Smoking gun

If you’ve left your home at all recently, chances are you’ve been greeted by the less-than-welcome smoke from the King Fire throughout the valley. You may even have a solid headache from the pollution in the air.

Air quality has been greatly affected by the nearby King Fire east of Sacramento. The pollutant in the air from the smoke is called PM2.5—fine particulates. And the level in the air in Reno, Sparks and surrounding areas has been unhealthy. At midday on Sept. 23, the air quality index was at 156. This level is considered unhealthy for everyone, not just sensitive groups.

“It impacts, at the levels that we’ve been seeing, everybody, but especially children, elderly, and those with heart and lung diseases,” said Brendan Schnieder, air quality specialist for Washoe County Health Department Air Quality Management Division (AQMD). “You’ll get anything from minor irritation in your throats, itchy eyes. You could get headaches. It can also be very severe where it can cause asthma attacks, affect people’s circulatory systems for their heart conditions. It can really inflame conditions that you could otherwise manage under clean air.”

And the only real way to stay healthy at this time is to avoid the smoke.

“There’s not much you can do, other than staying indoors, reducing activity, closing all windows, staying hydrated,” said Schnieder. “If you have to be outside, take frequent breaks. I’m doing the same thing. I have a three-year-old and my wife. I pick him up from day care, and we just stay in the house all day. We play inside.”

The worst day for air pollution in the valley was Wednesday, Sept. 17.

“Normal for this time of the year, in sort of technical terms, is anywhere from four to six micrograms,” Schnieder said. “[Sept. 17] we saw as high as 270 micrograms, which is very, very high, very unusual. And on an hourly basis, it’s very, very bad for you.”

“[Sept. 17] was something to note because we had our worst air pollution levels,” said Daniel Inouye, chief of the Monitoring and Planning Branch of AQMD. “And [the King Fire] grew 50,000 acres that day, so it produced a lot of smoke and that smoke came to our area.”

The air quality in the area has been mostly unhealthy during the King Fire, but we are also getting some good levels throughout the day as well.

“[The smoke] seems to kind of roll in whenever the wind shifts, which has been predominantly in the evening and late afternoon,” Schnieder said.

The Reno area isn’t new to smoke from wildfires in nearby areas causing issues for residents, and many will remember the Rim Fire last year causing similar problems. The King Fire, though, is slightly different.

“The Rim Fire was a little different in that it impacted us constantly,” Schnieder said. “There were no breaks like we’re seeing with this. We get really good air quality with this fire, and then in an hour, in an instant, it will shoot up to unhealthy conditions. … All together we had a higher one hour for this fire, and [Sept. 17] beat the worst day of the Rim Fire. The Rim Fire was kind of consistent at some level, with some peaks. This one is kind of good, high peaks; good, high peaks; good.”

Locals who want air quality alerts to their phone or email can sign up for EnviroFlash at ourcleanair.com through the AQMD. There is also a lot of information about local air quality and the King Fire on that webpage. Firefighters are making some headway on containment of the King Fire, and on Tuesday, Sept. 23, it was reported to be about 35 percent contained.