There were a lot of confused expressions on motorists’ faces this afternoon as Eureka drivers turned north onto R Street, headed toward the Samoa Bridges on State Route 255, only to see that the lane had been blocked by traffic cones and signs reading “ROAD CLOSED” and “DETOUR.”

Even more confusing was a digital display sign onsite that said northbound 255 traffic would be closed from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. for more than a month — from September 5 through October 9. 

Peninsula residents, Samoa Beach fans and scenic route-takers will all be relieved to learn that that’s not the case, though there will be more closures in the coming weeks. 

After reaching out to Caltrans District 1 for more information, the agency posted the following information on its Facebook page this evening:

Heads up! Periodically over the next several weeks, there will be weekdays when travelers who take Route 255 northbound from Eureka to New Navy Base Road will need to use an alternate route. While in effect, southbound traffic will be permitted in the opposite direction from New Navy Base Road to Eureka.

Following today’s closure, the next will occur on Tuesday, September 12 from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. We’ll post here [on Facebook] about when to expect the next one after that.

Crews are improving the highway via micro-surfacing. Due to the work’s available flagging locations, anticipated traffic queues, and sight distance challenges on the bridges, a northbound closure was determined to maximize safety and minimize delays. Thank you for your patience as crews conduct these improvements.

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Press release from the Humboldt County Administrative Office:

Samples taken by the Humboldt County Department of Agriculture have been confirmed to be an invasive earthworm species known as the jumping worm (Amynthas agrestis). Jumping worms devour organic matter more rapidly than European earthworms, stripping the forest of the layer critical for seedlings and wildflowers.

Recently, the Humboldt County Department of Agriculture submitted a worm sample to the California Department of Food and Agriculture’s (CFDA) Plant Health and Pest Prevention Services Division for testing. The sample was taken from a residential garden located in Arcata. 

The sample provided to the CDFA was confirmed to be the jumping worm through DNA testing. This is the first time the jumping worm has been detected in Humboldt County.

Movement of this worm is most likely attributed to the horticultural industry, since on their own, jumping worms can only move five to ten meters a year. Presence of the jumping worm has spread widely in the Northeast and Midwest in the past two decades. The first detection in California occurred in 2019 and was associated with potted plants at a nursery located in Napa County. There have been subsequent detections in Sonoma County in 2022 and 2023. 

The CDFA has labeled the jumping worm as an A-rated pest, meaning it can cause economic or environmental harm if it becomes established in California.

The Humboldt County Department of Agriculture wants the community and nursery industry to be aware of this new pest and to contact the department if you believe you have found a suspected jumping worm.

If you suspect the presence of the jumping worm, please retain a sample, or take a photo of the worm in question and note the location of the worm. To report the suspected jumping worm, members of the public should fill out the jumping worm survey and contact the department at agcommissioner@co.humboldt.ca.us or call (707) 441-5260. 

How to Detect the Jumping Worm

The jumping worm can be distinguished from other earthworms by a milky-white band (the clitellum) wrapping all around and flush with its body near the head as well as its characteristic “jumping” when disturbed. On European earthworms, the band is raised or saddle-shaped and reddish-brown in color and does not wrap entirely around the body.

In nurseries, the presence of jumping worms is likely to be found underneath pots sitting on the ground or on landscape fabric. In forests and gardens, they tend to be near the surface, just under accumulations of leaf litter or mulch. When the top layer of soil is scratched, these worms can be seen thrashing about with an erratic, snakelike movement. One sign of a possible infestation is a very uniform, granular soil created from worm castings. The texture of the soil is often compared to coffee grounds.

The Department of Agriculture is committed to preventing the spread of this invasive worm and will continue to work to educate and assist the public in identifying and managing the jumping worm as needed. 

For more information on the jumping worm, how to detect them or to learn how to keep them under control, please visit the following links:

• UC Master Gardeners of Humboldt & Del Norte Counties Jumping Worm webpage
• Cornell University’s New York Invasive Species Research Institute’s Invasive Species for Homeowners Jumping Worm Fact Sheet
• How To Keep Destructive ‘Jumping Worms’ At Bay WCCO – CBS YouTube Video
• University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources’ Pests in the Urban Landscape: Look Out for the Jumping Worm
• University of Minnesota Jumping Worms Project

For more information regarding the Humboldt County Department of Agriculture, visit the Humboldt County Agricultural Commissioner webpage. 

