BOISE -- Wildfires close to home and throughout the region could be contributing to a haze that's hanging over the Treasure Valley today.

KTVB

The skies over the Treasure Valley could get more hazy and air quality decline if smoke from fires near Hells Canyon blows this way.

If you were out this morning, no doubt seeing that layer of haze made you wonder what you're breathing, but DEQ says the smoke itself isn't affecting our air quality too much just yet.

The smoke that's clinging to mountaintops to the west, near the Foster Gulch Fire, may be making its way into the Treasure Valley.

Airshed Manager Leonard Herr says there are also fires in Nevada that could be contributing to the layer of haze from the foothills to Canyon County. But Department of Environmental Quality monitors aren't detecting the smoke just yet. 

So for now, the smoke is not an air quality concern.  

“Our concern is tomorrow when the winds shift around to the northwest.  That fire lies to the northwest of us and that's which way northwest winds come.  So it will be rolling right at us and whether it affects air quality or not is how high that smoke is.  If the smoke stays up it won't affect air quality.  If it stays down, it will.  So we'll be monitoring that closely,” said Herr.

Ironically, we've already been under a yellow air quality alert all week because of the triple digit temperatures.

DEQ says hot air and emissions from vehicles for example have combined to create ozone.

That means the air quality could be unhealthy for children and the elderly.

Under a yellow air quality alert, you are also asked to limit driving, carpool when you can, and not top of your tank or refuel before 7 p.m.