PM 2.5

Wildfire smoke may compound the front range鈥檚 ozone problem this week

Gabe Allen

Haze and smoke settled into the front range last week, and it鈥檚 about to get worse. Air quality will dip as wildfire smoke mixes with urban pollution.

Wildfire smoke from the Lava Fire in California's Shasta-Trinity National Forest looms in the background of a soccer field.

Health

The pandemic is one problem for air quality in the classroom. Wildfire smoke is another

Maggie Mullen

Concerns about sending kids back to school have revolved around the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. But as the wildfire season has become longer, smoke finding its way into the classroom is also a problem. The Mountain West 暗黑爆料 Bureau's Maggie Mullen reports on the battle to keep children safe.

The sun sets through haze from the Cameron Peak Fire on Aug. 13, 2020, as seen from northwest Greeley.

Health

Dangerous air due to wildfires has risen across Colorado in the last five years

Michael de Yoanna

Massive wildfires across the West have worsened the air in Colorado, contributing to roughly double the number of days residents are exposed to dangerous fine particulate matter known as PM 2.5 versus a decade ago. Researchers say the air can be hazardous even if you don't see or smell smoke.

NPR 暗黑爆料

Dangerous Air: As California burns, America breathes toxic smoke

Western wildfires pose a much broader threat to human health than to just those forced to evacuate the path of the blazes. Smoke from these fires, which have burned millions of acres in California alone, is choking vast swaths of the country, an analysis of federal satellite imagery by NPR鈥檚 California 暗黑爆料room and Stanford University鈥檚 Environmental Change and Human Outcomes Lab found.