Air Pollution Precautions

HAMILTON COUNTY, Tenn. (WDEF) –You have probably noticed the smoky haze and smell that continues to fill the air across the Tennessee Valley.

This is due to multiple wildfires continuing to burn all over our viewing area.

News 12 discovered how this dense smoke can lead to health issues.

Air pollution officials said the heavy haze that filled the sky Monday morning was cause by an inversion.

“You’ve got a layer of cold air trapped with a layer of warm air over it. It just does not move out of the area”, said Public Relations Coordinator for the Chattanooga-Hamilton County Air Pollution Control Bureau, Amber Boles.

“Smoke is traveling many, many miles where its originating. You have all these large fires from 3 different states (Alabama, Georgia, and Tennessee) and it’s all in the same area so smoke unfortunately is going to be around for a while”, said Pat Stockett from the Georgia Forestry Commission.

The smoke can cause people to become ill.

“The most vulnerable people are people who are already sick or are frail for any other reasons. It can exacerbate  your breathing problems”, said Dr. Carlos Baleeiro, Pulmonary Critical Care Specialist at CHI Memorial.

Boles said she and the Hamilton County Air Pollution Control wants people to take precautions.

“Keep your windows and doors close, avoid running the air conditioner if possible, but if it cannot be avoided we encourage them to run the air conditioning in either your home or car with the fresh air intake closed.”

“This is an intermediate air quality day. We’re at about a score of 50. This is basically particles per million in the air. ”

Dr. Baleeiro said those tiny particles can penetrate through almost anything.

“Unfortunately most masks you can buy, simple paper masks they don’t work as well for smoke because the particles are so small.”

Hamilton County continues to remain on a burn ban until further notice.