5 ms·

Oregon’s air quality is so hazardous that no one knows what it means for health

18 points by d4mi3n 6y ago

d4mi3n 6y ago
This one came to me via a friend. Western OR and parts of CA clocked around 700ppm over the weekend, which goes well beyond the EPA’s air quality scale that tops out at 500ppm (“hazardous”). How are people dealing with this? I’m near SF where levels have been around 200 ~ 250ppm and it’s been just miserable—and I have respirators and air purifiers handy!
- novok 6y ago
  Do you have an air quality monitor to see how effective your air filter is? Mine with the windows closed is able to filter the air to clean levels
  - d4mi3n 6y ago
    I have yet to make such an investment as good air monitors are fairly expensive, but I’m hoping to get a few indoor monitors from Purple Air (~$200 USD). What do you folks use?
    - novok 6y ago
      I use something like this handheld air quality monitor. It's been close enough and useful enough to figure out how well my filter is working: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000312301074.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.0.0.37c13648L2Gy2g&algo_pvid=9e24c17f-5d44-40e7-89d5-81c943cca0ae&algo_expid=9e24c17f-5d44-40e7-89d5-81c943cca0ae-21&btsid=0bb0624616001459071324782e0b16&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_,searchweb201603_ https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000312301074.html?spm=a2g0o...
    - quaa55 6y ago
      PMS5003
    - quaa55 6y ago
      also a cheap box fan and 20x20x1 merv 11+ rating filter should work wonders.
    - ahaucnx 6y ago
      You can build your own air quality sensor with our instructions. Our sensor uses the same PM sensor like in the purple air. You can build it for <USD 20. https://www.airgradient.com/diy/ https://www.airgradient.com/diy/ BTW: Our main product is an air quality monitoring service specifically designed for schools. Since we are just starting, I would love to talk to parents, teachers etc. from schools that want to monitor their air quality better. Please contact me if you are interested to talk!
  - noodlesUK 6y ago
    I’m personally shocked that none of the major smart thermostat vendors include anything like this. I’d love my ecobee to tell me if the air I’m breathing is healthy, as well as what temp it is...
- bigiain 6y ago
  Parts of Sydney topped 2500 back in our last summer bushfires. That was pretty awful...
- lsllc 6y ago
  Maybe this is another good reason to wear a mask! Particulate matter in wood smoke is supposedly around 0.4–0.7 μm which which is a little bigger than a SARS-Cov2 virus particle at 0.1 μm so an N95 mask should handle both (not sure about paper surgical masks, almost certainly better than nothing for wood smoke).
  - XMPPwocky 6y ago
    AFAIK, the mechanism of action of paper surgical masks, and cloth masks, is not by catching particles of that size, but primarily by catching larger droplets and by disrupting forward airflow on exhalation. So their usefulness for smoke would seem questionable.
- LinuxBender 6y ago
  I have several large HEPA filters running 100% of the time in my home. They work great. When it's really bad, I moisten the prefilter a little to grab more material. If that is not enough, saline solution can be used to irrigate the sinuses and eye drops to flush the eyes.
aeternum 6y ago
Title is somewhat misleading as we have seen air quality this bad in China. The US embassy in Beijing has recorded AQI > 700 in 2013 for example.
- bigiain 6y ago
  https://www.sciencealert.com/sydney-air-soars-to-12-times-hazardous-levels-under-toxic-blanket-of-bushfire-smoke https://www.sciencealert.com/sydney-air-soars-to-12-times-ha... 2,552 here last bushfire season... :-/
- d4mi3n 6y ago
  Has there been any research into health impacts of people exposed to those conditions? I’d love to read some if anyone knows of any.
- duskwuff 6y ago
  When the AQI at the US embassy first went over 500 in 2010, a default case in their code caused it to be described as "crazy bad": https://foreignpolicy.com/2010/11/19/beijing-air-crazy-bad/ https://foreignpolicy.com/2010/11/19/beijing-air-crazy-bad/ Officially, anything above 500 is now simply "beyond index". But "crazy bad" seems about right.
Mountain_Skies 6y ago
It's even worse when layered on top of a respiratory pandemic.
throwawaysea 6y ago
