Wildfire smoke sparks health concerns

RAPID CITY, S.D. (KEVN) -Over the last few weeks you may have seen what you thought was a storm was coming in, only to check the weather and discover it was smoke clouding up the sky.

California, Washington, and Oregon are some of the states battling widespread forest fires, the particles from the burning forests are swept up by high winds and taken across the country, causing haze in the South Dakota sky.

Meteorologist in Charge for the National Weather Service in Rapid City, Dave Hentz says the closer you are to a wildland fire the more dangerous it can be, ”it can be just like smog for instance to use as reference, it gets harder to breath, it gets dangerous in your lungs and can cause more health issues.”

Hentz says eventually the smoke will get washed out by storms or carried away by wind.

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