WA Dept of Health: Wildfires degrade air quality

On Wednesday, the Washington State Department of Health warned that wildfires in Washington, Oregon and California are degrading air quality in the Puget Sound region.

Air quality scientists with the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency are monitoring the situation carefully.   A few monitoring stations in the region show the air quality is "moderate," while in the rest of the region the air quality is listed as "good."

The air quality scale ratings are: good, moderate, unhealthy for people in sensitive groups and unhealthy.

While we see haze from the wildfires in the air, scientists say that isn't necessarily the air we are breathing.

Phil Swartzendruber is an air quality scientist with the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency. He explained the air can be looked at as "upstairs" and "downstairs."

He said most of the smoke is "upstairs," while the air "downstairs," which we are breathing, is coming off of the Pacific and is much cleaner.

He says the monitoring forecast is yellow, or moderate, warning people to be ready in case that smoky air descends closer to the ground.

"If you are in one of those medically sensitive category groups, this is a great reminder. 'Do I have my meds, do I have my asthma inhaler, do I have everything I need?'" said Swartzendruber.

He said the degrading air quality is worse for people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or asthma and people who have had strokes. It can also be a problem for the elderly and children.

He said it can trigger health problems.

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