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Fires Impacting Air Quality

SD Wildland Fire Division

Smoke from fires in Kansas is impacting air quality in southeast South Dakota.  Brad Schultz is with the state Department of Environment and Natural Resources. He says Wednesday morning air quality was at an unhealthy level in Union County and unhealthy for sensitive groups in the Sioux Falls area.

“Since then, they’ve kind of both moved off into moderate, which was kind of expected,” Schultz says. “As the sunshine warmed the air, the smoke moved off the ground. But right now, as the southeast winds continue, there’s still the potential of keeping that smoke up here in South Dakota, in the eastern part of our state, and possibility of high concentrations coming back.”
 
Schultz expects air quality to remain an issue until early Thursday morning.

People in the Black Hills may also see smoke over the next few days, coming from a prescribed fire in Custer State Park.

To see the air quality in your area, click here.