Fine Particulates from Fire Sicken Eugene-Springfield Residents

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http://www.registerguard.com/news/2002/08/20/1a.airquality.0820.html

August 20, 2002

Heavy smoke clouds valley, poses hazard

By SCOTT MABEN

The Register-Guard

The heavy blanket of wildfire smoke that crept into the Eugene-Springfield

area early Monday morning gave many residents an unexpected wakeup call.

But not Darwin Conner. The 70-year-old fly-tying aficionado lay awake most

of the night struggling for each breath in his 12th-floor apartment at

Eugene's Ya-Po-Ah Terrace. " I'll tell you what, it knocked the hell out of

me, " he said, gazing out his windows at a hazy horizon.

Conner is part of the population that suffers most from the thick layers of

fine particulates blown into metropolitan areas from smoldering forests.

Smoke forces Darwin Conner, 70, to stay in his room at the Ya-Po-Ah Terrace

in Eugene on Monday.

Photo: CHRIS PIETSCH / The Register-Guard

He has emphysema and lungs that were damaged from inhaling ammonia phosphate

in an agricultural accident. He breathes with the help of an oxygen tank day

and night. Even indoors, the smoke sends Conner into coughing fits. " I

don't know how it gets in, but it finds its way, " he said.

Local air quality officials advised that the elderly, babies and people with

respiratory problems or congestive heart disease stay indoors, preferably in

air-conditioned rooms where some of the outdoor air is filtered. " If you're

prone to bronchitis or other respiratory ailments, this smoke just

exacerbates the conditions, " said Kim Metzler, spokeswoman for the Lane

Regional Air Pollution Authority. " This can even trigger asthma episodes. "

Healthy people as well should avoid exercising outdoors when the smoke is so

thick, Metzler said. " People should not overexert themselves outside as long

as the smoke is at these levels, " she said. Even short-term exposure can

cause scratchy throat, coughing, irritated sinuses, headaches, runny nose

and stinging eyes.

The smoke, from the Siuslaw River fire 15 miles southwest of Walton, blew

into the valley and became trapped by marine air pushing in from the coast,

a lack of wind and the surrounding hills. The air inversion kept the smoke

intense throughout the morning, but light afternoon winds from the north

began to clear the air.

" But the same thing could happen again tonight and tomorrow morning if we

get a good cloud cover, " Metzler said Monday.

Southern Willamette Valley residents saw more smoke in late afternoon as

farmers burned several fields.

The nearest burn, north of Eugene in Linn County, was east of Interstate-5

and sent a plume of smoke high into the air using a " rapid ignition "

technique, a state Department of Agriculture spokeswoman said.

The forest fire smoke that socked the metro area also was reported Monday

morning in several rural communities, including burg, Junction City,

Veneta, Leaburg and Lowell.

In Eugene, the smoke exceeded the federal clean air standard throughout most

of the morning. However, air quality officials use a 24-hour average to

determine if the standard has been exceeded, and that wasn't expected to

happen Monday, Metzler said.

" It got pretty darn heavy out there, but we probably will meet that

(federal) standard today, " she said.

LRAPA's office in Springfield had a flood of morning phone calls from

residents wondering about the source of the smoke.

" We got lots of calls from people who woke up saying they thought there was

a fire in their house or a neighbor's house, " Metzler said.

Doug Huntington sat up in bed shortly before 6 a.m. " with my windows open

and sniffing, saying, 'Hey, that's smoke,' and wondering where it's coming

from, " he said.

Huntington, who works for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management office in

Eugene, had just returned from a two-week assignment on the large Biscuit

fire near Grants Pass. He knew it was smoke from a forest fire, but it still

caught him off guard.

" We're stuck with it until the clouds break and the air disperses, " he said.

Smoke from forest fires contains a high concentration of fine particulates -

microscopic particles that get lodged in the lungs and can compromise

breathing. Prolonged exposure can be unhealthy for anyone, not just those

most at risk, officials said.

The smoke particles are measured in microns; one micron is one thousandth of

a millimeter, and a human hair is about 50 to 70 microns wide.

Particles that are 2.5 microns or smaller can lead to health issues, said

Becker, air quality manager for the state Department of Environmental

Quality's Southwestern Oregon regional office.

" It takes months to years to get that stuff out of your lungs once you

inhale it, " Becker said.

Some rural communities in Southwestern Oregon have been coping with that

health risk for most of the past month, he said. Those hardest hit include

Shady Cove, Cave Junction, Selma and Agness.

" In many cases they have been experiencing air that probably on a routine

basis is close to or exceeding federal standards for particulates for

smoke, " Becker said.

The federal standard was established to monitor smog in large metro areas.

" If you're a healthy person, it may not affect you over the kind of time

period we are experiencing now, " Becker said of this summer's persistent

wildfire smoke.

" But it's also not something you want to aggravate by jogging or doing

football drills outside. "

COPING WITH BAD AIR

Monday's poor air quality prompted these tips from local health and air

quality experts:

The elderly, babies and people with congestive heart disease or respiratory

problems such as asthma or bronchitis should stay indoors. Healthy people

should avoid exercising outdoors.

Symptoms of poor air quality can include a scratchy throat, coughing,

irritated sinuses, headaches, a runny nose and stinging eyes.