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Smith River Complex (via U.S. Forest Service):

Acres: 85,501
Containment: 19 percent
Cause: Lightning
Start Date: Aug. 19, 2023
Resources: 57 crews, 171 engines, 10 helicopters, 4 drones, 18 dozers, 16 masticators, 6 skid steers, 37 water tenders
Total Personnel: 2,528

Current Situation: Firefighters on an aerial reconnaissance mission Monday observed minimal smoke and hotspots on the west side of the Kelly Fire from the state line south to Gasquet. The southern portion of the fire had scattered areas of heat. On the fire’s eastern perimeter south of the Caltrans Idlewild Maintenance Station, most heat was limited to a burning stringer of timber where the fire is creeping downslope to the Siskiyou River.

Several days of minimal fire activity have allowed crews to refine a full-suppression plan that involves using both direct and indirect suppression tactics. Where it is safe to do so, crews have been and will continue to extinguish hotspots directly on the fire’s edge. Elsewhere, they must rely on an indirect suppression strategy, which involves using dozer lines, handlines, roads, rivers, and other natural features to contain the fire.

Crews have been identifying and preparing those containment features—which are as close to the fire as possible—by masticating brush, installing hose and pumps, and widening roads and firelines. As weather conditions allow, they will conduct firing operations from the containment features toward the main fire. This indirect suppression strategy is necessary due to the unsafe, extremely steep, rugged terrain and long times required to transport personnel during emergencies.

Weather and Fire Behavior: Dry, breezy weather will continue through the week. New fires from last weekend’s lightning strikes may become apparent. The incident has an initial-attack crew that can quickly respond to new fires. No significant fire growth is expected on any fire in the Smith River Complex South on Tuesday.

Smoke and Air Quality: Low levels of smoke are expected until firing operations commence later this week. A daily Smoke Outlook that includes air quality information is available here: tinyurl.com/yb29zy6f.

Closures: US-199 is now OPEN to all traffic. However, an 11-mile segment—currently between Sandy Beach (near milepost 21) and Oregon Mountain Road (near milepost 31)—has one-way, piloted traffic control. Delays up to 45 minutes are possible. The piloted segment will expand or contract as crews repair the burned guardrails, clear rocks off the roadway, and remove hazard trees.

Six Rivers National Forest lands, roads, and trails surrounding the Complex are closed (Forest Order No. 10-23-06). The Order and closure map can be viewed on this Six River National Forest web page: tinyurl.com/4atens8c. Evacuations:

Evacuation orders issued by the Del Norte County Sheriff’s Office remain in effect. View the interactive evacuation map online for the most current evacuations: tinyurl.com/yp3d99sr.

• LEVEL 3, GO: Rockland
• LEVEL 2, Get Set: Rowdy Creek/Low Divide, Gasquet, Big Flat/Rock Creek, Patricks Creek Lodge, Little Jones/Washington Flat Residential Areas, Oregon Mountain Road Area, Sun Star
• LEVEL 1, Get Ready: Hiouchi

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Lightning Complex & Redwood Lightning Complex (via InciWeb):

The 19 fires in this incident total 17,551 acres and overall containment is 21%. The nine un-contained fires described below total 15,804 acres. Hog Fire and Lost Fire are in Redwood National and State Parks. All other fires described in this update are in Six Rivers National Forest. Fire managers have begun rightsizing staffing for current fire conditions. Minimal smoke was reported from fires in the Complexes yesterday, but a warming, drying trend beginning today may produce more smoke as fuels on the interior of the fires are consumed. The increase in acreage is due to more accurate aerial infrared mapping rather than actual fire growth.

Hog Fire (0.2 acres) – This new fire was detected on Saturday in the southern end of the National Park. It was an initial attack assisted by the Rocky Mountain team and is not an official part of the Complex. The fire is a lightning strike in a single cedar tree. The burning tree has been felled and the fire is lined and in mop up status.

Lost Fire (722 acres, 68% contained) – Indirect line construction has been completed on the north side of the fire. A portion of the fire perimeter in the northwest corner is too steep and rocky to safely put firefighters in. Backhaul of unneeded equipment is in progress and suppression repair work has begun. An unmanned aerial systems aircraft (UAS) will be used today to search for remaining hotspots using infrared technology.

