Earth Protect Blog

Smoke spreading from fires in Canada and the Pacific Northwest on Thursday morning obscured the blue skies north of metro Denver, and residents may have smelled smoke.

National Weather Service meteorologists said smoke particles will be thickest over the northeastern corner of the state. Only light smoke and haze was expected over metro Denver and the Front Range.

As of 11:10 a.m. Thursday, no air-quality alerts had been issued by the Colorado Department of Public Health and the Environment.

However, health officials in their “smoke outlook” noted the influx of smoke from those wildfires and advised reduced outdoor activity for unusually sensitive people.

In southwestern Colorado, fires burning north of Pagosa Springs also were kicking up smoke, and health officials advised the same precaution for sensitive people in that area.

Firefighters in Oregon were battling multiple blazes kicking out smoke amid intense heat in the Willamette Valley. In Canada, hundreds of wildfires were burning in the Northwest Territories, threatening the capital city of Yellowknife and its 20,000 residents. Emergency officials were ordering evacuations.

— Bruce Finley, The Denver Post