The American Lung Association released its 2025 State of the Air report last week, noting that even after decades of strong clean air programs, many American communities still face air quality problems.
According to the report, as much as 46 percent of the country faces unhealthy levels of ozone or particulate matter (PM) pollution during the year. These issues, in large part, stem from our changing climate. “Extreme heat, drought, and wildfires are contributing to worsening levels of air pollution across much of the U.S., exposing a growing proportion of the population to ozone and particle pollution that put their health at risk,” according to the report.
Since 2017, ORCAA’s jurisdiction has experienced several summer-time episodes of smoke from distant wildfires – sometimes from fires as far away as northern British Columbia, Montana, or southern California.
While the 2025 State of the Air Report does not include data from ORCAA’s air monitoring network, ORCAA does track air quality across the six counties in our jurisdiction. The Lung Association only accepts data from Federal Reference Method (FRM) or Federal Equivalence Method (FEM) monitoring devices, and ORCAA’s network of PM monitors relies on a series of nephelometers for the most part. These highly accurate devices comprise the bulk of Washington’s monitoring network, and have been used for decades with great success around the world.
What we can do about wildfires
ORCAA encourages everyone to do their part to reduce wildfire risk. The state Department of Natural Resources (DNR) offers great resources to prevent local wildfires, through their Wildfire Ready Neighbors program. Residents can sign up to get resources to help them make their property, and their neighborhoods, more wildfire safe. Other tips from DNR for curbing wildfire dangers include:
- Instead of burning yard waste or property slash, explore alternatives to burning.
- When performing yard or property maintenance with power equipment, work in the mornings or late evenings to avoid the hottest parts of the day. Postpone the work when the weather calls for low humidity or high winds.
- When using power equipment, keep a water hose, water-filled buckets, or fire extinguishers on hand.
- Use a nylon or plastic weed whacker line instead of metal blades.
- Be careful not to set a hot tool down on dry grass or leaves.
- Allow power engines to cool before refueling, and make sure the hot exhaust is kept away from dry grasses, weeds, and shrubs.
- Stay onsite for an hour after finishing your work – this way you’ll be around to notice if anything begins to smolder and smoke.
- More wildfire prevention tips can be found at Wildfire Prevention | WA – DNR
According to the State of the Air Report, “Over the last decade, the findings of this report have added to the extensive evidence that a changing climate is making it harder to protect the hard-fought progress on air quality and human health. Increases in high ozone days and spikes in particle pollution related to extreme heat, drought, and wildfires are putting millions of people at risk and adding challenges to the work that states and cities are doing across the nation to clean up air pollution.”
You can learn more about dealing with wildfire smoke on ORCAA’s Wildfire Smoke page.
