Smoke from Willamette NF fire streams into Bend; air quality improves from ‘hazardous’ level

(Update: Air quality index improves to 'moderate')

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) – Thick smoke from a wildfire on the Willamette National Forest blew into the High Desert on Monday afternoon and evening, making for “hazardous” air quality readings in Bend.

The Gales Fire, part of the Middle Fork Complex on the Willamette Forest, put up a smoke plume visible from Eugene and other areas as it crossed Forest Road 18 and moved northeast in the area of the Tiller Creek drainage, officials said. The group of fires that broke out in late July have burned more than 9,200 acres and are just 7% contained.

While air quality readings from E::Space Labs (map is halfway down our weather page) improved to moderate or even good from Tumalo north to Redmond, but in Bend, the air quality index hit nearly 500 – twice as bad as the minimum “Hazardous” level. Lesser, but still-hazardous levels were reported in the La Pine and Sunriver areas.

And if you had never visited Central Oregon before Monday evening, there's a chance you'd have no idea the Cascades even existed based on these conditions.

Typically during the evening hours, you can see residents on walks, jogging or riding bikes, but that was not the case on Monday evening.

NewsChannel 21 spoke to several people in downtown Bend to see if the thick smoke put a damper on their evening plans.

Will and Dotty Watson were still out celebrating their 30th wedding anniversary while visiting from Seattle amid all the smoke.

"We walked outside, and it was clear -- I thought," the husband said. "It was a little windy so I thought it was going to blow over. And my eyes started burning as soon as we walked outside, and I was like , "Holy smokes -- for real, smokes! It's insane."

His wife Dotty says they've experienced conditions like this up in Seattle, but they were surprised how quickly the smoke came in.

"It's gotten a lot worse -- just in the two hours we were in the restaurant, it's gotten significantly worse," Dotty Watson said.

The Watsons say they fear this will be the new normal on the West Coast during the summer months, but they still plan on golfing Tuesday.

And for friends Jim S. and Johnny Adams, the smoke was not going to stop their evening.

"I'm visiting Jim, he said the weather would be good and I would have fresh air, but you see how that turned out," Adams jokingly said. "I can smell it, and if it gets any thicker, I might have to swim."

Jim S. says he lives here during the summers and is used to the smoke in recent years, but he does miss having a mountain view.

"I can't see the mountains. I love to see the mountains, and that's the biggest drawback," Jim S. said. "I told him (Adams) to come up and see the mountains, this and that, so we're going to have to go to them tomorrow." 

As predicted, the smoke relented overnight, and Bend's air quality improved to mostly "moderate" levels Tuesday morning, though the smoke is expected to return later in the day, amid a big cooldown.