State officials renewed an air advisory Tuesday for southwestern Idaho, warning that they expect lower air quality for the coming days that remains harmful for children, older adults and people with heart or lung diseases.
The Idaho Department of Environmental Quality issued the notice for the region that includes the Treasure Valley, citing smoke from nearby wildfires that have increased the amount of fine particulate matter in the air. The new warning — a forecast of orange — lasts until Friday afternoon and highlighted concerns about current air quality measuring at levels unhealthy for sensitive groups.
The affected areas are: Ada, Adams, Boise, Canyon, Custer, Elmore, Gem, Owyhee, Payette, Valley and Washington counties. All outdoor burning has been banned in those counties to limit contributing to existing air pollution.
The hazy skies that tormented Treasure Valley residents over the holiday weekend continued Tuesday morning. The air quality index, which measures air values in an area, gauged particulate matter that nearly doubled to 127 AQI — an unhealthy level — between the start of the morning and 10 a.m. at a monitoring station in Garden City.
A station in Meridian similarly showed air quality at over 100 AQI by mid-morning. Levels in Nampa hovered around 100 for the morning, reaching 104 by 10 a.m., according to the Department of Environmental Quality’s real-time monitoring website.
Breathing air impacted by heavy wildfire smoke has one of the highest dangers among polluted air types, Dr. David Pate, former CEO of Idaho’s St. Luke’s Health System, previously told the Idaho Statesman.
Health officials recommend against extended outdoor exposure during an air quality advisory, regardless of whether you’re in the most sensitive group for poor air quality.
“The research that we have would suggest that air pollution is harmful to everyone,” Pate said.
To help avoid any short- or long-term health effects, residents should stay indoors until the air quality in the region improves and the advisory expires, he said. That includes refraining from any outdoor exercise. And if you must be outdoors, for work or otherwise, experts recommend wearing a KN95 or an N95 mask.
