Articles written by Sarah Coefield
Sorted by date Results 1 - 10 of 10
By 
Tips to clean indoor air, stay healthy this wildfire season
It's Wildfire Smoke Ready Week in Missoula County! I know - after such a cool start to the season, it's challenging to shift gears and start thinking about wildfires. But this week of warm, sunny...
Missoula County Wildfire Smoke Ready week, July 9-16
If there’s one thing Montanans are good at, it’s prepping for whatever nature can throw at us. We carry bear spray in the woods. We keep blankets, shovels and water in our cars. We have flashlights and candles stashed around our homes. And...
Wood stove heating season, burn clean, more efficient
SEELEY LAKE - Seeley Lake's winter air quality has improved since the community successfully replaced more than 160 old wood stoves with new, lower emission stoves during the 2012-2014 wood stove...
Tips for staying healthy this wildfire season
It’s Wildfire Smoke Ready Week and we’ve already had our first taste of what looks to be a long wildfire season. As I wrote last week, wildfire smoke is bad for everyone and it comes inside. Fortunately, there are simple steps we can all do to...
Wildfire Smoke - Ready Week is July 12 - 18
Summer is here, and we’re speeding toward what could be a gnarly fire season. This means a few things: 1. Don’t cause fires. 2. Get outside and recreate while the recreating’s good. 3. Make a plan now for creating cleaner indoor air and...
Answering frequently asked questions about outdoor burning
This past winter and fall we measured more smoke at the Seeley Lake air quality monitor than we have for several years. Since Oct. 1, there have been 11 days when smoke pollution exceeded the National Ambient Air Quality Standard. While smoke from wo...
Are you ready for wildfire season?
The predictive meteorologists with the Northern Rockies Coordination Center are expecting above-average fire activity for our region in August and September. Things are heating up out there, and July will be over sooner than any of us would...
Answering some frequently asked questions about outdoor burning in Missoula County
Outdoor burning opened in Missoula County on March 1st, and it’s off to a fair clip. As of March 6th, more than 900 folks have purchased their permits and we’ve recorded more than 260 burn activations. In a typical year, we issue between 4,000...
Looking Back at Smoke from the Rice Ridge Fire
Simply put, 2017 was the worst wildfire smoke season we have seen in Missoula County. Of course, anyone who lived in Seeley Lake during the Rice Ridge Fire already knew that. It's not uncommon for a c...
Seeley Lake Air Quality Update
SEELEY LAKE - The 2016-2017 winter has been a cold snowy affair for western Montana. Because of the colder-than-usual temperatures, people are burning more wood to heat their homes and the...
