seattle wild fire smoke – Seattle Action Network

Tents are pitched illegally on a sidewalk in Seattle in January. The number of people sleeping outside in the city shot up by 20 percent in just the past year.

seattle homeless

by Anthony Derrick on September 11, 2020

SEATTLE (September 11, 2020) – Seattle Mayor Jenny A. Durkan and King County Executive Dow Constantine announced the opening of a new healthy air center in SoDo for people experiencing homelessness during the wildfire smoke this weekend. The SoDo site will open this afternoon and will provide approximately 80 people with healthy air and shelter. Over the last day, new forecasts show shifting wind patterns that are causing some of the dense smoke produced by the wildfires in Oregon and California to move into Western Washington, creating unhealthy to very unhealthy air quality in the Puget Sound Region that is expected to last for the next several days. You can follow updates to impacted City services here.

Traditionally, the region’s smoke and unhealthy air quality response has relied on people minimizing time outdoors and informing people of available facilities that have air filtration. Public Health – Seattle & King County advises that facilities should meet air filtration guidance and guidance from the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention to reduce risk of COVID-19 transmission including social distancing and other health and hygiene measures.