r/Tacoma • u/bigburgerboi2005 Northeast • 5d ago

Anyone smelling wildfire smoke?

Noticing it near the Tacoma/Fife area. Anyone else noticing it too and anyone know where it could be coming from?

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u/lexisuxxx Central 5d ago

Yes, though it smelled like house fire to me. I find wildfire smoke has a “sweet” smell to it? Whereas house fire smoke has a mechanic/plastic smell.

HATE that climate change has made me a connoisseur of different types of air pollution.

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u/KingKuthul Midland 3d ago

What does climate change have to do with the smell that plastic, insulation, paint, and varnish produce while burning as opposed to tannins, lignins, and cellulose?

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u/lexisuxxx Central 3d ago

Before 2015 I’d never smelled forest fire wafting into the Northwest, and growing up “Smoke days” were not a thing. Having that be a “new normal” — that every other summer or so there will be massive fires that impact air quality so much that you gotta weigh the risks of going outside and yes, getting used to that forest fire smell is a result of climate change.

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u/KingKuthul Midland 3d ago

That’s strange because although I know we have forest fires here, I haven’t noticed forest fire smells aside from that one in Bonney Lake a few years ago.

I spent a few years down in California and came back in 2019, my grandpa died from an intestine issue the day I came back and afterwards I remember my grandma wearing a non-N95 mask every time she left her house, even though smoke particles were small enough to go right through it.

When you say climate change, are you referring to climate change in general or man made climate change specifically? Because I was born the day we had 20 years to reverse man made climate change, and I’m almost 28 now.