scientist for Puget Sound Clean Air Agency.

That had residents across the region masking up.

“The air just kind of sucks, it’s gray,” said Rhonda Mobley, who lives in Lakewood.

Candy, who was out walking says the air quality is so bad, she decided to put on a mask on Wednesday.

“I could see out my house windows that it was pretty thick, and I’m just careful about breathing healthy air,” said Candy.

As our KIRO7 crew drove through Lakewood they noticed remnants of fireworks everywhere. On the side of the road, in driveways, and on top of cars.

“Last night, it really was basically just a complete bomb off out here till about 3 o’clock this morning,” said Mobley.

KIRO 7 caught up with Mobley as she was gardening on Wednesday.

“Yeah, it’s getting really tough to breathe out here,” said Mobley.

Rhonda is a mail carrier, she’s glad she’s not working this week but worries for her colleagues.

“It’s hard enough with the heat, and then with the air quality they are just going to have a really hard time,” said Mobley.

You can track conditions in your area with this real-time map.

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