Area Schools Could Cancel After-School Activities Due to Smoke
Tuesday morning, school officials in Kennewick, Richland, Pasco, Washtucna and Christ The King Private School announced their students will be kept inside during recess, lunch, P.E. and other periods they would normally be outdoors, due to very poor air quality from our NW Fires. After being rated moderate Sunday, conditions have worsened rapidly. This image shows Kennewick prior to 6am.
The Kennewick School District issued this alert:
We are closely monitoring the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) air quality advisories in the Kennewick School District due to the smoke caused by wildfires. At this time, the advisory is ranging from “Unhealthy” to “Very Unhealthy/Hazardous” and we will be keeping all students indoors during recess, physical education classes, and lunch.A determination regarding middle and high school athletic events and practices will be made by the early afternoon.The safety of students and staff is a priority and we will continue to monitor the air quality advisories regularly and make any adjustments if the conditions improve or deteriorate during the week.
As of 9am Tuesday, the last report we could get rated our air as very unhealthy. Due to heavy traffic online, the state website reporting air quality standards is down. We will continue to monitor the situation.