Unfortunately, both have arrived in the Pacific Northwest. As of June 3rd 55% of Washington is classified as “abnormally dry” and 22% is under official “drought” conditions, and on June 8, Washington experienced its first wildfire of the season, with a fire sparking outside of Cle Elum in the central portion of the state, forcing some to evacuate immediately, and others on a “go at any moment” watch.
While this fire is more than 80 miles away from Blossoming Transitions’ typical outreach service area, there is potential for the affects of a wildfire, to highly affect the quality of the air for our neighbors who don’t live indoors.
Last Friday began a streak of weather in the 80’s, that will likely hold out for one more day, today. The next week’s forecast is looking a little less extreme, but still in the mid 70’s. Studies have shown that asphalt sitting in direct sun can be 40-60 degrees hotter than the air temperature around it.
You may be able to imagine how uncomfortable it might be to have your home be 40-60 degrees hotter than it is outside. Many of our unsheltered neighbors are once again living on or alongside asphalt-paved roadways and will likely be exposed to some extreme heat in the next few months.
In the past, we’ve run an ice pack program, but we had a lot more volunteers than we do now. Ice packs take a lot of time, coordination, and funds for coolers to put the ice packs in. It will depend on the needs of the neighbors we serve and our resource availability whether ice packs make a return this summer.
Our outreach report from June 7, 2025 comes from Joyce. All of our neighbors who’ve lived in the community we’ve been serving for the last 5 years were once again displaced. The city has been building a bike lane through the neighborhood directly where our neighbors have been living. The city sends parking enforcement through daily and all vehicles get tagged with a 72 move or tow notice, but the city has expanded the area they’ve declared “no parking”, as a result, Joyce was unable to locate folks. We have a good idea where the majority of our neighbors have relocated to, and as such when we return to outreach on 6/21/2025, we will take a more mobile approach.
Outreach on Saturday, 6/14/2024, will be cancelled due to No Kings Day protests. We don’t want to encourage our neighbors to be more visible on a day that may have some potential for violence. I, Christina, will make a trip out through our service area on Thursday of both this week and next week to check on our neighbors and see if they have any special concerns.
-Christina
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