by Nathan Boddy
If you’ve been in western Montana for a decade or more, you know that seasonal wildfire smoke can get bad. Really bad.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, wildfire smoke is not only a significant public health concern, but is intensifying with accelerated climate change.
“Over the past 20 years, the number of acres burned annually due to wildfires in the U.S. has doubled; in 2022, nearly 70,000 fires burned 7.5 million acres.”
The EPA lists health impacts from smoke as ranging from sore throat and eyes to asthma attacks and even premature death. And while irritability and claustrophobic desperation are not on the EPA’s list of symptoms caused by seemingly endless weeks of wildfire smoke exposure, most Montanans would add those as well.
In response to this reality that we all face, the EPA in 2024 awarded nine grants to entities across the West to help combat the negative exposure to smoke. Montana Department of Health and Human Services (DPHHS) was awarded one of those grants, and will pilot its first response program in Missoula and Ravalli Counties this summer.
The grant, formally called Wildfire Smoke Preparedness in Community Buildings, was a congressionally appropriated $7 million program from fiscal year 2024. Its goal was to prioritize projects in communities that suffer a substantial risk from wildfire, and to target public buildings that could serve as a healthy refuge from smoke’s dangerous effects. Mary Anderson, Wildfire Smoke Coordinator for DPHHS, has worked with a cast of individuals from non-profit to governmental agencies to prepare for the 2025 summer season.
“We just got the wildfire forecast from the Governor’s report and it does look like they’re expecting wildfire season to be longer and a little bit more severe,” Anderson told the Bitterroot Star. And indeed, fires have already been dotting the landscape of western Montana with the Big Creek fire having started in early May and several others burning throughout the state.
One big step for the program will be the establishment of ‘clean air centers’ in the libraries of the Bitterroot Valley. Anderson says that Montana Tech graduate student, Jake Vetter, had done some analysis and determined that people won’t use clean air centers if they aren’t coupled with amenities that allow people to productively use their time.
“They need to have adequate internet access and outlets,” she said, adding that the space also needs to be appropriate for kids, one of the most vulnerable populations.
Still, Anderson points out that the ‘clean air centers’ are not shelters. “They’re just places where people can get respite from wildfire smoke when there is a smoke event.”
That’s why Anderson was so pleased when Mark Wetherington, Director of the Bitterroot Public Library, jumped on board for it to become one of the centers. “Mark was the first person who said this was a perfect fit for the Bitterroot library,” she said.
Shortly thereafter, the libraries in Darby Public Library and the North Valley Public Library in Stevensville jumped on board as well.
With their participation in the program, each site receives $1000 to address smoke impacts within their facility. That could mean maintenance of HVAC systems, filters, or even educational materials. The sites also receive air monitors for both indoors and outdoors. Anderson said that the awarded amount was kept intentionally low in order to show that clean indoor air need not be an overly expensive end goal.
“Most people know to go inside during a wildfire smoke event,” said Anderson, “but they don’t understand that the air within your building is affected as well.” Anderson pointed out that, in a substantial smoke event, between 3 and 24 hours is all it takes for the indoor air to be as bad— or worse— than the air outside.
“Smoke can have a particulate matter measurement of 2.5,” she said. “That’s like a quarter of the size of a dust particle.” At such an incredibly small size, it’s no wonder that smoke can find its way almost anywhere.
In addition to the clean air centers in the valley’s libraries, Eric Hoover and Jeff Rodrick of Ravalli County Office of Emergency Management have worked alongside Ella Langer from the state DNRC to get air purifiers into area senior citizen centers, and to visit 5th grade classrooms to teach kids how to build economical box fan filters for domestic use. They hope to follow up by visiting area child care centers as well.
Look for future information on programs and activities related to wildfire smoke preparedness on the Ravalli County Office of Emergency Management website.