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Wildfire air quality stats show clean air trend for Whatcom County

Wildfire air quality stats show clean air trend for Whatcom County

Photo: Saga Communications/Dave Walker


WHATCOM COUNTY, WA (MyBellinghamNow.com) – Whatcom County bucked the state-wide trend of worse air quality Washington saw this past wildfire season.

The state Department of Ecology released air quality data for each region of the state between May and mid-October as wildfire season starts to wind down.

Overall, Ecology says most of the state experienced good and moderate air quality for most of the summer.

That came even as Washington saw more “unhealthy” days for air quality this year than in each of the past two wildfire seasons

Central Washington was hit the hardest, mainly due to several larger fires burning in the region.

But western Washington had very few days of unhealthy air quality and the least of any part of the state.

Whatcom County only had a handful of days with “moderately” healthy air and didn’t have a single day where it was unhealthy for even sensitive groups.

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