Comment Log Display

This year, north state California populations suffered greatly from
the impacts of massive wildfires on air quality. For instance,
Siskiyou County suffered "moderate" to "hazardous" air quality
conditions. The Hoopa Tribe in Trinity County did a study of the
relationship of air quality conditions to health services, showing
a direct correlation.

Today, the Redding Record Searchlight published the following
article on a study that determined a direct correlation between
the wildfires and ozone. I submit this article as comment:

http://www.redding.com/news/2008/oct/10/wildfires-increase-ozone/
Wildfires increase ozone 
Study: Unhealthy gas created near, far from blazes
By Ryan Sabalow Friday, October 10, 2008 

      When it comes to wildfires, it's not just the hazy,
smoke-filled air that's bad to breathe.

The pollution that can't be seen also can make you wheeze and
cough, a study released Thursday found.

For the first time, the National Center for Atmospheric Research
(NCAR) tied high, unhealthy ozone levels to wildfires.

Unlike the cough-inducing clouds of smoky particulate matter that
clogged sight lines and airways this summer, ozone is an
invisible, odorless, tasteless gas that can cause respiratory
problems.

Although scientists have long known that wildfires can affect air
quality by emitting particles and gases into the air, there has
been little research to quantify ozone levels.

"There's long been a hypothesis that ozone levels are affected by
fires and generally there's been an assumption that some of the
gases released do cause ozone levels to go up," said John Waldrop,
senior air pollution inspector with Shasta County Air Quality
Management District.

But that was never proven until NCAR scientists used data from
fall 2007 in wildfire-besieged Southern California to discover
that fires released nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbons, which can
form ozone near the fire or far downwind as a result of chemical
reactions in sunlight.

The study found that rural communities with normally healthy air
suffered.

California witnessed an intense wildfire season in 2007 with
drought conditions and unusually powerful Santa Ana winds fanning
flames. More than 9,000 fires blackened over a million acres
statewide and destroyed more than 2,000 homes.

Using computer models and data from 55 rural ground monitoring
stations, NCAR found that drifting smoke from wildfires sent ozone
pollution to unhealthy levels in 66 instances, about triple the
usual number.

NCAR scientist Gabriele Pfister said her study was expanded this
summer to sample data above and around the massive fires that
burned in the north state, but the data from that analysis hasn't
been computed yet.

But she expects to see that air quality in the north state is much
worse, since ozone levels spike on sunny days.

"You definitely have a lot more sunlight around in June and July
than you do in September and October," Pfister said.

On June 21, a freak lightning storm sparked about 300 fires in the
north state. Many burned for months.

Waldrop said that the smoky skies caused by the fires seemed to
actually keep ozone levels down, since the blanket of particles
blocked out the sun's rays.

Even so, between June 14 and Aug. 14, Shasta County's air violated
the state eight-hour standard for ozone 17 times.

Reporter Ryan Sabalow can be reached at 225-8344 or
rsabalow@redding.com.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

Original File Name:

Date and Time Comment Was Submitted: 2008-10-10 14:21:41