Pearch Fire (5099 acres, 8% contained) – Crews continue to mop up, secure, and patrol firelines in the southern portion of the fire in Divisions Z and J. Crews are targeting hotspots identified by aerial infrared imagery. No additional firing operations are planned on the fire. The structure protection group continues structure assessments along the Salmon River corridor to the east of the fire in Division Y. The assessments, totaling 284 so far, will be compiled into a product that will be useful to local agencies in the event of any future emergencies. Hoses, sprinklers, and other structure equipment have been deployed in some locations as a preventative measure, and unneeded equipment is being backhauled. A night shift of 5 engines is continuing to work the fire.

Bluff #1 (2033 acres, 26% contained) and Mosquito (2557 acres, 24% contained) Fires – Mastication and chipping on an indirect fireline north of Mosquito Fire is done. A dozer line along a portion of Bean Ridge has been cleaned up, and hand crews completed the line northeast to Highway 96. A combination of masticators, fallers, and hand crews will work on extending the line further north. The east side of Mosquito Fire is contained by direct line along the Cedar Camp Road in Division M. An indirect line has been completed westward from the southeast corner of Mosquito Fire in Division M. Mastication has been completed along an indirect line that runs from north of Bluff #1 Fire, along the west side of that fire, and southward in Division N. Crews are working on connecting the south end of this line down into Bluff Creek and across to the line running west of Mosquito Fire with handline. This should take 3 to 4 days to complete. Four chippers are working to remove slash from the masticated indirect lines, with about four days of work remaining.

Blue Creek #2 (2986 acres, 0% contained), Marlow (1540 acres, 0% contained), and Copper (792 acres, 0% contained) Fires – These fires are being patrolled by aerial resources as weather conditions allow. They are bounded by indirect control lines to the east and south, and significant movement of these fires is not expected.

Monument (2 acres, 0% contained) and Let er-Buck (73 acres, 0% contained) Fires – Due to limited values at risk, the remote, steep terrain and associated safety concerns for our firefighters, and the low probability of success using standard suppression tactics, these fires are being addressed with a confinement strategy. Terrain, natural fire barriers such as rock outcroppings, and old fire footprints where fuels are limited will be used to confine fire growth until season ending precipitation extinguishes the fires. These fires are checked regularly by aerial patrols to ensure they remain within acceptable bounds, and little to no fire growth has been observed.

Weather: A slow warming and drying trend will occur this week. Highs will be in the upper 70s to mid 80s, warming to near 90 by late in the week. Winds will be light from the west. Overnight lows will be in the 40s and 50s. A stable weather pattern will be in place over the next week, with seasonal temperatures and a dry forecast.

Press release from the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office:

On Sept. 2, 2023, at about 10:54 a.m., the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office was contacted regarding a vehicle burglary in the Samoa area.

Two adult female victims told deputies they were alerted to the burglary upon receiving a notification from one victim’s bank regarding an unauthorized purchase. The two women returned to their vehicle on the 900 block of Vance Avenue and found the driver’s front window broken with numerous items missing, including the victim’s bank card. During their investigation, deputies were able to obtain surveillance video of a male suspect who attempted to use the victim’s stolen card at a local business.  

Later that afternoon, at about 2:07 p.m., deputies were contacted by two additional vehicle burglary victims in the Cutten area. The victims told deputies that they had returned to their vehicles at the McKay Tract trailhead near Northridge Road and found both to have been broken into with several items stolen. A passerby in the area was able to provide deputies with a description of the suspect’s vehicle.

Deputies searched the surrounding area and located the suspect vehicle parked along Walford Street, in the county’s jurisdiction of Eureka. Deputies observed a male matching the suspect from the surveillance video standing outside the vehicle. The male, 33-year-old Delmar Wayne Allen Jr., was observed to have shattered glass on his shoulders and injuries to his hands. Deputies contacted two additional individuals associated with the vehicle: 29-year-old Phillip James Lampley and 21-year-old Lila Jacqueline Perry. All three were detained as deputies conducted their investigation.

Inside the vehicle in plain view, deputies observed items reported stolen from the Samoa burglary in addition to drug paraphernalia. Utilizing K9 Deputy Yahtzee, deputies conducted a free air sniff of the vehicle, during which Yahtzee alerted to the presence of a controlled substance. While searching the vehicle, deputies located various prescription pills, drug paraphernalia and ammunition, and recovered the Samoa victim’s stolen property.

