September 28, 2022
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service are making the popular AirNow Fire and Smoke Map available in Spanish as a pilot project to make important air quality resources accessible to Spanish-speaking people living in areas affected by wildfire smoke. Nearly 42 million people in the U.S. speak Spanish at home.
“Climate change is making wildfires more frequent and severe, making it more important than ever that people living in wildfire-prone areas have access to information they can use to protect their health,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Administrator for Air and Radiation Joe Goffman. “By using the AirNow Fire and Smoke Map that EPA and the Forest Service are making available, Spanish-speakers in the U.S. will be able to learn what steps to take to protect themselves from wildfire smoke – and when to take them.”
“Improving the quality and accessibility of information about wildfire smoke for the public has long been a goal of our partnership with EPA,” said Jaelith Hall-Rivera, USDA Forest Service Deputy Chief for State and Private Forestry. “By making the Fire and Smoke Map available in Spanish, we are taking a concrete step to eliminate barriers to critical public health information, ensuring limited English proficiency communities are better informed and prepared to address impacts from wildfire smoke.”
The Forest Service-led Interagency Wildland Fire Air Quality Response Program makes Smoke Forecast Outlooks available in Spanish on many fires. These outlooks are issued on wildfires where smoke may be of concern and where specially trained Air Resource Advisors have been deployed. You can access Smoke Forecast Outlooks at https://outlooks.wildlandfiresmoke.net/outlook, or through the Fire and Smoke Map.
EPA and the Forest Service launched the Fire and Smoke Map in August 2020 to provide the public information on fire locations, smoke plumes, near real-time air quality and protective actions to take — all in one place. To give users the most localized air quality information possible, the map pulls data from monitors that regularly report to AirNow, temporary monitors such as those the Forest Service and air agencies have deployed near fires, and crowd-sourced data from more than 13,000 low-cost sensors that measure fine particle pollution, the major harmful pollutant in smoke. The map shows this data in the familiar color-coding of the U.S. Air Quality Index (AQI).
You can view the Fire and Smoke Map at https://fire.airnow.gov/ or in the AirNow mobile app. To view the map in Spanish, click or tap the globe icon at the top of the map, and select Español.
Download the AirNow app: Apple App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/epa-airnow/id467653238 EXIT
Google Play Store: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.saic.airnow EXIT
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Originally Appeared Here