New Fire and Smoke Map

Have you tried out the new Fire and Smoke Map that was mentioned in the previous post (map available at: https://fire.airnow.gov/)? It's got lots of new information about fires and air quality that has never been available all in one place before including official state air quality monitoring devices (circles), temporary monitoring devices (triangles), and low cost air sensors (squares) all color coded by EPA's NowCast to show the severity of smoke impacts. It also has information about current named fires (flame icons) and satellite detected "hot spots" (glowing dots). Click on any of these icons and you'll get more information. There's also a layer that shows smoke plume extent (note that the smoke plume may or may not be at ground level). 

The image of Washington below shows that we have a few fires burning around the state although for now air quality is mostly Good. The exceptions are the Omak area where smoke from the 6,000 acre Palmer fire is causing impacts, and some light impacts in the Clarkston area from the 1,400 acre Chief Timothy fire (this fire is now 100% contained). The gray shading across the eastern part of the state is an elevated plume of smoke coming in from the south and is likely a combination of smoke from Oregon and California.

And speaking of California, they are experiencing some very serious and widespread fires and smoke impacts right now. Check out the image below. Yikes! (If you do try out the map today and find it a bit sluggish, we think it's from all the "hits" coming in from folks impacted by the smoke from these fires.)

Another plus of the new map is that that it's been designed with mobile devices in mind. The following explainer shows you how to get the information you need. Click here to download the image below for a more readable version. 

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