SAN JUAN COUNTY, WA (MyBellinghamNow.com) – The Northwest Clean Air Agency is celebrating a milestone as smoky air continues to linger over our region.
They announced on Friday, Aug. 14, that they’ve installed a new air monitor in Friday Harbor.
It’s the first official monitor in San Juan County since they rejoined the NWCAA last July.
San Juan Island has three other unofficial air quality monitors in place, but the rest of the county doesn’t have any others. The NWCAA plans to add 15 more air quality monitors across the islands through 2027.
It comes as Whatcom and Skagit Counties remain under an air quality alert through Saturday morning.
Meanwhile, efforts to contain Whatcom County’s largest wildfire had some progress this week as it saw some minor growth.
The Border 2 Fire near Ross Lake has spread to just over 14,000 acres as of Friday afternoon. It is now three percent contained after being entirely uncontained for nearly a month.
Crews are continuing to protect at-risk structures south of the fire around Hozomeen.
Just west of Ross Lake, the Luna Fire also saw some minor growth as it spread to 3,900 acres with still no containment.
Most of the state’s resources are currently going towards several larger blazes. The Sinlahekin and Kaiser Canyon fires are each burning over 130,000 acres in Okanogan County while the Little Giant Fire is at a similar size in Chelan County.