And the main problem driving Oregon’s wildfires is a lack of forest management leading to dense fuel buildup: https://katu.com/news/on-your-side/lack-of-forest-management-allowed-fuels-to-accumulate-expert-says https://katu.com/news/on-your-side/lack-of-forest-management...
- Fjolsvith 6y ago
  And I thought it was all the arsonists setting the fires: Jedidiah Fulton, 39 - https://archive.is/GWLYq https://archive.is/GWLYq Alberto Vincent Acosta - https://archive.is/cFPbd https://archive.is/cFPbd Kevin Carle, 37 - https://archive.is/xHiFO https://archive.is/xHiFO Ivan Geronimo Gomez, 30 - https://archive.is/mhKtG https://archive.is/mhKtG Guadalupe Molina-Pacheco - https://archive.is/US23e https://archive.is/US23e Julian Draper - https://archive.is/JyfJe https://archive.is/JyfJe Demarco Covey, 24 - https://archive.is/owMeD https://archive.is/owMeD Wesley James Bergman, 37 - https://archive.is/rl2cm https://archive.is/rl2cm Elias Pendergrass, 44 - https://archive.is/wJ1XR https://archive.is/wJ1XR Unknown - https://archive.is/mOAqq https://archive.is/mOAqq Anita Esquivel, 37 - https://archive.is/nMZFo https://archive.is/nMZFo Vanya Hummel, 24 - https://archive.is/DgwbY https://archive.is/DgwbY Unknown - https://archive.is/wZqgM https://archive.is/wZqgM John Davies, 55 - https://archive.is/VDg3M https://archive.is/VDg3M Unknown - https://archive.is/twWHf https://archive.is/twWHf Unknown - https://archive.is/jjLfn https://archive.is/jjLfn Christine Comello, 36 - https://archive.is/4mLJT https://archive.is/4mLJT https://archive.is/XxPPE https://archive.is/XxPPE https://archive.is/Vvnoz https://archive.is/Vvnoz Alexander Bradford Smith, 26 - http://jailviewer.co.douglas.or.us/Home/BookingSearchDetail?BookingNumber=B20002631 http://jailviewer.co.douglas.or.us/Home/BookingSearchDetail?... Unknown - https://archive.is/0pex9 https://archive.is/0pex9 https://archive.is/8Jli1 https://archive.is/8Jli1 Unknown - https://archive.is/JkLAw https://archive.is/JkLAw Jesse Peterson, 30 - https://archive.is/gQg3e https://archive.is/gQg3e Jeffrey Accord, 36 - https://archive.is/j3yuB https://archive.is/j3yuB https://archive.is/UszGL https://archive.is/UszGL https://archive.is/nJ9OU https://archive.is/nJ9OU https://www.bitchute.com/video/iCiNEzxzOaqd/ https://www.bitchute.com/video/iCiNEzxzOaqd/ Info roundup; https://archive.is/JxZ4P https://archive.is/JxZ4P Unknown https://archive.is/oTl3d https://archive.is/oTl3d Unknown https://archive.is/knQbj https://archive.is/knQbj Unknown https://archive.is/AEQgp https://archive.is/AEQgp Milton Loice Moran, 48 - https://archive.is/PiJpR https://archive.is/PiJpR Alexander Jones, 36 - https://archive.is/eAHK7 https://archive.is/eAHK7 Michael Jarrod Bakkela, 41 - https://archive.is/DGEGz https://archive.is/DGEGz https://archive.is/Vr0Tj https://archive.is/Vr0Tj https://archive.is/mqJnI https://archive.is/mqJnI Jonathan Maas, 44 - https://archive.is/Hw9JK https://archive.is/Hw9JK
TheMblabla 6y ago
Does anyone know how long wildfire season normally lasts in OR/CA?
- JuliusPullo 6y ago
  this time around? until the marxists take over.
  - Can_Not 6y ago
    it really does seem that anyone who offers a valid solution to the problem gets labeled a "Marxist" because of "Doing literally anything? Who's going to pay for it???" kneejerk hysteria.
    - JuliusPullo 6y ago
      No, is because the antifa-blm marxist are setting the fires. Direct and coordinated arson. Time to pay attention.
      - TheMblabla 6y ago
        Isn't it fun to say things when you don't justify them? Let me try.. Stalin is back! running around starting fires with his gender reveal parties! Wake up sheeple.
        Can_Not 6y ago
        Leaks revealed famous world reviled Marxists Ellen Denegeneres and George Bush conspiring to send funds to sleeper cell deep state arsonists! Is the Bureau of Land Management planning to abort your children??? Watch this Tim Pool video, all the evidence is there!
- dragonwriter 6y ago
  “peak wildfire season” for CA is typically cited as May through October. But there are wildfires outside of that time, even in normal years.
Proven 6y ago
It is temporary and doesn't mean anything for people without respiratory issues. As noted in other comments it's not that unusual in Asia and not a super big deal either. Don't unnecessarily go out too much. Nothing concerning.

