Wildfire could cause Spokane air quality to reach unhealthy levels on Friday

Smoke from the Williams Lake fire is making its way into Spokane.

While the air quality entered unhealthy levels Thursday morning, readings had fallen into the “moderate” category by the afternoon. The “unhealthy” reading came from an air monitor near the scene of the fire, according to the Spokane Clean Air Agency

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“The breezy winds today will increase ventilation, but it could also aggravate wildfires,” Spokane Clean Air spokeswoman Lisa Woodard said Thursday morning.

The agency is predicting the quality will be “unhealthy for sensitive groups” on Friday.

Woodard recommends people check smoke data hourly as smoke data is updated since conditions can change rapidly.

“Most of the city is moderate,” Woodard said.

Air quality data is being collected at the Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge, near to the Williams Lake fire. The city is still exposed to the finer particles of smoke coming from the fire, and conditions can change at any time.

Spokane Clean Air will monitor the smoke and cover the 24-hour average concentration of the smoke in the agency’s fire chart.

July 31 was the first day last year the county’s air qualitymeasured over “moderate” as a result of wildfire smoke.

Editor’s note: This story was changed on Aug. 5, 2022 to correct information about last year’s air quality.