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HEALTH Smoke siege spurs mask sales Comment By John Darling For the Tidings DailyTidings.com By John Darling For the Tidings Posted Aug. 28, 2015 at 5:41 PM By John Darling For the Tidings Posted Aug. 28, 2015 at 5:41 PM » RELATED CONTENT • Relief may be in the air for Rogue Valley from fires, smoke • Has smoke affected your end-of-summer plans? • Rogue Valley's air quality worsens as wildfires burn north and south... • Ashland City Band • Ashland monitor reads 'unhealthy' » Social News After a smokeless June and July, wildfire cut loose on July 30, a month ago Saturday, triggered by one guy near Canyonville, mowing dead grass when he shouldn’t have been. It was called the Stouts Fire. It brought smoke not seen in recent decades, if ever, and was soon joined by dozens more. As this year of extreme wildfire draws to a close, it is not remembered with any fondness. The result of near-24-hour a day smoke has been a range of maladies: dizziness, malaise, lack of appetite, foggy thinking, according to Facebook anecdotes. Asante’s Ashland and Medford hospitals report no increase in people with trouble breathing, says spokeswoman Lauren Van Sickle, because people with asthma or other respiratory disorders all know what to do and don’t expose themselves in low air quality times. In response, a couple sessions at the Ashland city pool was closed down and a few plays were cancelled at Oregon Shakespeare Festival, but now people have gotten used to it and it has to be really bad to close events, says Lonnie Flora, recreation manager for city Parks & Recreation. The Festival online notice says they confer each day and if they decide to close something, they’ll post a big notice on the home page. Many fled to the coast or Bay Area, but smoke often filtered in, no matter when you went in the West, and soon the entire West, California to Alaska, seemed engulfed. Ashland Hardware set up a huge rack of smoke particulate-filtering masks by the cash register, and Cathy Trower says sales increased 75 percent over last year. “Two years ago, when smoke was so bad, we had lines of people waiting to buy them,” says Trower. “This year we were stocked up.” Masks have to meet minimum standards of the Red Cross and fire agencies, she says, which is N-95 — filtration of 95 percent of particles. Two-packs of those are $6.99. With a breather valve that lets out your exhale freely, one is $5.99. If you want filtration of 99.7 percent, it’s $17.99 and you can replace the filter. As a rain-cool front moved down the Coast and inland Friday, expected here Saturday, the Oregonsmoke.blogspot.com , the main website on the subject, showed the Rogue Valley in a photo with a giant diagonal smoke band, stretching southwest to northeast. The Air Quality Monitor here shows smoke as moderate, with good air predicted for Saturday. The once-thundering Stouts Fire in Douglas County is now sputtering. The smoke blog posted these welcome words Friday: “Today will see the final day of the extremely warm and smoky conditions, with only moderate winds, before a major change occurs. The transition from summer to early fall that has been mentioned all week will start to occur later today into Saturday, and air quality should generally begin to improve significantly in most areas over the weekend.” John Darling is an Ashland freelance writer. Reach him at [email protected]. By John Darling For the Tidings DailyTidings.com By John Darling For the Tidings Posted Aug. 28, 2015 at 5:41 PM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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