BOISE — Treasure Valley residents can expect to be inundated with smoky conditions over the coming days as existing wildfires in central and eastern Oregon expanded over the weekend and new fires near the Idaho-Oregon border quickly grew in size.
Smoke outlook
On Monday, the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) extended an Air Quality Advisory until Friday for 10 counties — including Ada and Canyon counties — as a result of wildfire smoke degrading air quality.
Air quality alerts for smoke stemming from eastern and central Oregon fires were also issued last week, but air quality was showing signs of improvement with “moderate” conditions observed as recently as Saturday.
New fire starts and significant growth in existing fires have significantly worsened conditions, however, with some fires near Idaho growing to thousands of acres in size in just a few hours, Michael Toole, DEQ’s regional airshed coordinator, said…