SEATTLE — It's not the Seattle summer we've gotten used to.
Smoke and haze now blanket the city, making visibility so poor Kenmore Air had to cancel its seaplane flights for the day.
“They said, 'Sit tight, we've got you rescheduled on the 2 o’clock’ and I've just learned that one, sadly, had been canceled, too,” said Jennifer Ste. Marie, who is visiting from New Jersey.
The smoke is blown in from wildfires burning in eastern Washington and British Columbia.
”One thing we should remember is this area has historically been smoky here 100 years ago, 150 years ago. The skies were full of smoke every summer,” said Cliff Mass, professor of atmospheric sciences at the University of Washington.
Ironically, according to Mass, all of this smoke is brought on by how we try to stop fires.
“We have a problem with the forest around here. And we get these big fires now,” Mass explained. “We've suppressed fires for almost 100 years, and (a) lot of the forests are overgrown.”
Mass said bad air quality may be an issue that Puget Sound will have to deal with every summer unless forest management changes.
“The only way to really deal with the problem is to thin the forest out and allow fire back. Lesser fires. They're called prescribed burns that allow us to burn the understory and restore forests to what they were 150 years ago,” Mass added. “Another big issue is an increase in population. We have a lot of people living where they shouldn't be living. We've pushed housing and civilization out into the wild and that’s helping provoking fires, producing fires so that’s another issue. We really need to pull back from development in wild areas that have traditionally burned.”
More smoke-related news from KIRO 7:
- In Washington state, smoky skies, hazardous air
- Washington health officials: Don't vacuum during smoky air without HEPA filter
- Berkeley Earth-inspired app: In Seattle today, air is like smoking over 7 cigarettes
- Map with real-time air quality conditions for Washington state cities
- Do you have an investigative story tip? Send us an email at investigate@kiro7.com
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