County air quality reading hits red zone

The Whitman County Department of Public Health advises residents to take caution as air quality monitors graded conditions in the “red” Tuesday morning for the first time this year.

Devices in Rosalia and Pullman deemed the air “unhealthy,” due to spreading smoke from fires in the Coeur d’Alene National Forest near Lake Pend Oreille, and the Wenatchee, Okanogan and Colville National Forests. Multiple fires also burn across the Canadian border in British Columbia and Alberta.

A red designation calls for all people to limit time spent outdoors, including avoiding exercising outside.

Those in “Se...