NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
A2
Wednesday, June 26, 2019
Health impact from smoke rises with more intense wildfires
plants close and fewer older
cars roll down highways.
But those air quality gains
are being erased in some
areas by the ill effects of
massive clouds of smoke
that can spread hundreds
and even thousands of miles
on cross-country winds,
according to researchers.
With the 2019 fire sea-
son already heating up with
fires from Southern Califor-
nia to Canada, authorities
are scrambling to better pro-
tect the public before smoke
again blankets cities and
towns. Officials in Seattle
recently announced plans to
retrofit five public buildings
as smoke-free shelters.
Scientists from NASA
and universities are refin-
ing satellite imagery to pre-
dict where smoke will travel
and how intense it will be.
Local authorities are using
those forecasts to send out
real-time alerts encouraging
people to stay indoors when
conditions turn unhealthy.
The scope of the problem
is immense: Over the next
three decades, more than
300 counties in the West
will see more severe smoke
waves from wildfires, some-
times lasting weeks longer
than in years past, accord-
ing to atmospheric research-
ers led by a team from Yale
and Harvard.
For almost two weeks
last year during the Camp
Other sources of
air pollution are in
decline in the U.S.
By MATTHEW BROWN
Associated Press
BILLINGS,
Montana
— Climate change in the
Western U.S. means more
intense and frequent wild-
fires churning out waves
of smoke that scientists say
will sweep across the con-
tinent to affect tens of mil-
lions of people and cause a
spike in premature deaths.
That emerging reality
is prompting people in cit-
ies and rural areas alike to
prepare for another sum-
mer of sooty skies along
the West Coast and in the
Rocky Mountains — the
regions widely expected to
suffer most from blazes tied
to dryer, warmer conditions.
“There’s so little we can
do. We have air purifiers
and masks — otherwise
we’re just like ‘Please don’t
burn,’” said Sarah Rochelle
Montoya of San Francisco,
who fled her home with her
husband and children last
fall to escape thick smoke
enveloping the city from a
disastrous fire roughly 150
miles away.
Other sources of air pol-
lution are in decline in the
U.S. as coal-fired power
AP File Photo
Smoke from the Camp Fire near Paradise, Calif., darkens the sky on Nov. 8, 2018. Tens of mil-
lions of people in the western U.S. face a growing health risk due to wildfires as more intense
and frequent blazes churn out greater volumes of lung-damaging smoke, according to re-
search scientists at NASA and several major universities.
Fire, which killed 85 peo-
ple and destroyed 14,000
homes in Paradise, Califor-
nia, smoke from the blaze
inundated the San Francisco
neighborhood where Mon-
toya lives with her husband,
Trevor McNeil, and their
three children.
Lines formed outside
hardware stores as people
rushed to buy face masks
and indoor air purifiers. The
city’s famous open air cable
TODAY
THURSDAY
FRIDAY
SATURDAY
SUNDAY
Thundershower
Periods of sun, a
t-storm; cool
A blend of sun and
clouds
Partly sunny and
comfortable
Partly sunny and
nice
75° 52°
72° 50°
81° 56°
79° 55°
PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
83° 56°
79° 53°
HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
79° 52°
88° 56°
84° 57°
OREGON FORECAST
ALMANAC
Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.
PENDLETON
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Seattle
Olympia
65/52
76/50
77/51
Longview
Kennewick Walla Walla
77/53
Lewiston
68/52
82/55
Astoria
64/53
Pullman
Yakima 81/57
70/51
80/57
Portland
Hermiston
71/55
The Dalles 81/56
Salem
Corvallis
67/50
Yesterday
Normals
Records
La Grande
72/46
PRECIPITATION
John Day
Eugene
Bend
70/48
65/40
74/46
Ontario
88/56
Caldwell
Burns
81°
57°
83°
55°
105° (1992) 40° (1966)
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
Albany
68/51
0.00"
Trace
0.52"
4.42"
5.10"
5.63"
WINDS (in mph)
87/56
76/39
0.00"
0.09"
0.99"
9.37"
6.49"
7.50"
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Pendleton 73/44
70/52
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
HERMISTON
Enterprise
75/52
74/56
76°
49°
82°
54°
105° (1925) 35° (1904)
PRECIPITATION
Moses
Lake
70/52
Aberdeen
77/51
75/56
Tacoma
Yesterday
Normals
Records
Spokane
Wenatchee
71/54
Today
Boardman
Pendleton
Medford
71/49
Thu.
WNW 6-12
NW 6-12
WSW 7-14
W 7-14
SUN AND MOON
Klamath Falls
67/37
Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2019
Sunrise today
Sunset tonight
Moonrise today
Moonset today
5:07 a.m.
8:49 p.m.
1:38 a.m.
2:18 p.m.
New
First
Full
Last
July 2
July 9
July 16
July 24
NATIONAL EXTREMES
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
High 104° in Needles, Calif. Low 24° in Aspen Springs, Colo.
child-sized face masks or
an adequate air filter. Both
were sold out everywhere
they looked.
In desperation, her fam-
ily ended up fleeing to a
relative’s vacation home in
Lake Tahoe. The children
were delighted that they
could go outside again.
“We really needed our
kids to be able to breathe,”
Montoya said.
Smoke from wildfires
USDA grants to help farms,
businesses cut energy costs
Forecast for Pendleton Area
74° 49°
cars shut down. Schools kept
children inside or canceled
classes, and a church soup
kitchen sheltered homeless
people from the smoke.
