Parts of Interior and Southcentral Alaska will see poor air quality as a result of wildfires this week, the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation warned on Tuesday.

After a cold winter and spring, high temperatures around the Interior prompted birch tree buds to burst, sending record-setting levels of pollen into the air.

A graduate student with the University of Alaska Fairbanks is installing air-quality sensors in rural and remote areas around the state to monitor wildfire smoke and other types of air pollution.

Smoke and soot from central Alaska wildfires have afflicted the subarctic city of Fairbanks with some of the world's worst air pollution in recent days, forcing many residents indoors and prompting one hospital to set up a "clean air shelter."

A smoke respite room has been set up at Fairbanks Memorial Hospital. The Chandler Room on the first floor will be open 24 hours a day until further notice.