Jackson County, OR

Wildfire Smoke & Air Quality Alerts

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Wildfire Smoke & Air Quality Alerts 3288

Smoke levels can quickly rise and fall depending on weather factors, such as wind direction and how much smoke the wildfire produces. Therefore, people must be observant of the air quality during wildfire season.

Wildfire smoke is a complex mixture of air pollutants harmful to human health. Exposure to air pollutants in wildfire smoke can irritate the lungs, cause inflammation, alter immune function, exacerbate chronic heart and lung disease, and increase susceptibility to respiratory infections.

The particulate matter (also called โ€œPMโ€) in wildfire smoke poses the biggest risk to the publicโ€™s health. Particles larger than 10 micrometers usually irritate only the eyes, nose, and throat. Fine particles 2.5 micrometers or smaller (PM2.5) can be inhaled into the deepest part of the lungs and even enter the bloodstream.

PM 2.5 levels have reached hazardous in Jackson County over the last 24 hours.

Populations known to be vulnerable to wildfire smoke exposures include:

  • Children less than 18 years;
  • Adults age 65 years or older;
  • Pregnant women;
  • People with chronic health conditions such as heart or lung disease, including asthma and diabetes;
  • Outdoor workers;
  • People of low socioeconomic status, including those who are experience homelessness and with limited access to medical care.

During a wildfire smoke event, Jackson County Public Health Officials advise people to take the following precautions:

  • Be aware of smoke concentrations in your area and avoid the places with the highest concentrations.
  • Avoid strenuous outdoor activity in smoky conditions.
  • Stay indoors with doors and windows closed. This reduces exposure to particulate matter in the air.
  • Use air conditioning to keep your home cool if it becomes too warm.
  • Other sources of particles within the home should be reduced or eliminated: smoking, using gas, woodโ€burning stoves or furnaces, aerosol sprays, frying or broiling meat, burning candles or incense, and vacuuming.
  • High-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters and Electro-static precipitator (ESP) filters can help provide protection. The HEPA filters trap or remove harmful particles in the air.
  • If a HEPA or ESP filtering options are unavailable, you might consider a DIY option by attaching a furnace filter on a box fan. People may qualify for a free air conditioner or air filter through the Oregon Health Authorityโ€™s Air Condition and Air Filter Deployment Program.
  • Create a clean room(s) in the home to keep levels of smoke and other particles as low as possible during a wildfire smoke event.
  • When riding in a car, keep the windows and vents closed; turn the air conditioning on to recirculate.
  • Drink lots of water - staying hydrated can keep your airways moist, which will help reduce symptoms of respiratory irritation such as scratchy throat, running nose, and coughing.
  • People exposed to smoky conditions and who suffer from asthma or other respiratory problems should follow their breathing management plans or contact their healthcare providers.

If you must be outdoors when air quality is poor, wearing a special mask called a โ€œparticulate respiratorโ€ can also help protect your lungs from wildfire smoke. You will want to choose a mask called a โ€œparticulate respiratorโ€ that has the word โ€œNIOSHโ€ and either โ€œN95โ€ or โ€œP100โ€ printed on it. Masks that are not NIOSH-certified may not offer protection from small particulate matter, even if properly worn.

Many people will find it challenging to use particulate respirators. It is important to make sure the respirator fits properly, and that air does not leak around the sides. It is impossible to get a good seal on individuals with facial hair. If it does not fit properly, the respirator will not provide good protection and may offer the wearer a false sense of protection. Review the United States Environmental Protection Agencyโ€™s directions on how to properly wear a particulate respirator.

Particulate respirators can make breathing more difficult and increase breathing and heart rate. They can also contribute to heat stress. Because of this, particulate respirators used by those with heart and respiratory diseases should be done under a doctorโ€™s supervision. Even healthy adults may find that the increased effort required for breathing makes it uncomfortable to wear a respirator for more than short periods. Check DEQโ€™s Air Quality Index (AQI) to see real-time air monitoring data from monitors placed around Oregon https://oraqi.deq.state.or.us/home/map. DEQ also has a mobile app for the AQI, search for OregonAir in your app store. Keep in mind that monitoring locations are limited, pollution levels may be higher in some areas, and wildfire smoke levels can rise and fall rapidly. Use the Oregon Smoke Information Blog, oregonsmoke.org, for updated air quality advisories, wildfire smoke forecasts, and other information.

