Hard to Determine Actual Local Air Quality Other Than ‘Smoky’
The Idaho Department of Environmental Quality has 30 air quality sensors located throughout the state.
There is no sensor located in Indian Valley or in Council, so if you’re getting air quality index information from your smartphone and you live in a place that does not have a sensor, that information is likely to be inaccurate.
The closest sensors to Council are located in McCall and in Weiser.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency developed the Air Quality Index (AQI) to provide a simple, uniform way to report daily air quality conditions.
Anyone living or driving through Indian Valley on September 10th could tell you just how bad the air quality was by having to breath it. And as Bob Dylan said in Subterranean Homesick Blues, ‘you don’t need a weather man to tell which way the wind blows.’ Everyone breathing that smoky air knew it was not healthy.
The air quality index is as follows and put out by the American Lung Association:
Good 0 to 50.
Moderate 51 to 100. Usually, sensitive individuals should consider limiting prolonged outdoor exertion.
Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups 101 to 150. Children, active adults, and people with respiratory disease, such as asthma, should limit prolonged outdoor exertion.
Unhealthy 151 to 200. Children, active adults, and people with respiratory disease, such as asthma, should avoid outdoor exertion; everyone else should limit prolonged outdoor exertion.
Very Unhealthy 201 to 300. Children, active adults, and people with respiratory disease, such as asthma, should avoid outdoor exertion; everyone else should limit outdoor exertion.
Hazardous 301 to 500. Everyone should avoid all physical activity outdoors.
If you can see and smell a lot of smoke, the best thing to do is stay indoors. Also, if you have someone in your home who has a respiratory disease, it might be wise to purchase a stand-alone HEPA air filter.
HEPA (high efficiency particulate air filters) as defined by the U.S. Department of Energy, can remove 99.97 percent of airborne particles.
Our cowboy ancestors knew to wear bandanas over their mouths and noses when they were on dusty cattle drives. So, one could also consider wearing a KN 95 mask or a N95 mask if you must work outside in hazardous smoke conditions.
One could also purchase a weather monitoring station with an air quality sensor, but having filters indoors seems like a more reasonable purchase.
