DENVER — It may look like a beautiful Colorado summer day, but there is a haze across the Denver metro area as smoke from multiple wildfires has filled the sky. This poor air quality should be top of mind, especially for those with underlying health conditions.
"Especially people with asthma or Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), it's going to make it harder for them to breathe," explained Dr. Anuj Mehta, Denver Health pulmonary and critical care physician. "Even people without those lung conditions or anything, it can actually make them a little bit more short of breath, especially as they get closer to the fires and are breathing in more dust particles."
While first responders are hard at work fighting these wildfires, the smoke coming from these areas can raise concerns.
"We're seeing more and more wildfires every year," Dr. Mehta said. "We don't yet know the long-term impact of repeated exposures. We do know that in the moment, it definitely sets off people's lungs in terms of asthma and COPD. We do see people landing in the hospital sometimes with really bad air quality, but from a research perspective, we're still trying to figure out what that repeated exposure looks like."
Denver7 Meteorologist Stacey Donaldson explained why this new smoke may look different than the smoke from the Canadian wildfires.
"We have a big area of high pressure sitting over Colorado, and it's just keeping that smoke sitting down near the surface," said Donaldson. "So that's why I think most of us are experiencing it in the way that we are — the atmosphere just is not moving that much."
An air quality alert was in effect on Thursday for the Front Range urban corridor due to the ozone and wildfire smoke in the atmosphere.
"Our Front Range air quality is unhealthy for some here, for our area, so we're up in that orange and red range which is not great," she said. "So, we just have to wait until this passes."
Air support could be spotted from Robert A. Easton Regional Park with crews responding to the Quarry Fire, which is burning west of Ken Caryl. Brandon Brewer and his 5-year-old nephew could see these crews in action as the two got in some football practice, taking time during passes for water breaks and moments to rest.
"They have two helicopters dropping in a lake that's back there in the valley picking up some water," said Brewer.
Brewer has never been in a wildfire before, he said this is "definitely the worst one that we've had in a while" and expressed his hope for it to be over soon.
Wildfires are now a year-round threat in Colorado. Denver7 is committed to covering their impact and the people working to find solutions to the threat.