<p>A layer of haze settles over Pendleton late Monday afternoon. This photo was taken from Grecian Heights looking north.</p>

That smoke and haze hovering Monday over Pendleton was as bad for your lungs as it looked.

Air quality this morning in Pendleton was good, according to the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality. The National Weather Service, however, issued a warning to anyone with respiratory problems to take necessary precautions.

Tom Hack, DEQ air quality specialist, Pendleton, said local air quality at 7 p.m. Monday reached the unhealthy?range.

However, Hack said, most air quality readings were in the moderate range, which is tolerable.

The worst of it is over, and the air quality this morning is good, Hack said.

Easterly wind from the Columbia River Gorge is sweeping smoke from wildfires into Pendleton, the National Weather Service advised. Monday afternoon and evening, the smoke settled into Pendleton, blocking views just a few miles away.

Pendleton Fire Marshal Tyler Nokes said Monday evening he was surprised by how much smoke had covered Pendleton. He said he suspected much of it came from the Hancock Wildfire Complex near Fossil, the largest wildfire in Oregon. Lightning started the blaze Wednesday. Oregon Department of Forestry puts the fire at 53,000 acres with 70 percent containment.

The smoke also is coming from big fires near Prineville and the Warm Springs Indian Reservation.

The nearest local big fire, burning upwind of Pendleton, probably played little or role in creating the haze that blanketed Pendleton.

The Elephant Rock Fire near the east boundary of the Umatilla Indian Reservation began Saturday around 9:30 p.m. near Milepost 23 Bingham Road. Umatilla Tribal Fire Department fought the blaze, along with the state forestry and local fire departments.

Rain, though, proved to be the best firefighter of all, when a quarter- to half-inch of rain fell over the area late Sunday.

An state forestry team is fighting the blaze. Dennis Perilli, Pendleton Unit forester, this morning said the fire is 80 percent contained and crews are mopping up and making sure fire lines still are in good shape.

We expect full containment by (6 p.m.), he said. By probably tomorrow morning, the management team thats out there will turn the fire back to the district.

At the peak, 180 people were working the fire. Perilli said thats down to about 125, and the number will drop drastically Wednesday.

The size of the fire also has dropped. While the initial estimate was about 1,000 acres, Perilli said new measurements have the fire down to about 300.

The cause of this fire remains under investigation.

A flurry of lightning storms, though, sparked many new fires during the weekend, state forestry reported. The agency recorded more than 2,400 lightning strikes between midnight Saturday to midnight Sunday, mainly in the central and northeastern portions of the state.  

Most have been contained, with a few resulting in extended attack.

The Blue Mountain Interagency Fire Center in La Grande reported 12 new fires by 7 p.m. Sunday. Rain with that lightning, though, helped diminish fire spread, the center also said.

State forestry also is taking on a complex of six fires burning grass, juniper and timber on 35 acres in the John Day Unit, Fossil Sub-Unit.

And the Jim White Ridge Complex in the Eagle Cap Wilderness in northeast Oregon continues to burn. That began with a lightning strike earlier this month and has now grown to large fire status, the Northwest Interagency Coordination Center has reported. The two-fire complex has burned more than 120 acres in tough terrain at an elevation of about 7,000 feet.