Fire and Smoke Update for July 24

Critical fire weather continues in Washington. In addition to the fires discussed in Monday's post, a few new fires emerged in Yakima County and Klickitat County. In Yakima County, the Black Canyon Fire (6,500 acres) is burning about 10 miles northwest of Naches, and the Retreat/Rimrock Fire (2,200 acres) is burning approximately a few miles west of Rimrock Retreat and has caused Hwy 12 closures. Both of these fires have grown quickly, although the Retreat/Rimrock fire is primarily responsible for current smoke impacts in the Yakima area. The Bighorn Fire in East Klickitat County has quickly grown to almost 15,000 acres, but current smoke production from the fire suggests minimal air quality impacts. Satellite imagery below from this morning shows the smoke plumes from fires in the state: 

Satellite imagery from July 24 showing visible smoke plumes from the Retreat/Rimrock Fire in Yakima County, the Pioneer fire in Chelan County, and the Swawilla Fire on the Colville Reservation.  Acquired from College of DuPage.

The Pioneer Fire also continues to burn. While the Chelan area had a bit of a reprieve yesterday from poor air quality, impacts from the Pioneer Fire are expected to increase today and tomorrow with hot, dry, and windy conditions. The daily smoke outlook for the Pioneer Fire can be found by clicking on the box around the Pioneer Fire location at the map at the top of this page or on the Local Smoke Outlooks tab. 

Similarly, smoke from other active wildfires will continue to impact communities nearby. This includes the Cougar Creek Fire in SE WA as well as the Bridge Creek and Swawilla Fires on the Colville Reservation. The current Air Quality Alert has been expanded and now includes the counties of Chelan, Okanogan, Ferry, and Stevens, as well as the Colville Reservation. An Air Quality Alert has also been issued for Yakima County. All Air Quality Alerts are in effect until further notice.

Wildfires in Oregon and British Columbia also continue to burn and windy conditions today and tomorrow may lead to intermittent smoke impacts across Central and Eastern Washington.

As for Western Washington, no smoke impacts are expected at this time. One exception--smoke from a fire on southern Vancouver Island is currently impacting west San Juan Island; low cost sensors are currently observing moderate air quality after a few hours of poor air quality overnight and impacts should continue to dissipate this afternoon.

Critical fire weather continues across Central and Eastern Washington; please continue to recreate responsible as any fire starts could spread quickly.