Here are the six levels of the air quality index and what each level means for your health:

Air Quality Index Graph

Resources:

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Jackson County Emergency Management
3/3/2025
7 0
๐Ÿ“ฃ๐™„๐™ฃ๐™ฉ๐™ง๐™ค๐™™๐™ช๐™˜๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™œ ๐™…๐™–๐™˜๐™ ๐™จ๐™ค๐™ฃ ๐˜ผ๐™ก๐™š๐™ง๐™ฉ๐™จ!๐Ÿ“ฃ March 3rd, 2025 - Since 2015, Jackson and Josephine Counties have operated under a single shared Everbridge account that allowed utilization of the notification system known as Citizen Alert. As of this week, Jackson County will transition to its own Everbridge account and will be rebranding its notification system as Jackson Alerts. This transition will allow for enhanced security and control of alerting options, features, and alert senders within the system. Josephine County Emergency Management will continue to use Citizen Alert, and residents of Josephine County will not be impacted. ๐‚๐จ๐ฎ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ž ๐&๐€'๐ฌ ๐ฉ๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ž๐ ๐Ÿ๐ซ๐จ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐….๐€.๐. ๐ฉ๐š๐ ๐ž ๐ฅ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐ž๐ ๐›๐ž๐ฅ๐จ๐ฐ: โ“๐ˆ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ฏ๐ž ๐จ๐ซ ๐ฐ๐จ๐ซ๐ค ๐ข๐ง ๐‰๐š๐œ๐ค๐ฌ๐จ๐ง ๐‚๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐ญ๐ฒ & ๐ฉ๐ซ๐ž๐ฏ๐ข๐จ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ฌ๐ข๐ ๐ง๐ž๐ ๐ฎ๐ฉ ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ ๐‚๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐ณ๐ž๐ง ๐€๐ฅ๐ž๐ซ๐ญ, ๐ฐ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐ก๐š๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ž๐ง๐ž๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฆ๐ฒ ๐š๐œ๐œ๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐ญ ๐ข๐ง๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ๐ฆ๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง? โœ”๏ธ Good news! We moved Jackson County resident account information into Jackson Alerts. You will receive and email from Jackson Alerts with instructions on how to set up new sign in information. You'll be able to double check that your information is up to date. โ“๐ˆ๐Ÿ ๐ˆ ๐๐ข๐ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐ž๐ฏ๐ข๐จ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ซ๐ž๐ ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐ž๐ซ ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ ๐‚๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐ณ๐ž๐ง ๐€๐ฅ๐ž๐ซ๐ญ, ๐ฐ๐ก๐š๐ญ ๐๐จ ๐ˆ ๐ง๐ž๐ž๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐จ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฌ๐ข๐ ๐ง ๐ฎ๐ฉ ๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ ๐‰๐š๐œ๐ค๐ฌ๐จ๐ง ๐€๐ฅ๐ž๐ซ๐ญ๐ฌ? โœ”๏ธ Visit www.JacksonAlerts.org to sign up. โ“๐ƒ๐จ๐ž๐ฌ ๐‰๐š๐œ๐ค๐ฌ๐จ๐ง ๐‚๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐ญ๐ฒ ๐ฌ๐ก๐š๐ซ๐ž ๐จ๐ซ ๐ฌ๐ž๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ฆ๐ฒ ๐ข๐ง๐Ÿ๐จ๐ซ๐ฆ๐š๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง? โœ”๏ธ No, Jackson County does not share or sell your information. We highly recommend signing up so we can send important alerts for the areas you care about by using the contact methods of your choice. If you are concerned about creating an account or sharing your information, you have the option to receive evacuation notifications: ๐Ÿ“ฒ Text โ€œJACKSONEVACSโ€ to 888777: you will receive all evacuation notices issued from Jackson Alerts. Please check out our Jackson Alerts F.A.Q. page to learn more about the transition: www.jacksoncountyor.gov/alerts
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Jackson County Emergency Management
3/3/2025
14 0
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Jackson County Emergency Management
3/3/2025
15 0
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Jackson County Emergency Management
3/3/2025
5 0
๐Ÿ’จGusty Winds expected into Tuesday๐Ÿ’จ US National Weather Service Medford Oregon has issued a wind advisory in effect until early Tuesday morning. โš ๏ธ Southwest wind around 20 to 30mph, with gusts up to 45 mph are expected. Actions you can take now for a wind event: โœ”๏ธ Check around your house for items that could easily blow away or be damaged โœ”๏ธ Plan for potential power outages โœ”๏ธ Plan ahead if traveling, roadways could become hazardous due to fallen trees and debris Check out power outage resources below ๐Ÿ‘‡ โœ… Prep Tips before, during, and after a power outages: https://www.ready.gov/power-outages Pacific Power Resources: ๐Ÿ’ฅ Outage Map - https://www.pacificpower.net/outages-safety.html ๐Ÿ”Œ Text OUT to 722797 to report an outage ๐Ÿš— Check road conditions before you go: https://www.tripcheck.com
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Jackson County Emergency Management
2/24/2025
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๐Ÿ“† March 11th - Pacific Power will be hosting a wildfire webinar for Oregon customers
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Jackson County Emergency Management
2/21/2025
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