SEATTLE — On Thursday, air quality across Washington was cause for concern as wildfire smoke filled the skies.
A lot of the smoke drifting into the state and the Puget Sound region came from British Columbia.
RELATED: More heat and smoke ahead Friday
That smoke is expected to worsen overnight into Friday, possibly leading to serious health problems for sensitive groups of people.
KIRO 7 found out that when the air is bad and filled with smoke, people breathe in tiny particles filling the lungs, which could cause inflammatory issues in the body.
However, the concern about poor air quality did not seem to bother some on Thursday as KIRO 7 saw people up at Kerry Park trying to capture a wonderful view of downtown Seattle.
And while people tried, they could not get a clear view due to the smoky haze that filled the sky.
KIRO 7 ran into Seattle resident Monica Bouchart who was out with her friends visiting from Mexico, and two of them told us their eyes felt itchy. And it was not until they were trying to get the best picture that it all made sense.
[DOWNLOAD: Free KIRO 7 News app for alerts as news breaks]
“We thought it was because they were allergic or something, but they say I am not allergic or anything. And now we know it is because of this (the smoke),” Bouchart said.
No matter where you looked, the smoky haze made it difficult for people to see anything.
A KIRO 7 reporter ran into jogger Joe Ylagan, and he said he could not tell the difference, but he could see the smoke. However, Ylagan wondered if there might be more than meets the eye.
“I’m sure it’s doing something. I probably shouldn’t be breathing this in,” Ylagan said.
When KIRO 7 asked air quality experts about the dangers of being outside in smoky conditions, Phil Swartzendruber of the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency said, “That can actually lead to strokes, heart attacks and can also exacerbate asthma, give people asthma attacks, it can irritate the lungs and just generally make it hard to breathe and make feel really uncomfortable as well. And there may be some other long-term impacts that we don’t fully know yet.”
KIRO 7 chief meteorologist Morgan Palmer said when you have poor air quality in the Puget Sound region on top of hot weather, it is a recipe for disaster for many people because many folks do not have air conditioning, causing people to open windows to allow cool air in, which is not a good idea.
To check the air quality index for your neighborhood, click here.
©2021 Cox Media Group
