The Governor’s Council on Wildfire Response adopted the “National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy”. This has three goals:
Create fire-adapted communities.
Restore and maintain resilient landscapes.
Respond safely and effectively to wildfire.
Oregon must make broad changes in all three areas.
During extreme weather events like heat waves or wildfire smoke events, it’s crucial to engage with building tenants to ensure their safety
Canada is facing wildfires, and the smoke is reaching the U.S. David Burchfield, the CEO of BuildingLens, highlights this crisis, “Canada is on fire, and cities in the U.S. have some of the worst air quality in the world. Wildfire smoke does not care about borders. Or people. The climate crisis is here. Indoor spaces are going to be more precious than ever.”
On Wednesday, July 5, 2023, the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, Southwest Clean Air Agency, and Lane Regional Air Protection Agency released a joint statement warning residents in the Portland-Vancouver, Salem, and Eugene-Springfield metropolitan areas about worsening air quality. People in this area faced increased levels of ozone pollution (i.e., smog) due to high temperatures and low winds.
Air purifiers, while effective, can be expensive and may become scarce during wildfire smoke events. In contrast, DIY box fan filters offer an affordable alternative, providing similar or even superior results in filtering out fine dust particles from wildfire smoke. For around $45, a trip to the hardware store can get you a 20-inch box fan, a 20-inch filter, and a 40-inch bungee cord. This is all you need to create your own effective air cleaner.
Studies conducted by the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency have demonstrated that box fan filters can be as good or better than a commercial air purifier.
We were recently made aware of a very well-done science-based report by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) titled “Protecting the Health of Vulnerable Populations with In-Home Energy Efficiency: A Survey of Methods for Demonstrating Health Outcomes” [1]. In it, the authors, Sara Hayes and Ronald Denson Jr., lay out an important case for how energy efficiency and public health intersect. Besides being a cost-saving measure, energy efficiency can function as a proxy for health outcomes. Lower energy costs free up assets for acute needs such as health care and nutrition, especially for frontline communities bearing unfair burdens. Also, reduced energy use means less fossil fuel emmissions, leading to a decrease in harmful air pollution.
We think of today’s world as more connected than ever but can often forget that pollution has always moved across borders. Wildfire