Karen Chávez

kchavez@citizen-times.com

ASHEVILLE – Despite historic wildfires that swept across Western North Carolina, darkening daytime skies with choking smoke and sending people indoors for weeks, the air quality in the mountains and the state followed a long trend of improving last year.

That’s according to data released Monday by the N.C. Division of Air Quality, the WNC Regional Air Quality Agency, the U.S. Forest Service and Duke Energy at the Land of Sky Regional Council’s Ozone Season Kickoff.

The annual event is timed each year to coincide with the daily, color-coded forecasts for ozone and particulate pollution March 1 through Oct. 31, when warmer temperatures increase the likelihood of ground ozone and particulate pollution, hazards to health.

An Air Quality Index of 0-50 is considered good, or green; yellow is 51-100 AQI; orange is 101-150; red is 151-200; and purple is 201-300. Maroon is off the charts.

“Wildfires are an exceptional event. We hope we don’t experience something like this again in our lifetimes,” said Bill Jackson, air resource management specialist with the U.S. Forest Service.

Some days in November crept past code red, designated as unhealthy for everyone, and leaped into the nearly uncharted territory of code purple and code maroon – the worst possible air quality.

“People were exposed to the highest air pollution that they’re ever going to experience in their life,” Jackson said.

Six permanent air quality monitoring stations are maintained by the state Division of Air Quality and local air quality agencies.

During the fires, 10 additional portable monitors were set up in far western towns including Franklin in Macon County and Robbinsville in Graham County, which were hardest hit by some of the fires including the Rock Mountain fire in north Georgia, and the Camp Branch, Tellico, Maple Branch and Boteler fires in the Nantahala National Forest that burned more than 30,000 acres.

Jackson said those areas and others were monitored for 27 days between Nov. 3 and Dec. 8 for fine particulate matter (PM 2.5), which are a fraction of the size of a human hair.

Ashley Featherstone, permitting manager for the WNC Regional Air Quality Agency, said the topography of WNC has a “bowl effect” that can trap air pollution, exacerbated by locally generated pollution.

Ozone, the main component of smog, is created when nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds emitted from vehicles, the Duke Energy power plant in Skyland, and other industrial sources bake in the sunshine. Ozone is a lung irritant that causes shortness of breath, irritates throats and eyes, and aggravates asthma.

Particulate matter is formed by a chemical reaction of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides from power plants and vehicle exhaust, as well as open burning. They can cause premature death in people with heart or lung disease and decreased lung function.

Featherstone said her office received countless calls during the fires, asking whether it was safe to send children to school, or if people should come to WNC for Thanksgiving.

“The color codes for Asheville weren’t always the same for a couple of counties over,” she said. “I told people if you can see smoke and smell smoke, you’re in the code red range.”

Franklin had 10 green air quality days, four yellow, two orange, four red, three purple and four were maroon.

Robbinsville had six green, five yellow, one orange, three red, one purple and two maroon.

Asheville had two code red days, Nov. 22 and 23, due to the nearby Party Rock fire in Lake Lure.

But when averaged across a three-year period, WNC particulate matter pollution was in attainment – meaning it met the EPA standards – for less than 35 micrograms per cubic meter daily, and less than 12 micrograms per cubic meter annually.

Ozone pollution was also in attainment, a standard set by the EPA at 70 parts per billion. Across the state, only 10 days were code orange or above in 2016.

“This is super important,” said Mike Abraczinskas, director of the N.C. DAQ in Raleigh. “This is the lowest number of exceedanc of the standard in the past two decades. This is emission reduction at work.”

Working with federal, state and local partnerships, emissions of nitrogen oxcides have significantly decreased across WNC and the state, he said.

The 2002 Clean Smokestacks Act had a dramatic effect on cleaner air, as well as continually stricter EPA standards for ozone and particulate pollution, lower emissions from the Duke Power Plant, the decrease in emissions from alternatively powered vehicles, such as biodiesel and electricity, and community programs that encourage the use of carpooling, public transportation and walking and biking to work and school.

Check the air

Air quality forecasts are issued for the valleys and ridge tops in the Asheville area at 3 p.m. daily through Oct. 31. The color-coded index is based on expected levels of ozone and fine particulates.

The forecasts indicate whether air quality is likely to be good (green), moderate (yellow), unhealthy for sensitive groups (orange), unhealthy (red), very unhealthy (purple) and worst possible for health (maroon).

For daily forecasts, visit www.ncair.org.

The AQI forecast for March 22 in the Asheville valleys is green for ozone and particle pollution.

What you can do to limit nitorgen oxide emissions:

Drive less

Take public transportation

Eliminate unnecessary car idling

Trip link

Buy clean vehicles that use alternative fuels and get better gas mileage.

Conserve electricity.

Turn off lights and unplug appliances when not in use.

Turn temperature setting up on air conditioners and down on furnaces.

Insulate your home.

Sign up for N.C. Green Power.

Support good land use and transportation planning.

Source: N.C. Division of Air Quality and Land of Sky Regional Council