Bad air lingers

Health advisory remains in effect

Aug. 12, 2005

KATE KELLY\Frontiersman reporter

When you're elderly and have respiratory issues to begin with, it doesn't take much to knock you down. It could even be something as elusive as the air itself.

Drifting smoke from fires at Boundary Creek and Mission Creek near Eagle more than 400 miles from the Valley is causing the Mat-Su Borough to extend its air quality advisory through this entire week, warning that children and persons with existing heart or respiratory ailments should reduce physical exertion and outdoor activities.

"We have dealt with a lot of respiratory problems lately," Homestead Assisted Living administrator Shannon Bosdell said Wednesday. "We've got one guy laying down right now who's pretty sick. We put him on oxygen."

Although the air quality meter at the Mat-Su Planning Division was broken Wednesday and the advisory was initially going to end that day, Borough Planning and Land Use Chief Sev Jones said Wednesday it looked as though the haze was worsening and would be around for a while.

The advisory, which started at 8 a.m. Tuesday and was to end at 8 a.m. Wednesday, states that the eastern portion of the Valley has become "moderate to unhealthy" for sensitive groups.

At Tranquility Manor in Palmer, owner Bruce Korman said staff haven't noticed any ailments out of the ordinary, except a little more sneezing.

The same goes for Creekside Assisted Living facility in Palmer and Sunrise Manor in Wasilla, staff members said.

The fires near Eagle, both caused by lightning strikes, have been burning since mid-July.

The Boundary Creek fire six miles south of Eagle has burned 58,200 acres in the U.S. and more than 5,000 acres in Canada and is 40 percent contained by fire crews, while the Mission Creek fire about nine miles west of Eagle has burned an estimated 24,000 acres in Alaska and is 20 percent contained, according to the Alaska Department of Natural Resources.

All Linda Putnam at Big Lake Country Club knows is she is definitely seeing some sickness in her midst.

"I've got one lady up here visiting from the states who is dazed because of the air these past few days," Putnam said Wednesday. "She's laying down now because she feels so bad."

Kate Kelly may be reached at 352-2284.