During a search of Allen Jr. and his belongings incident to arrest, deputies located burglary tools. Allen was booked into the Humboldt County Correctional Facility on three counts of burglary (PC 459/461(b)), possession of burglary tools (PC 466), possession of stolen property (PC 496(a)), vandalism (PC 594(b)(1) & 594(b)(2)(A)) and use of a stolen credit card (PC 484g).

During a search of Lampley, deputies located over 1 gram of methamphetamine and over 1 gram of suspected fentanyl. Lampley was booked into the Humboldt County Correctional Facility on charges of possession of a controlled substance (HS 11377(a)) and possession of a controlled substance paraphernalia (HS 11364(a)).

Perry was booked into the Humboldt County Correctional Facility on charges of possession of a controlled substance (HS 11377(a)), possession of a controlled substance paraphernalia (HS 11364(a)) and person prohibited in possession of ammunition (PC 30305(a)).

Anyone with information about this case or related criminal activity is encouraged to call the Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office at (707) 445-7251 or the Sheriff’s Office Crime Tip line at (707) 268-2539.

Delmar Wayne Allen Jr. Booking Photo | Humboldt County Correctional Facility

Phillip James Lampley Booking Photo | Humboldt County Correctional Facility

Lila Jacqueline Perry Booking Photo | Humboldt County Correctional Facility

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Press release from Providence St. Joseph Hospital:

Ellen Mahoney, MD, medical director of the St. Joseph Hospital Eureka Cancer Program and Join Luh, MD, radiation oncologist at the Dr. Russel Pardoe Radiation Oncology Center at St. Joseph Hospital in Eureka, were recent recipients of awards and recognition from their peers in the field of cancer.
 
Dr. Mahoney, who has been a breast cancer surgeon in Humboldt since 2000, was chosen as one of 10 winners in the 2023 Commission on Cancer (CoC) Cancer Liaison Physician (CLP) Outstanding Performance award.
 
“When I became involved in the Cancer Program in the early 2000s, I had no familiarity with the Commission on Cancer (CoC) as a quality program of the American College of Surgeons (ACS) and the American Cancer Society,” said Mahoney. “But I have since learned to recognize its power to improve the quality of cancer care, especially in suburban and rural areas of the country. It is a true honor to be recognized by this program which has done so much to improve and sustain improvements in cancer care throughout most of the USA.”
 
Each year, the CoC Cancer Liaison Program recognizes outstanding performance by CLPs in their role as the physician quality leaders of their cancer programs. This year, more than 60 nominations were submitted and after careful review of each submission by the CoC State Chair Education Advisory Group, 10 Cancer Liaison Physicians were chosen to receive this award.
 
“Dr. Mahoney has been a trail blazer in the field of breast cancer surgery since her time as faculty at Stanford,” Interim Chief Executive and Chief Medical Officer Ranjit Hundal, MD said. “We’ve been so fortunate as a hospital and a community to have her providing clinical excellence and comfort to cancer patients and their families here on the North Coast for over two decades. Congratulations on this much deserved recognition.”
 
Dr. Luh, who has practiced at St. Joseph Hospital since 2007, was recognized by his radiation oncology peers at the American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) recently for his clinical excellence and was named to the 2023 Class of Astro Fellows. The ASTRO Fellow designation (FASTRO) is awarded based on service to ASTRO and extraordinary contributions to the field of radiation oncology.
 
“Dr. Luh is an exceptional radiation oncologist,” said Hundal. “Along with Drs. Michael Harmon and Dusten Macdonald, they have built a program here at St. Joseph Hospital that is world-class. Dr. Luh is a tireless advocate for his patients and is committed to delivering high quality care in a compassionate and warm manner.”
 
“As a community radiation oncologist, I’m honored to be recognized by ASTRO, and join 28 distinguished radiation oncologists and physicists who have made significant contributions to research, education, and patient care,” said Luh. “This would not have been possible without the support of my practice partners Dr. Michael Harmon and Dr. Dusten Macdonald—both of whom strive to provide state of the art, compassionate cancer care in our community. With the many changes occurring in health care nationally, I am thankful to still be at St. Joseph Hospital’s ACS/CoC accredited Cancer Program in Eureka after 16 years, in my first and only job out of residency training.”

