Wildfires have showered the Portland metro with ash. Here’s how to safely get it off your vehicle

Summer might be winding down, but a series of wildfires is keeping the heat on across the west. Oregon tends to have robust fire seasons throughout its dense forests, but this year has felt especially taxing to some as thick haze and smoky air have settled over the state.

The destructive touch of the flames has left behind scorched earth, lost homes and a note of worry for seasons to come. In some places, it’s also left a dusting of ash behind. Ash from the Eagle Creek fire in the Columbia River Gorge sprinkled the Portland metro area last week, reminding some of the fallout after the Mount St. Helen’s eruption. While this go-around isn’t nearly as bad as that 1980 shower of ash, it’s still enough to ask — how do I clean this stuff off my car? If you haven’t already touched the ash, wait a second before you try to wipe it off. Ash is gritty and abrasive, and, if you’re not careful, wiping it off your finish is a good way to leave plenty of small scratches in your paint.

That might sound rough — because it literally is — but cleaning your car after a wildfire is actually pretty simple. All you have to do is give it a good wash as you normally would at Scrubby’s! The best method to dusting off your vehicle is to use water to thoroughly rinse it from top to bottom. The more you put into the rinse, the less you have to worry about leaving behind gritty ash. Once you’ve finished the rinse, you can go ahead and move through the rest of your wash routine as you normally would.