Historic October Heat, Smoke, and Fire Danger in Puget Sound

 We cancelled our outdoor pickleball game at Perrigo Park on Friday.  Tuesday we'll be safely tucked away at the Old Redmond Schoolhouse.  The ash continues to fall on our windshield. 10/15/2022

A high ridge of pressure and offshore flow will bring a highly unusual round of mid-October heat and more wildfire smoke to Western Washington over the weekend. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

PATCH, Lucas Combos, Reporter

The latest forecasts show a good chance that this weekend will be another one for the record books. If temperatures in Seattle reach their projected high Sunday, the Emerald City will break through 80 degrees later in the year than ever before and hit the threshold twice in October for the first time. Saturday will get close, too, and more daily records look likely to fall.

Seattle already broke its October record for most 75-degree days, logging its sixth Thursday, more than any other year since records began in the 1890s. According to the National Weather Service, the last 100 days have seen 77 with above-normal temperatures, including 25 straight through Wednesday. With just 0.4 inches of rain since July 5, it has also been the second-driest 100-day stretch ever recorded in Seattle.

TWITTER FEED 

-- PATCH article by Lucas Combos 10/14/2022, excerpted by Bob Yoder 10/15/2022

King County Directs Public to Prepare Now for a Rapid Surge in Local COVID-19 Omicron Cases

The highly infectious Omicron variant is moving at an astonishing speed, according to the latest projections. We project the number of King County cases by next week to be three-times higher than the highest peak we've seen previously in the pandemic. We expect case numbers to continue to rise in January.

A similar pattern is expected to emerge in other parts of the United States.

The severity of Omicron cases is not clear at this time. Most fully vaccinated people should be protected from severe infection, but we expect to see many more serious cases in unvaccinated people, as well as many milder breakthrough infections among the vaccinated.

The rapid rise in cases has the potential to be more disruptive than previous waves, endangering the health care system's ability to care for people, as well as being a major disruptor to businesses, schools and key infrastructure, as employees become ill.

King County residents and workplaces are urged to take steps now to reduce the risk to themselves, their families, and others in order to lower the impact of the expected surge on the health care system and the community.

The latest projections are based on the rapid rate of spread of the Omicron variant in other countries, along with the latest local sequencing data.

"If we do a very simple 10-day projection of this rate of growth, we should expect 2,100 daily Omicron cases in King County on December 22, 2021. This is approximately 3 times the number of cases seen at the highest point in the pandemic for King County (December 2020)," said Trevor Bedford, computational biologist at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

Firefighter Vaccine Resistance At City Hall

The Fire Chief said at last night's Business Meeting that his department is fully staffed.  He said he lost some well trained employees but was confident with the replacements.  10/20/2021

Redmond Fire, Facebook

To watch the firefighters, and homeless hotel protesters on City of Redmond video click HERE.  (Advance the tape to 2 hours: 17 minutes.) [Homeless Hotel protests start at 40 minutes.]

NOTE:  Firefighter family members visited last night's city council meeting to share their concern that up to 20 employees could lose their job if they do not seek a vaccine by October 18.  Many firefighters and their families addressed the Mayor and Council  emphasizing that in this pandemic none were ever infected. However, early on before the necessity of PPE was recognized four were sent home to quarantine and one quarantined at a fire station. Later the Fire Chief was let go. -- Bob Yoder, 9/212021

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 -- Steve Kiggins, Q-13, 9/21/2021

REDMOND, Wash. - "Controversy is building in Redmond on whether first responders will be granted a religious exemption from taking the COVID-19 vaccine. 

Family members and firefighters from the **Redmond Fire Department say they jumped through all the hoops to apply for the exemption, but now worry the city might not provide accommodations. 

"For us to even contemplate to fire any of these heroes, shame on us," said firefighter mother Sknge Alsin. "We should keep every job intact."

Alsin’s daughter Kayleight is married to a firefighter. Her husband joined the department after spending 10 years as a Redmond cop. 

The family joined a group of firefighters and other family members who expressed their concerns. 

The City of Redmond says it has 164 full time employees at the department. Firefighters say as many as 20 have applied for a religious exemption asking the city to allow them to continue mirroring the health protocols they have been using since the beginning of the pandemic. 

Last week, firefighters say they believed the city would accept their exemption, but now worry the accommodations may not be allowed.

A city spokesperson said the department is following Gov. Jay Inslee’s state mandate on the vaccine. 

-- Steve Kiggins, Q-13, 9/21/2021, edited

-- Bob Yoder, cc: Mayor / Council, 9/22/2021