CINCINNATI — Most of the Tri-State area is under an air quality alert, as smoke from wildfires in Canada makes its way south into the US.
"Here in Greater Cincinnati, we are experiencing elevated levels of what we call particulate matter,” said Joy Landry, with the Southwest Ohio Air Quality Agency. “Particulate matter is a product of what would have been burned and so all of that smoke gets in the air. Unfortunately, it's affecting our air quality here as well."
The Southwest Ohio Air Quality Agency expects the air quality index to be in the "unhealthy for sensitive groups" to "unhealthy" range through Friday.
Dr. Chris Curran, professor of biological sciences at NKU, said although the wildfire in Canada is over 1,000 miles away, it's still to blame for the elevated levels of particulate matter floating in the Tri-State's air.
“A lot of people are like, well, this is in Canada, how in the world does it get here?" said Curran.
Particulate matter is comprised of microscopic particles.
"Those can travel the farthest both in the air and unfortunately, why are we worried is they travel the deepest into our lungs," Curran said.
She said particulate matter can also be very dangerous to breathe in.
“It's not just the particle itself which will be irritating. It's the fact that they can carry these carcinogenic and they're very large organic molecules," Curran said. "For the average person, these cause cancer, these cause birth defects. Those are the things we study in our lab."
Landry said this is a unique situation. Two factors make this circumstance different than typical air quality alerts issued in Cincinnati in the summer: what's in the air and how much of it is floating around.
"The nature of the type of pollutants, it's that particulate matter,” she said. “Usually we deal with ozone, which is more of a gas-based air pollutant."
The levels of particulate are also higher than usual for air quality alerts in the Cincinnati area.
"Usually when we have an air quality alert, it's because we're looking at an air quality index of about 105, maybe 110,” Landry said. “We have seen some numbers here hourly numbers as high as 160."
At 8 a.m. Thursday, the agency reported levels at 154, which is in the unhealthy range.
Exposure to smoke can cause health problems for anyone, but certain groups are more at risk including those with heart or lung disease, children, the elderly and pregnant women.
In the meantime, it's recommended people limit time outside until the air quality improves, Landry said.
“This situation is not you know, obviously not a good one. We're hoping it's going to be short term,” Landry said. “What we need to happen is for these fires to be put out and we certainly need the weather to help. I think the forecast is calling for some rain that might help clear out our local atmosphere a little bit."
The sky doesn’t look as hazy. Why is there still an air quality alert?
Just because the sky doesn’t look as hazy, doesn’t necessarily mean the air quality is back to normal.
“When you hear 'fine particulates' or 'PM 2.5,' that refers to the size of the particles, so it's microscopic,” said Dr.Curran.
PM 2.5 levels peaked between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. on Wednesday. PM 2.5 concentrations have been slowly dropping over the past 24 hours.
“Nonetheless, these are still elevated numbers, so we are continuing our Air Quality Alert for Friday,” said Landry.
Below is a list of precautions people can take recommended by the Ohio Department of Health:
- Spend time in a room you can close off from outside air.
- Avoid using candles, gas, propane, wood-burning stoves, fireplaces, and aerosol sprays. Frying or broiling meat, smoking tobacco products, and vacuuming may worsen indoor air pollution.
- If you have a central air conditioning system, use high efficiency filters to capture fine particles from smoke. If your system has a fresh air intake, set the system to recirculate mode or close the outdoor intake damper.
- Stay hydrated by drinking plenty of water. If your eyes, nose or throat are irritated, running a humidifier may provide some relief.
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