Air quality worsens to ‘hazardous’ levels in parts of Oakridge; ‘stay indoors if possible,’ agencies advise

By DOUG BATES/Editor/The Herald — Oakridge-Westfir residents are being advised to stay indoors if possible as acrid wildfire smoke degraded local air quality to the official “hazardous” level in parts of the community.

While the air quality index in Eugene and Cottage Grove remained “good,” according to LRAPA, the Lane Regional Air Pollution authority, the index climbed Wednesday to “moderate” for east Springfield, Pleasant Hill and Lowell. Closer to the Middle Fork Complex fires near Oakridge-Westfir, LRAPA monitors rated air quality for Oakridge-Westfir at four varying levels Wednesday: “unhealthy for sensitive groups,” “unhealthy,” “very unhealthy” and “hazardous.”

Earlier this year the federally supported OakridgeAir.org program produced a 55-page Oakridge Smoke Safety Plan to help residents in emergencies like the community is now experiencing. The plan emphasizes the need for residents to reduce exposure to smoke in every way possible, which means closing doors and windows while staying indoors if you can.

In Oakridge, the air quality index shot up more than 100 points Wednesday on the monitor at the Willamette Activity Center. It read 272 — “very unhealthy” — at 2:30 Wednesday afternoon. Other monitors in  the community detected much worse air quality, in the “hazardous” zone.

Meanwhile, the intergovernmental response team that’s fighting the 12 Middle Fork Complex fires said seven of them remained 100 percent contained Wednesday. The most active of them, the Gales Creek Fire, grew overnight to 1,822 acres with zero containment.

The Kwis Fire, just six miles from Oakridge near Salmon Creek, grew to 333 acres overnight and was declared 25 percent contained.

The Willamette National Forest announced an “emergency area closure” for the Salmon Creek Falls Campground and “all roads, trails, developed recreation sites, dispersed camping, and entering of National Forest System lands” within a radius of several miles around the Kwis Fire. A detailed map and further information about the closure can be found on the U.S. Forest Service website for the Willamette National Forest.