Notice: This blog is not routinely managed after the Idaho wildfire season has effectively concluded. If you are looking for air quality information when wildfires are not active in Idaho please consider visiting Idaho Department of Environmental Quality's air quality forecast and burn map page at: http://www.deq.idaho.gov/air-quality/monitoring/daily-reports-and-forecasts .
Idaho Wildfire Season Recap
Fire starts began in July and continued into August. By early August wildfire smoke began to impact Idaho’s residents. By the first week of September under warm and very dry conditions wildfire smoke thoroughly blanketed all of Idaho exposing many of Idaho citizens to potentially serious health impacts. The most severe air quality impacts this season were experienced in communities in north and central Idaho where Hazardous Conditions were measured for four days in the Coeur d’Alene area.
September number of days with Hazardous air quality from PM2.5 Particulate Pollution
Wildfires burned on over 5 million acres in Idaho, Washington, Oregon, Montana, and British Columbia Canada combined. Over 700,000 acres were affected by wildfire in Idaho this year.
- Idaho wildfires in 2017 released over 111,000 tons of direct fine particulate pollution (PM2.5) into the air. This is equal to 10 times the amount of particulate pollution that all the cars and trucks in Idaho emit over a three year period.