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Press release from Caltrans:

On Saturday, September 2, 2023, at 6:00 pm, The California Highway Patrol (CHP), California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), Oregon State Police (OSP), Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT), Del Norte County Sheriff’s Office (DNSO) and Josephine County Sheriff’s Office in collaboration with the Pacific Northwest Incident Management Team 13 and Southwest Incident Management Team 2, have agreed to a full reopening of US-199 to all traffic. Caltrans and CHP will continue to pilot northbound traffic  from Patrick’s Creek to Oregon Mountain Road South and southbound traffic from Oregon Mountain Road South to Patrick’s Creek.

Please continue to drive slowly and with caution as Fire personnel, Caltrans and construction crews remain actively working on the fires and highway repairs. We anticipate this work to continue for at least the next several weeks if not months. The California Highway Patrol and California Department of Transportation will continue to monitor the highway to ensure it remains safe for travel to the motoring public.

The Smith River Complex Fire is still active and very unpredictable, on top of the effects of weather, so please be prepared at the possibility of future closures should something change and it becomes a safety risk to our motoring public and/or personnel.

Wildfires and climate change are locked in a vicious circle: Fires worsen climate change, and climate change worsens fires.

Scientists, including those at the World Resources Institute, have been increasingly sounding the alarm about this feedback loop, warning that fires don’t burn in isolation — they produce greenhouse gases that, in turn, create warmer and drier conditions that ignite more frequent and intense fires.

Last week, wildfire smoke prompted another round of unhealthy air quality in California. Fires in Oregon and Northern California sent smoke into Sacramento and the San Francisco Bay Area. And it’s a global nightmare: This summer, world temperatures hit an all-time high, the worst U.S. wildfire in more than a century devastated Maui, a deadly fire in Greece was declared Europe’s largest ever, and swaths of the Midwest and Northeast have been blanketed by smoke from Canada’s forest fires.

As California’s most intense wildfire months approach, the volume of greenhouse gases they emit is expected to grow.

A bill by Assemblymember Bill Essayli, a Republican from Riverside, introduced this year would have required the state to count wildfire emissions in its efforts to reduce statewide greenhouse gases. But the bill didn’t get far: It was defeated in committee.

Here are answers to some of the key questions raised by the symbiotic relationship between wildfires and climate change:

What’s happening to carbon emissions as wildfires worsen?

Scientists around the world are trying to quantify just how much wildfires contribute to climate change.

Last year, California wildfires sent an estimated 9 million metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, according to California Air Resources Board estimates. That’s equivalent to the emissions of about 1.9 million cars in a year.

In 2020, California’s wildfires were its second-largest source of greenhouse gases, after transportation, according to a study published last year. The researchers from UCLA and the University of Chicago concluded that the 2020 wildfires increased overall emissions by about 30%.

When forests burn, carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are released into the air. It’s considered part of a natural cycle, with plants absorbing and then releasing the chemicals into the air over time. But experts say the increasing frequency of fires might be throwing this cycle out of balance.

Emissions this year from Canada’s forests have shattered records, according to the European Union’s Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service. Last year, carbon dioxide from boreal forests — the world’s northernmost forests, which span vast swaths of Canada and Alaska — hit a record high, UC Irvine researchers reported in the journal Science.

“Where does that carbon go? It goes up into the atmosphere, it circles all around the globe, it’s affecting all of us.”
— Char Miller, Pomona College

Fires in these northern latitudes are of deep concern to researchers, as those forests historically were too cold to experience significant burns. They are incredibly dense, and emit methane from the permafrost that lies beneath them.

“These are forests that haven’t burned, not just in decades but probably centuries,” said Char Miller, an environmental professor at Pomona College in Claremont. “Where does that carbon go? It goes up into the atmosphere, it circles all around the globe, it’s affecting all of us. It’s both symbolic and I think really significant. The coldest part of the planet is also exploding in fire.”

In addition, wildfires emit methane, which is a much more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, according to a study published earlier this summer.

Will wildfire smoke derail the state’s climate goals?

Researchers are increasingly calling attention to how forest fires might be eroding the state’s climate goals, with UCLA scientists describing the state’s efforts as “up in smoke.”

Michael Jerrett, a professor at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health, said nearly two decades worth of emission reductions from power plants were threatened by the 2020 fires, which included some of California’s largest and most destructive fires.

