VIDEO/PHOTOS: Mason and Thurston Counties were under an air quality alert until midnight on Saturday due to wildfire smoke from the Bear Gulch Fire. Particulate matter (PM2.5) levels in the region are at unhealthy levels, according to the Olympic Region Clean Air Agency’s issued alert, after fire authorities reported increased activity. “Yesterday was the worst day I’ve seen in years,” said Cate Buckley, a Belfair resident. For Buckley, Saturday’s thin layer of smoke seen high above the Hood Canal is a sign of improvement compared to the day prior. “Friday was very smoky everywhere,” she said.
“You could smell it in the air; it almost smelled like the fire was right here instead of at Bear Gulch or wherever it’s coming from.” The human-caused Bear Gulch Fire was first reported on July 6. It now spans more than 19,000 acres with roughly 9% containment, according to fire authorities. Stanley Thesenvitz, who frequently visits his home on Benson Lake over the summer, said he feels bad for the area’s fire crews who’ve been fighting the blaze for months. “I understand it’s a pretty difficult spot to get to, be it ” planes or helicopters or firemen and stuff, so I suspected that it was going to last a while,” Thesenvitz said. “Then I kept checking on it, and it was 3% for the longest time.”
