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Utah’s Air Quality Takes A Dive Due To Smoke From Western Wildfires

Haze and smoke are causing air quality issues throughout Utah. For much of the day in Salt Lake County on Monday, particulate readings recorded by the Utah Department of Environmental Quality hovered around 30 micrograms per cubic meter of air. Utah Division of Air Quality spokesperson Bo Call says the ideal microgram level is around 12 or 10. Call says usually during the summers without the wildfires, we are in the single digits.

 

President of the Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment Dr. Brian Moench says the current smoke from western wildfires is “10 times more toxic to the lungs than the particulate pollution out of a tailpipe or smokestack.” 

 

Dr. Moench says this is concerning because poor air quality is often linked to diseases like cancer. He says he hopes lawmakers take steps to enact solutions that clean the air. For now, Moench advises residents to purchase an air purifier for their homes.

Tyler Hewitt is the web/social media assistant at UPR. He writes stories every day, updates the website and manages the station's Twitter and Facebook pages. Tyler is a senior at Utah State University and is studying public relations, marketing, and psychology. He loves to write, listen to music, play video games, play tennis and hang out with his fiancé and cat, Juno. He is a great plant dad and recently started collecting vinyl records!