Lane County air update

Notice the air isn’t as clear and beautiful as you might like for Labor Day weekend? This just in from LRAPA: Labor Day weekend air quality affected by Deception Complex wildfire smoke The Lane Regional Air Protection Agency (LRAPA) would like to advise residents and visitors in Lane County to be aware of air quality concerns throughout this weekend. Labor Day weekend air quality is looking to range from “Moderate/Yellow” to “Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups (USG)/Orange” in Oakridge/Westfir. Eugene/Springfield is looking at ranges from “Good/Green” to “Moderate/Yellow.”

The Deception Complex fire in Oakridge has grown to 2,196 acres as of Sunday, August 31, 2014. Cooler area temperatures and light precipitation is improving conditions slightly. Smoke levels were significantly lower in the Oakridge area Saturday than earlier in the week. The wind is forecasted to push from the Northwest to the North for the next couple days. This will help keep smoke levels down in the immediate Oakridge area. However, if the winds change or conditions do not improve and worsen from the “USG” levels, LRAPA advises that residents stay indoors and limit outside activities.

The City of Oakridge and Lane County Government has set up a smoke relief room at the Willamette Activity Center (47674 School St.), Room 10. The room is open Saturday-Monday this weekend from 9 AM – 5 PM. People are welcome to turn on air conditioning and escape from the smoke. People feeling health impacts from the smoke should contact their doctors or health care providers.

More information on smoke related health impacts can be found here, at the United States Environmental Protection Agency website brochure: http://www.epa.gov/airnow/smoke/Smoke2003final.pdf

People can check the air quality at www.lrapa.org with information that is updated hourly, around the clock. For more detailed information on the smoke, please see: http://oregonsmoke.blogspot.com/ I

nformation on the Deception Creek Fire can be found at the Willamette National Forest website and twitter, @willametteNF or the Incident Information System: http://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/4093/

For more information, please call Jo Niehaus, LRAPA’s public affairs manager at 541-736-1056 ext 217. # # #

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