Smoke from surrounding wildfires has had an impact on local air quality. One contributing fire is the Ferris Fire, which has reached up to 65,000 acres in southwest Colorado. At a community meeting in Dolores County on July 16, various agencies involved in managing the crisis shared updates on the fire’s current state.
“It’s finally to where now we can say it’s just about ended,” said Dolores County Sheriff Don Wilson of the fire.
Montezuma County Sheriff Steve Nolan discussed the effort of multiple counties to manage the fire. While he wasn’t sure if any livestock were lost, he emphasized that no homes and no human lives were lost.
“That’s a win … because there’s other communities in this state that are not so fortunate,” said Nolan.
San Miguel County Undersheriff Nick Xavier said he was happy San Miguel County was able to help with the fire.
“I’m even happier that it stayed put in Dolores, (but that) doesn't matter … county lines don’t matter a whole lot some days, especially when we’re just worried about helping protect you folks,” said Xavier.
Rose Schoenfield, an incident meteorologist from the National Weather Service, reported that weather conditions are becoming more favorable. She said she’s happy to report that the monsoon is here.
Keith Keesling, of the Dolores County Office of Emergency Management, shared that the Ferris Fire is currently the 10th largest wildfire in Colorado history.
In a statement to the Forum, Erika Story, Director of Communications for Montrose County, reviewed health risks associated with wildfire smoke. Risks include asthma attacks, chest pains, coughing, tachycardia (rapid heartbeat), headaches, nausea, sore throats and runny noses. She added that those with underlying health conditions, the elderly, young children and pregnant women are the most affected.
Montrose and San Miguel counties have made KN-95 masks available for free to those who wish to utilize them. West End residents can find the masks at the sheriff’s office, located in the old elementary school, in Naturita. Masks are available to San Miguel County residents at the Norwood and Telluride county offices.
Montrose County has an air quality monitor at the Nucla Road and Bridge Office. A link to its data, available through the company PurpleAir, can be found on the county’s website. Norwood has air quality monitors with data available through the same company.
PurpleAir states that 24-hour exposure to an Air Quality Index (AQI) of 101-150 can be hazardous to sensitive groups. An AQI of 151-200 may lead to elevated risks for sensitive groups and the general public, and an AQI of 201-300 poses risks to everyone.
Available data from Nucla and Norwood’s monitors indicates that in late June and throughout July, the AQI in both areas frequently reached well over 100, and higher than 200 on several occasions.
Patty Bennett is a longtime local. She’s 66 years old and suffers from COPD. She was also recently injured in a fall.
“The week that the smoke was the thickest, that was also the week I fractured a rib. So it was really miserable,” said Bennett.
She keeps KN-95 masks on hand for a variety of uses, and said she wore one if she had to go outside when the smoke was particularly bad.
Bennett uses an evaporative cooler to cool her home. She said some days she just had to deal with the heat, as the cooling unit would only blow more smoke into her house. Bennett said smoke makes it difficult for her to breathe by causing an increase in mucus production, which makes her cough and wheeze. She said she used her nebulizer often, as it helped more than her rescue inhalers.
Bennett said the clearing of some of the smoke and recent rain storms have made a big difference to her. She’s grateful she can finally run her cooling unit and open doors and windows at her home.
