Burgerville closes almost all restaurants due to smoke

Vancouver-based fast food chain Burgerville announced Friday that it has temporarily closed all but one of its restaurants due to poor air quality.

Burgerville operates 41 restaurants in Oregon and southwest Washington. The entire area is currently blanketed by a thick layer of smoke from multiple wildfires raging throughout Oregon and the entire West Coast.

The one location still open is the Burgerville inside the Portland International Airport. That location recently reopened following a lengthy closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Most of Burgerville restaurants switched to drive-thru and delivery-only service models at the start of the pandemic, but the PDX restaurant and two others had to close because they lacked drive-thru lanes.

The company said in a press release Friday that it is assessing all of its restaurant ventilation systems to ensure safe working environments, and will reopen restaurants based on air quality and smoke conditions.

Burgerville also stated in the press release that it would donate $10,000 to the Wildfire Relief Funds of the United Way Columbia Willamette Mid Willamette Valley United Way chapters.