No wonder we can't breathe and it's looking alot hazier, like California, these days. I just thought my inability to breathe the past few days was from the wind at Byers all weekend.
YUCK!!
AHHHHHHHHHH---CHOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!
Smelling Smoke? Blame Western Wildfires
Smoke, Haze Coming From Multiple Fires To Our West
DENVER -- The National Weather Service in Denver said that the smoky smell lingering in our Front Range Foothills is from wildfires to our west.
A look at wildfires across the U.S. West on Monday:
COLORADO
-- Crews fighting a nearly 2-square-mile wildfire in western Colorado are also putting out 17 smaller fires sparked by lightning. A Sunday night storm sparked the new blazes while crews were keeping the large fire away from three cabins and an outbuilding about 10 miles north of Nucla in southwest Colorado, according to fire information officer Lee Ann Loupe. The larger fire was reported Saturday and was also believed to be caused by lightning. Firefighters had no estimate Monday on how much of the fire was contained.
ARIZONA
-- More than 500 homes north of Payson, about 90 miles northeast of Phoenix, were under evacuation orders Monday as crews worked to control a wildfire that had consumed more than 500 acres. The Gila County Sheriff's office evacuated the Whispering Pines and Beaver Valley subdivisions and a campground. The fire was reported Sunday afternoon on Tonto National Forest land. No injuries had been reported.
CALIFORNIA
-- A massive fire in the Angeles National Forest nearly doubled in size overnight, threatening 12,000 homes Monday in a 20-mile-long swath of flame and smoke and surging toward a mountaintop broadcasting complex. The fire that burned at least 21 homes was moving north, south and east through the rugged foothills northeast of Los Angeles. Two firefighters were killed Sunday when they drove off a road on Mount Gleason near the city of Acton. It was the largest of at least eight wildfires burning up and down California. Three people were critically burned in the fire.
-- Another 2,000 homes were threatened in San Bernardino County, and a mandatory evacuation was under way in Oak Glen, an unincorporated scenic community of apple orchards near Yucaipa and about 90 miles east of downtown Los Angeles. A 1.4-square-mile wildfire that began Sunday afternoon tripled in size overnight and was burning out of control in oak and conifer woodlands.
-- A 3.8-square-mile blaze that began Thursday near the San Bernardino County town of Hemet was 95 percent contained and was expected to be fully surrounded Monday evening.
-- Northeast of Sacramento, a fire that began Sunday afternoon destroyed 60 structures, many of them homes in the town of Auburn, with an entire cul-de-sac wiped out. The fire had blackened 275 acres amid high winds and reportedly was 50 percent contained Sunday night. The governor declared a state of emergency in the Sierra foothills area.
-- In Mariposa County, a nearly 7-square-mile fire in Yosemite National Park forced the evacuation of about 50 homes. The blaze was reported to be 50 percent contained Sunday. Two people suffered minor injuries.
HAWAII
-- About 25 residents of Molokai had to evacuate when flames from a 9.4-square-mile wildfire headed toward their homes. But they were cleared to return several hours later when the wind shifted to the west, away from the residential area. A firefighter who suffered smoke inhalation on Saturday was hospitalized in stable condition. The cause of the fire was being investigated. Four public schools were closed in Molokai because of the brush fire.
OREGON
-- Firefighters on Monday were mopping up the nearly 2-square-mile Microwave fire that threatened Mosier over the weekend. Three homes and a barn were lost to the blaze, which has cost an estimated $1.7 million to fight and was reportedly 75 percent contained.
UTAH
-- Residents of New Harmony in southern Utah began returning to their homes Monday after authorities lifted an evacuation advisory driven by a wildfire flare-up. But fire officials warned that the blaze could become active again with expected hot and windy conditions. The lightning-caused Mill Flat fire had been burning in the remote Pine Valley wilderness area for more than a month before it flared up over the weekend, forcing hundreds from their homes and prompting new criticism that fire officials didn't attempt to extinguish it earlier. The blaze has blackened about 12 square miles. At one point, fire officials said the blaze threatened 550 homes and 58 commercial buildings. Three homes and eight outbuildings were destroyed.
----
WASHINGTON
-- Firefighters expect the blaze that destroyed a large hay warehouse in Moses Lake to smolder for days. No injuries have been reported. The Columbia Basin Herald reports about 60 firefighters were at the scene.