Comunicado de Prensa (español)
Smoke from the Pulp Road fire in Brunswick County has the potential to create unhealthy air quality today for areas downwind of the fire.
The N.C. Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Air Quality (DAQ) issued a Code Red Air Quality Action Day alert for Brunswick County for today, June 16, until midnight. Additionally, a Code Orange Air Quality Action Day is in effect for New Hanover and Pender counties today. The alerts indicate potentially high levels of fine particle pollution, or PM2.5.
Code Red on the AQI represents unhealthy air quality for everyone. Residents should consider limiting prolonged or heavy exertion outdoors. Anyone sensitive to air pollution, including children, older adults and people with asthma, should avoid outdoor exertion altogether.
In areas forecasted to be Code Orange, people sensitive to air pollution should reduce their time outdoors. Healthy adults are less likely to be affected.
State law prohibits the open burning of residential yard waste or land clearing debris on Air Quality Action Days of Code Orange or above. Open burning is currently prohibited in Brunswick, New Hanover and Pender counties. To report violations of the open burning rules in these counties today, please email shawn.taylor@deq.nc.gov.
PM2.5 is comprised of particles smaller than the width of a human hair. These particles can reach deep in the lungs and aggravate asthma and other lung conditions and have been linked to heart conditions.
Your eyes and nose can be your best air quality monitors when it comes to wildfire smoke. If you see or smell smoke, and visibility is degraded because of smoke, you should consider limiting your exposure by moving your activities indoors.
DAQ monitors and forecasts ozone and PM2.5 daily using the Air Quality Index (AQI), along with the corresponding AQI color codes to help North Carolinians plan their outdoor activities. Next-day and extended products are issued by 3 p.m. with a morning update by 10 a.m.
For the latest air quality information, visit the Air Quality Portal online. DEQ’s website has a list of resources for keeping safe around wildfire smoke. Please contact the N.C. Forest Service for information about the fire and active response.
Si necesita esta información en español por favor llame al 919-609-2189 o mande un correo a Guadalupe.jimenez@ncdenr.gov.
Comunicado de Prensa (español)