Experts warn air quality levels could get worse in Virginia

RICHMOND, Va. (WWBT)—Last summer, dense smoke from Canadian wildfires polluted much of the Northeast, causing many of us to breathe unhealthy air.

Experts expect the overall air quality in the Commonwealth to worsen because of big fire events.

“Back in the 70s and 80s and 90s, we had in the Richmond area dozens of bad air quality days,” Virginia Department of Environmental Quality meteorologist Daniel Salkovitz said.

Air quality in the Richmond area is green, which means it’s good.

“We’ve had cleaner fuel, cleaner pollution technology, rules, state and federal regional regulations,” Salkovitz said.

But even with that in place, once air quality levels reach code orange or worse, experts say we have an issue.

“It’s clear as the years go on, we’re seeing more and more poor air quality days due to wildfires that are burning either locally nearby or thousands and thousands of miles away,” Groundwork USA Climate scientist Jeremy Hoffman said.

Hoffman said wildfires or any air pollutants like smoke and dust can significantly affect air quality.

“As wildfires in places like the western part of the U.S. and Canada become more prevalent due to warming conditions, drier soils, drier fuels, we expect as those conditions get worse than we also can see an increase of those negative air impacts here,” Hoffman said.

Poor air quality can also lead to a lot of health concerns.

“If you have COPD, asthma or really any underlying lung or heart condition, it really can make things worse,” Patient First Short Pump Medical Director Dr. Cora Owen said.

Dr. Owen said you can do a few things to protect yourself.

“If you know that you have one of these conditions, it would be helpful to have a respirator mask available to use if you are outside, but if you are able to get inside, that would be the most helpful,” Dr. Owen said.

Hoffman said one way to reduce poor air quality is to reduce driving in and out of the region.