“Essentially, the positive impact of all that hard work over almost two decades is at risk of being swept aside by the smoke produced in a single year of record-breaking wildfires,” Jerrett said in a statement.

Some experts say carbon emissions from wildfires are not much of a concern — that the carbon captured by trees, brush and grasses already existed in the atmosphere so its release during fires is part of a natural cycle. As a result, they say, those emissions shouldn’t be considered net contributors to climate change.

“These are distractions from the real issue which is that we need to generate a lot more renewable energy to displace our use of fossil fuels,” Anthony Wexler, director of the Air Quality Research Center at UC Davis, wrote to CalMatters in an email.

On the other hand, some experts say carbon is carbon — and that it all contributes to climate change. Jerrett and the other authors of the UCLA report said wildfire emissions should be a bigger part of California’s climate policy.

For its part, the California Air Resources Board estimates emissions from wildfires, but it doesn’t count them against greenhouse gas targets for 2030. The targets are based only on gases produced by industries, energy, transportation and other human sources.

Last year, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law a requirement that the state achieve net-zero emissions as quickly as possible, no later than 2045. That mandate means the state will have to ultimately consider the roles of natural and working lands, said David Clegern, an air board spokesman. However, some wildfires are “part of the natural cycle and should not count against targets,” Clegern wrote in an email.

Clegern said “it’s difficult to know” how much carbon from wildfires “might reduce the effectiveness of the state’s climate programs.”

“That’s because to a certain extent wildfire smoke is part of a natural carbon cycle…We cannot yet draw a bright line to accurately measure that impact,” he said.

Instead, he said scaling back fossil fuels has to be California’s priority.

“California is working on reducing wildfire in an all-hands-on-deck manner, but we won’t really fix the problem until we quit pumping more fossil fuel emissions into the atmosphere,” Clegern said.

How does the state plan to deal with carbon from fires?

State officials say restoring the health of forests and taking steps to make sure they are more resilient to fires will result in fewer wildfires and fewer climate-changing emissions.

Air board models project that natural and working lands — forests, rangelands, urban green spaces, wetlands and farms — will be a net source of emissions through 2045, while at the same time these lands will experience a decrease in the trees, shrubbery, soil and other natural features that naturally sequester carbon.

That’s why the proper management of these undeveloped lands will be important in the coming two decades. More than half of California’s forestland is managed by the federal government, and the Newsom administration announced in 2021 that it was working with the Biden administration to better manage forests and build fire resilience.

“These lands can be part of the climate solution, but we need to increase our efforts to reduce their emissions and improve their ability to store carbon into the future,” Clegern said.

Burning forests might be complicating the state’s climate goals in other ways, too. California’s carbon offset market has been threatened by out-of-state wildfires, the online publication Grist reported, because the state awards credits to companies that maintain forests elsewhere to store carbon.

What about the impact on smog and soot?

Wildfire smoke is toxic, containing substances such as carbon monoxide and benzene, a carcinogen. Smoke’s tiny particles of soot are considered its most hazardous ingredient, since they can enter airways, lodge in lungs and trigger asthma or heart attacks. Local air quality districts regularly send out warnings in California when wildfires spread smoke, sometimes hundreds of miles from the fires.

Smoke may be negating some of California’s hard-fought clean-air gains. A report last year by the Energy Policy Institute of Chicago found that some California counties were more polluted than they were in 1970. In 2020, more than half of California counties experienced their worst air pollution since 1998, according to the report.

California’s air quality agencies do not have to consider wildfire smoke when they outline plans to attain health standards for air pollutants, such as fine particles and ozone. That’s because fires are considered “exceptional events” under the federal Clean Air Act.

“Even though the frequency of wildfires is increasing, we have no reason to believe that (U.S.) EPA will change how wildfire emissions are treated under the exceptional events process,” Clegern said.

Meanwhile, concern about the impact of smoke on communities is growing. Nitrogen oxides, which form smog, appear to be increasing in rural areas — largely due to wildfires, according to a recent UC Davis study.

“If you go to these remote forests — which are predominantly in the north and the Sierras in the south — what you find is that there’s this large increase,” said study co-author Ian Faloona, a UC Davis bio-micro-meteorologist.

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CalMatters.org is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media venture explaining California policies and politics.