The haze of smoke and ash from both the Bircher and the Hovenweep fires that hovers over Mesa Verde, Cortez, Mancos, and other area towns this week contains pollutants that may aggravate allergies and lung diseases.

Dr. Heath Jolliff, a physician at the Rocky Mountain Poison Center, explained that people with asthma, bronchitis, emphysema or other lung diseases are especially susceptible to the pollutants from the fire, but that most people would sustain only mild lung irritation from the smoke.

Jolliff said, "The people we worry the most about are the asthmatics and the people who have lung disease, kids that have lung disease.

"Most of the people, the average person, as long as they’re not getting large exposures (to the smoke) and they’re out of the area, away from the smoke, shouldn’t have too much of a problem."

Dr. Gerald Griebel, Montezuma County health officer and an emergency physician at Southwest Memorial Hospital, said that with the exception of a few firefighters no one had reported any lung problems due to the smoke.

Long-term exposure to the smoke may cause lung irritations, however, and the Bircher Fire is expected to continue for an indefinite time.

"The quick exposures aren’t going to be a problem," Jolliff said. "Prolonged exposures can definitely be a problem.