It has been an odd week. A large portion of Oregon remains on fire and choked in smoke. Over a million and a half acres have burned and thousands of people have evacuated, with more just waiting for that Level 3 – GO Evacuation Order.
While that was going on, our small corner of the world has been nearly smoke free.
There were a few bad air quality days the end of last week. Then this week our skies cleared. Our small section of central Oregon lay isolated from smoke.
We’re not complaining. It’s been nice to open a door and not start coughing. But there is a downside. All our regular haunts are still sitting in the smoke.
There are a couple of project fires just North of Prineville and southwest of Maupin. The John Day fossil beds Painted Hills Unit is scorched. And the plume from all these fires pretty much covers the rest of central Oregon.
We did find a spot close by to escape the smoke.
The Upper Deschutes is relatively smoke free, at least the section we stopped at. So for now we stick close to home and watch the fire apps waiting for the winds to shift and the fires to burn out