Edmonds Beacon - Your Hometown News Source

Aug. 13, 2018: I remember it well. It was 4:30 a.m, when I awoke with my lungs severely congested, inhaling in short, shallow breaths. My asthma rescue inhaler wasn't helping.

Little did I know that the smoky air from wildfires I'd been breathing for a couple of weeks had irritated my lungs, causing an allergic reaction. After seven hours in the ER, I drove home through hazy, yellow air, relieved when I could shut my door on that smoky world outside.

May had been a dry month that year, producing an abundance of fuel in forests. Fire season began June 1, and Gov. Inslee declared a state of...