For the past couple of weeks, East has faced storms of smoke and orange skies. This has been affecting air quality making it dangerous for people to go outside for things like sports, band, or P.E. class. 

“We haven’t had to fully cancel any [practices], but we did have to move one back to the gym after the volleyball practices, then later that practice we went and practiced under the lights,” said Junior Tatum Floyd. “I’ve had a little cough here and there from running and all that.” Some football games have also been affected by the fires, but they haven’t impacted the sports community by that much overall. 

The cause of all the disruption is the Mullen fire. The fire has been burning since September 17th and has covered over 170,000 acres as of October 12th. The fire has caused air quality conditions to get over 500 some days. The cause of the fire is still under investigation, but it has been fueled by beetle killed trees, dense vegetation, and dry and windy weather conditions. It is 21% contained as snowy conditions help slow the spread. The fire has burned about 14,000 acres of the Medicine Bow National Forest and 60 buildings. It has caused over 6 community evacuations.