Responding to wildfire smoke
When the weather starts to get nicer, our inclination is to breathe a breath of fresh air and celebrate the end of inversion season. However, a summer pollution source is on the rise, and it’s one of the worst kinds – wildfire smoke.
“Smaller particles are more easily inhaled, more easily picked up by the bloodstream and then they can be delivered and actually contaminate the tissues of the body,” UPHE’s Dr. Brian Moench said to KSL, “including all the critical organs.”
“In addition to that, fire pollution particles are also heavily saturated with a variety of toxic chemicals and heavy metals that enhances the toxicity,” Moench explains.
For these reasons, we were pleased to hear that a $850,000 EPA grant has been provided to the state to monitor wildfire smoke, specifically in schools, and improve filtration. UPHE placed tens of thousands of air purifiers in schools and daycares throughout the state through a previous grant awarded to the Department of Health and Human Services.
“We’ll be able to better understand the difference in indoor and outdoor exposure and things like filtration plans — filters that can be put in classrooms to reduce that exposure to those kids inside the schools,” Bryce Bird, director over Utah’s Division of Air Quality told KSL. “We’ve also worked closely in areas that are near roadways to make sure that there’s filtration in place so that we’re reducing the additional exposure that comes from those near roadway schools.”