Treasure Valley residents can expect a smoky weekend as fires in and around Idaho continue to bring smoke into the region, further contributing to the Gem State's record-setting summer of smoke.
“The weather service put it this way,” Paul Corrigan, U.S. Forest Service intermountain region smoke coordinator, said. “With fires to our north, east and west, it will be hard to have clean air in the near-term in the Boise area … I think they’re right.”
The biggest impact on the influx of smoke in Boise last weekend was the Wapiti fire burning near Stanley. A high-pressure system caused the smoke to remain low and work its way downstream, along the valleys of the Boise River. This was followed by the Treasure Valley seeing additional smoke Sunday through Tuesday from fires in Oregon, Corrigan said.
The Idaho Department of Environmental Quality's air quality forecast for the Treasure Valley shows that the air is expected to be “unhealthy for sensitive groups” from Friday through Sunday.
Winds from the south are expected to bring clean air and “noticeably clear skies” by Sunday evening, Corrigan said.
Smoke and fire activity is significantly impacted by the type of pressure systems coming into an area. Higher pressure patterns cause smoke to remain close to the ground, bringing worse air quality, while also limiting fire growth due to a lack of oxygen in an area. Lower pressure systems, such as cold fronts, bring fresh air — meaning more oxygen — and create more favorable conditions for fire growth, Corrigan said.
Even with these weather patterns bringing a degree of predictability, new fires can present challenges when providing smoke forecasts.
“One of the challenges with smoke forecasting is new fires can pop up anywhere, anytime,” Corrigan said.
Boise residents got a first-hand look at this reality with Wednesday’s Plex fire that had a sudden impact on air quality in the area. The fire only added to a historic year of poor air quality in the city of Boise.
“It sure looks to be like this summer was double or triple (of) even some of the previous years we thought of as bad years,” Corrigan said.
According to historic Environmental Protection Agency data dating back to 1999, 2024 has brought the highest number of “unhealthy” air quality days to Boise by a significant margin.
As of Thursday, 25 separate days of “unhealthy” air quality or worse, determined by having an Air Quality Index (AQI) of 151 or greater, have been recorded this year. This is more than double the 11 "unhealthy" days recorded in 2020, the previous record year in the last quarter century.
Some reprieve for the Treasure Valley may be coming soon, in the form of a Pacific storm. The forecasted storm remains a week out, however, and Corrigan reminded to not put too much stock into extended forecasts.
“Eventually we’ll get a nice, Pacific storm and it will quiet down Oregon and it will quiet down Idaho,” Corrigan said. “There’s even a chance about seven days from now that that can happen, but once you get out past five days, you don’t want to hang your hat on the weather forecast too close.”
Those looking for current smoke condition, can find hourly information on the AirNow website , fire.airnow.gov.
PLEX FIRE CONTAINED THURSDAY
According to the Boise Fire Department Facebook page , the Plex fire was contained as of 3:35 p.m. Thursday with the fire expected to be controlled, or burned out, around 8 p.m. Saturday.
As of Thursday morning, fire crews had stopped the spread of the fire and had began "reinforcing containment lines and mopping up hotspots," the page said.
Boise Fire Department and the Bureau of Land Management initially responded to a fire around 6 p.m. on Wednesday, located three miles east of Micron's headquarters on South Federal Way. At the time, the fire had burned about 20 acres.
When the fire was about 80% contained, a shift in the wind brought the fire toward residences. The fire expanded to 350 acres, knocking out power for Les Bois Junior High and Trail Wind Elementary School until about 11 a.m. Thursday, as previously reported by the Idaho Press .
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