On Tuesday afternoon the Grays Harbor Emergency Management system issued a health advisory warning of unhealthy air quality brought on by winds carrying wildfire smoke from British Columbia into the region.

But local prep coaches and athletic directors were well aware of the situation before the warning was released, as the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association issued its own air quality advisory on Aug. 14, a day before prep teams were scheduled to begin practice for the rapidly-approaching fall sports season.

According to Aberdeen High School athletic director Aaron Roiko, a conversation began via email among several local high school athletic directors as to how to deal with the problem. The overriding theme of the conversation was safety comes first.

“It’s good for the community to know that ADs and coaches care about the student’s safety first. That was the first thing we communicated,” said Roiko, who had to shuffle schedules to allow the Bobcats football team, girls soccer team and Aberdeen youth football program indoor practice time at the school’s gymnasium when the air quality reached unhealthy levels. “On Wednesday, the (air quality) readings got so high that (Bobcats football coach Kevin) Ridout — he was out on the field doing walk-throughs — just cancelled (practice). We’ve been very proactive in monitoring and using the local (air quality) readings.”

Elma athletic director Todd Bridge said he had to do much the same in the eastern part of the county.

“We went no pads inside the gym for football. Our girls soccer team practiced in the middle school gym. … Those facilities are already being reserved for volleyball teams and cheerleading practice, so everybody is kind of squished in there,” said Bridge, who added he was in touch with Elma girls soccer coach Scott Rockey as early as 6 a.m. Tuesday morning to inform him that the team would not be able to practice outside.

While teams in the Twin Harbors have found a way to get in some practice time in that all-too-crucial few short weeks leading up to the season opener, playing football and soccer indoors is far from optimal.

“We had to to move inside Tuesday and Wednesday, which isn’t ideal because that’s our biggest evaluation time before we split varsity and JV teams,” Aberdeen girls soccer coach Larry Fleming said. “It’s kind of hard to see what they can do when they’re on the basketball court.”

Fleming added that practicing indoors has set back his schedule by a few days, which is fine with him after firsthand experiencing the conditions earlier in the week.

“Monday’s practice outside the girls were running and coughing, so you could tell it was affecting people and how hard they could go,” he said before providing an example of how the air quality had gone from bad to worse the following day. “What made the call for me on Tuesday was I was outside for a little bit and there was actual ash landing on my laptop.”

While it has been inconvenient for teams in the area to deal with the poor air quality, they feel fortunate to get any practice in at all, as air quality has been unhealthy to hazardous in many areas of the state, where teams have been unable to practice and residents are advised to stay indoors.

“We’re extremely fortunate compared to Eastern Washington guys,” Bridge said. “Liberty Bell (Winthrop) High School doesn’t even have a gym because there is 1,200 firefighters staying on school grounds. They don’t even have a gym to practice in.”

Bridge also provided an example of a school district in the eastern part of the state acquiring its own air quality monitoring system and setting it up outside the superintendent’s office to obtain a precise reading as current monitoring systems in certain areas of the state are sparsely deployed. The Eagles athletic director stated it’s an idea his district is considering given its proximity to the two local air quality monitoring stations located in Aberdeen and Shelton.

In response to the loss of practice time across the state, the WIAA is allowing teams to practice on Sundays for the first two weeks of the season so that teams can meet the minimum practice requirements, pending local school board approval.

Though the air quality locally returned to acceptable levels for Thursday and Friday, the ADs acknowledged they are not clear of the smoke just yet as multiple fires across the Pacific Northwest still pose a threat to the beginning of the fall sports season.

“Worst case scenario is if we look on Friday and the air quality is back to being unsafe, I’m pretty sure we would be unable to play that game,” said Roiko, referencing Aberdeen’s season-opening football game at home against Montesano at 7 p.m. on Friday. “Once the season starts and games are being played, you’re kind of at the mercy of the weather. … But we’re going to make smart moves, health wise. … That’s our duties as coaches and ADs.”

Daily World sports reporter Hasani Grayson contributed to this report