Thousands of firefighters are on the ground in our region, trying to control wildfires that have already consumed hundreds of thousands of acres.
They battle raging flames, haze that affects their visibility and air quality, and now, spiking COVID-19 cases.
KLCC reporter Brian Bull has been entrenched with the men and women on the fire lines in the Pacific Northwest this season.
Bull describes the scene from his home in Eugene, Oregon, as the Holiday Farm Fire ravaged Blue River last year.
"This [hazy orange, gray-ish] fog just kind of surrounded the entire valley. And when the rains finally came and cleared out the sky - I could see blue sky again — I almost just cried," he recalls. "To this day, I still occasionally have waking nightmares about those grays skies and that dull orange orb in the sky. It was just really unsettling."