Montoya’s three chil-
dren have respiratory prob-
lems that their doctor says is
likely a precursor to asthma,
she said. That would put
them among those most
at-risk from being harmed
by wildfire smoke, but the
family was unable to find
was once considered a fleet-
ing nuisance except for the
most vulnerable popula-
tions. But it’s now seen in
some regions as a recurring
and increasing public health
threat, said James Crooks,
a health investigator at
National Jewish Health, a
Denver medical center that
specializes in respiratory
ailments.
“There are so many fires,
so many places upwind
of you that you’re getting
increased particle levels and
increased ozone from the
fires for weeks and weeks,”
Crooks said.
One such place is Ash-
land, Oregon, a city of about
21,000 known for its sum-
mer-long Oregon Shake-
speare Festival.
During each of the past
two summers, Ashland had
about 40 days of smoke-
filled air, said Chris Cham-
bers, wildfire division chief
for the fire department. Last
year, that forced cancella-
tion of more than two dozen
outdoor
performances.
Family physician Justin
Adams said the smoke was
hardest on his patients with
asthma and other breathing
problems and he expects
some to see long-term
health effects.
“It
was
essentially
like they’d started smok-
ing again for two months,”
he said.
NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY
Oregon applicants
received eight
grants totaling
$266,490
By GEORGE PLAVEN
Capital Press
SALEM — Northwest
farms and businesses are
getting $324,060 in grants
from USDA Rural Devel-
opment to help reduce their
energy costs by becoming
more efficient and install-
ing renewable energy
systems.
Funding was announced
on June 11 and comes from
the Renewable Energy
for America Program, or
REAP. Oregon applicants
received eight grants total-
ing $266,490; Idaho appli-
cants received five grants
totaling $40,589; and
Washington
applicants
received two grants total-
ing $16,981.
Nationwide, the USDA
awarded $1 million through
REAP across 17 states and
Puerto Rico. The single
largest grant of $100,000
went to the University of
Oregon, which is working
with the Seattle-based non-
profit Spark Northwest to
assist 40 small businesses
— primarily agricultural
producers — in installing
solar, wind, hydro, thermal
and biogas energy projects.
“Business
owners
know that energy costs can
consume a large portion
of their budget,” said John
Huffman, Oregon state
director for USDA Rural
Development.
“These
grants will not only help
rural entrepreneurs and
farmers improve their
bottom line by saving on
their utility bills, but also
help improve the rural
economy by retaining and
creating jobs.”
REAP grants are
divided into two categories.
The Renewable Energy
Systems and Energy Effi-
ciency Improvement Pro-
gram awards money for
renewable energy devel-
opments and efficiency
improvements, while the
Energy Audit and Renew-
able Energy Develop-
ment Assistance Program
allows recipients to conduct
energy audits and provide
assistance for farms and
rural businesses.
In Oregon, blueberry
farm Sandau Enterprises
in Salem will use a $20,000
grant to install a 71-kilo-
watt solar array, offsetting
94% of the farm’s energy
use and reducing energy
bills by $6,930 per year.
Another $80,000 went
to the Oregon Trail Electric
Cooperative, which serves
23,000 members in Eastern
Oregon including Baker,
Grant, Harney and Union
counties. The co-op plans
to conduct energy audits
and solar energy site anal-
ysis at 25 local farms and
businesses.
In all, REAP grants are
expected to help nearly 70
Oregon producers and busi-
ness owners. Idaho grants
will go toward installing
solar arrays, LED lights
and energy efficient win-
dows at individual busi-
nesses. The two grants in
Washington are dedicated
to building solar arrays
with a combined capacity
of 23.7 kilowatts, saving a
combined $1,581 a year in
energy costs.
Congress has appropri-
ated $50 million for REAP
grants and loan guarantees
in fiscal year 2019. USDA
will announce additional
awards for applicants in the
coming months.
GRANT RECIPIENTS
Farms and businesses in Or-
egon, Washington and Idaho
received 15 grants totaling
$324,060 from USDA Rural
Development to install re-
newable energy systems and
increase energy efficiency.
RECIPIENTS INCLUDE:
ID — Mark E. Bolduc
(Hagerman), $6,247
ID — Stephanie Elizabeth Deyo
(Orofino), $5,047
ID — Azevedo Drywall LLC
(Twin Falls County), $6,606
ID — City Storage Inc.
(Idaho Falls), $6,489
ID — James C. Allen, DDS
(Rexburg), $16,200
OR — Integrated Biomass
Resources
(Wallowa), $2,655
OR — Mountain View
Hotel and RV Park LLC
(Joseph), $8,077
OR — Sprinter Trucking Inc.
(Winston), $19,950
OR — Oregon Trail
Electric Cooperative
(Baker, Union, Grant, Harney
counties), $80,000
OR — Kiger Island Blues LLC
(Corvallis), $20,000
OR — Pasta Piatti Inc.
(Ashland), $15,808
OR — Sandau Enterprises Inc.
(Salem), $20,000
OR — University of Oregon
(Eugene), $100,000
WA — Rabble and Roost LLC
(Whatcom County), $7,759
WA — Fungi Perfect LLC
(Shelton), $9,222
Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day.
-10s
-0s
0s
showers t-storms
10s
rain
20s
flurries
30s
snow
40s
50s
ice
60s
cold front
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