Be Informed and Be Prepared for Poor Air Quality Conditions in Kittitas County
Kittitas County, WA -08/24/2015 – Kittitas County is currently under the second Air Quality Alert issued by the Washington State Department of Ecology (Ecology). Fires from neighboring counties continue to affect the air quality in Kittitas County and the alert issued by Ecology is effective until further notice.
The Kittitas County Public Health Department (KCPHD) wants residents to be aware that air quality issues will likely continue. Changing weather conditions and changing fire conditions contribute to air quality in our county. KCPHD wants residents to be aware of current air quality conditions in order to take necessary steps to stay healthy.
Air quality information can be accessed at any time via the Washington Air Quality Advisory (WAQA) online. WAQA is a tool that measures the air quality with categories ranging from “good” to “hazardous” air. Additional resources include the following:
Washington Smoke Blog contains information about smoke as well as active wildfires.
Puget Sound Clean Air’s Graphing Tool shows real time changes for the station in Ellensburg.
National Weather Service has weather related alerts, including air quality.
Washington State Department of Health’s Wildfire Smoke page explains the harm of wildfire smoke.
“We know that we have active residents who want to enjoy the outdoors. We have students starting practice today for many school sports. Ultimately, we want activities to resume, but safely,” asserts Health Officer Dr. Mark Larson. “We want activities outdoor when we have “good” air and when air changes to “moderate” or worse, we want people to start making changes, which would include moving indoors.”
Below is the “Air Pollution and School Activities” graph for specific recommendations based on air quality conditions.
For more information about health concerns relating to air quality or informational resources, please contact KCPHD at (509)-962-7515.
Kittitas County, from the Cascades to the Columbia, and online at https://www.co.kittitas.wa.us