18 points by d4mi3n 6y ago

This one came to me via a friend. Western OR and parts of CA clocked around 700ppm over the weekend, which goes well beyond the EPA’s air quality scale that tops out at 500ppm (“hazardous”). How are people dealing with this? I’m near SF where levels have been around 200 ~ 250ppm and it’s been just miserable—and I have respirators and air purifiers handy!

novok 6y ago
Do you have an air quality monitor to see how effective your air filter is? Mine with the windows closed is able to filter the air to clean levels
- d4mi3n 6y ago
  I have yet to make such an investment as good air monitors are fairly expensive, but I’m hoping to get a few indoor monitors from Purple Air (~$200 USD). What do you folks use?
  - novok 6y ago
    I use something like this handheld air quality monitor. It's been close enough and useful enough to figure out how well my filter is working: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000312301074.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.0.0.37c13648L2Gy2g&algo_pvid=9e24c17f-5d44-40e7-89d5-81c943cca0ae&algo_expid=9e24c17f-5d44-40e7-89d5-81c943cca0ae-21&btsid=0bb0624616001459071324782e0b16&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_,searchweb201603_ https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4000312301074.html?spm=a2g0o...
  - quaa55 6y ago
    PMS5003
  - quaa55 6y ago
    also a cheap box fan and 20x20x1 merv 11+ rating filter should work wonders.
  - ahaucnx 6y ago
    You can build your own air quality sensor with our instructions. Our sensor uses the same PM sensor like in the purple air. You can build it for <USD 20. https://www.airgradient.com/diy/ https://www.airgradient.com/diy/ BTW: Our main product is an air quality monitoring service specifically designed for schools. Since we are just starting, I would love to talk to parents, teachers etc. from schools that want to monitor their air quality better. Please contact me if you are interested to talk!
- noodlesUK 6y ago
  I’m personally shocked that none of the major smart thermostat vendors include anything like this. I’d love my ecobee to tell me if the air I’m breathing is healthy, as well as what temp it is...
bigiain 6y ago
Parts of Sydney topped 2500 back in our last summer bushfires. That was pretty awful...
lsllc 6y ago
Maybe this is another good reason to wear a mask! Particulate matter in wood smoke is supposedly around 0.4–0.7 μm which which is a little bigger than a SARS-Cov2 virus particle at 0.1 μm so an N95 mask should handle both (not sure about paper surgical masks, almost certainly better than nothing for wood smoke).
- XMPPwocky 6y ago
  AFAIK, the mechanism of action of paper surgical masks, and cloth masks, is not by catching particles of that size, but primarily by catching larger droplets and by disrupting forward airflow on exhalation. So their usefulness for smoke would seem questionable.
LinuxBender 6y ago
I have several large HEPA filters running 100% of the time in my home. They work great. When it's really bad, I moisten the prefilter a little to grab more material. If that is not enough, saline solution can be used to irrigate the sinuses and eye drops to flush the eyes.

aeternum 6y ago

Title is somewhat misleading as we have seen air quality this bad in China. The US embassy in Beijing has recorded AQI > 700 in 2013 for example.

bigiain 6y ago
https://www.sciencealert.com/sydney-air-soars-to-12-times-hazardous-levels-under-toxic-blanket-of-bushfire-smoke https://www.sciencealert.com/sydney-air-soars-to-12-times-ha... 2,552 here last bushfire season... :-/
d4mi3n 6y ago
Has there been any research into health impacts of people exposed to those conditions? I’d love to read some if anyone knows of any.
duskwuff 6y ago
When the AQI at the US embassy first went over 500 in 2010, a default case in their code caused it to be described as "crazy bad": https://foreignpolicy.com/2010/11/19/beijing-air-crazy-bad/ https://foreignpolicy.com/2010/11/19/beijing-air-crazy-bad/ Officially, anything above 500 is now simply "beyond index". But "crazy bad" seems about right.

Mountain_Skies 6y ago

It's even worse when layered on top of a respiratory pandemic.

throwawaysea 6y ago

And the main problem driving Oregon’s wildfires is a lack of forest management leading to dense fuel buildup: https://katu.com/news/on-your-side/lack-of-forest-management-allowed-fuels-to-accumulate-expert-says https://katu.com/news/on-your-side/lack-of-forest-management...

Fjolsvith 6y ago
And I thought it was all the arsonists setting the fires: Jedidiah Fulton, 39 - https://archive.is/GWLYq https://archive.is/GWLYq Alberto Vincent Acosta - https://archive.is/cFPbd https://archive.is/cFPbd Kevin Carle, 37 - https://archive.is/xHiFO https://archive.is/xHiFO Ivan Geronimo Gomez, 30 - https://archive.is/mhKtG https://archive.is/mhKtG Guadalupe Molina-Pacheco - https://archive.is/US23e https://archive.is/US23e Julian Draper - https://archive.is/JyfJe https://archive.is/JyfJe Demarco Covey, 24 - https://archive.is/owMeD https://archive.is/owMeD Wesley James Bergman, 37 - https://archive.is/rl2cm https://archive.is/rl2cm Elias Pendergrass, 44 - https://archive.is/wJ1XR https://archive.is/wJ1XR Unknown - https://archive.is/mOAqq https://archive.is/mOAqq Anita Esquivel, 37 - https://archive.is/nMZFo https://archive.is/nMZFo Vanya Hummel, 24 - https://archive.is/DgwbY https://archive.is/DgwbY Unknown - https://archive.is/wZqgM https://archive.is/wZqgM John Davies, 55 - https://archive.is/VDg3M https://archive.is/VDg3M Unknown - https://archive.is/twWHf https://archive.is/twWHf Unknown - https://archive.is/jjLfn https://archive.is/jjLfn Christine Comello, 36 - https://archive.is/4mLJT https://archive.is/4mLJT https://archive.is/XxPPE https://archive.is/XxPPE https://archive.is/Vvnoz https://archive.is/Vvnoz Alexander Bradford Smith, 26 - http://jailviewer.co.douglas.or.us/Home/BookingSearchDetail?BookingNumber=B20002631 http://jailviewer.co.douglas.or.us/Home/BookingSearchDetail?... Unknown - https://archive.is/0pex9 https://archive.is/0pex9 https://archive.is/8Jli1 https://archive.is/8Jli1 Unknown - https://archive.is/JkLAw https://archive.is/JkLAw Jesse Peterson, 30 - https://archive.is/gQg3e https://archive.is/gQg3e Jeffrey Accord, 36 - https://archive.is/j3yuB https://archive.is/j3yuB https://archive.is/UszGL https://archive.is/UszGL https://archive.is/nJ9OU https://archive.is/nJ9OU https://www.bitchute.com/video/iCiNEzxzOaqd/ https://www.bitchute.com/video/iCiNEzxzOaqd/ Info roundup; https://archive.is/JxZ4P https://archive.is/JxZ4P Unknown https://archive.is/oTl3d https://archive.is/oTl3d Unknown https://archive.is/knQbj https://archive.is/knQbj Unknown https://archive.is/AEQgp https://archive.is/AEQgp Milton Loice Moran, 48 - https://archive.is/PiJpR https://archive.is/PiJpR Alexander Jones, 36 - https://archive.is/eAHK7 https://archive.is/eAHK7 Michael Jarrod Bakkela, 41 - https://archive.is/DGEGz https://archive.is/DGEGz https://archive.is/Vr0Tj https://archive.is/Vr0Tj https://archive.is/mqJnI https://archive.is/mqJnI Jonathan Maas, 44 - https://archive.is/Hw9JK https://archive.is/Hw9JK

TheMblabla 6y ago

Does anyone know how long wildfire season normally lasts in OR/CA?

JuliusPullo 6y ago
this time around? until the marxists take over.
- Can_Not 6y ago
  it really does seem that anyone who offers a valid solution to the problem gets labeled a "Marxist" because of "Doing literally anything? Who's going to pay for it???" kneejerk hysteria.
  - JuliusPullo 6y ago
    No, is because the antifa-blm marxist are setting the fires. Direct and coordinated arson. Time to pay attention.
    - TheMblabla 6y ago
      Isn't it fun to say things when you don't justify them? Let me try.. Stalin is back! running around starting fires with his gender reveal parties! Wake up sheeple.
      - Can_Not 6y ago
        Leaks revealed famous world reviled Marxists Ellen Denegeneres and George Bush conspiring to send funds to sleeper cell deep state arsonists! Is the Bureau of Land Management planning to abort your children??? Watch this Tim Pool video, all the evidence is there!
dragonwriter 6y ago
“peak wildfire season” for CA is typically cited as May through October. But there are wildfires outside of that time, even in normal years.

Proven 6y ago

It is temporary and doesn't mean anything for people without respiratory issues. As noted in other comments it's not that unusual in Asia and not a super big deal either. Don't unnecessarily go out too much. Nothing concerning.