Bridgeport Issues Another Air Quality Warning Due To Wildfire Smoke

The following release is from the City of Bridgeport:

BRIDGEPORT, CT — The Bridgeport EOC in conjunction with the City of Bridgeport Public Health Department continues to monitor the air quality hazard that is currently impacting our area. Currently, an Air Quality Alert is in effect until Midnight Thursday Night (Tonight). The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection has issued an Air Quality Action Day for the following counties: Fairfield, New Haven, Middlesex, and New London until midnight EDT Thursday Night.

Air Quality Levels registering through www.airnow.gov (EPA Monitoring Site) as of 0700hrs remain in the Unhealthy Levels and are listed at 178 AQI PM2.5. This level indicates the following:

People with heart or lung disease, older adults, children and teens – take any of these steps to reduce your exposure:

• Avoid strenuous outdoor activities.
• Keep outdoor activities short.
• Consider moving physical activities indoors or rescheduling them.

Everyone else – take any of these steps to reduce your exposure:

• Choose less strenuous activities (like walking instead of running) so you don’t breathe as hard.
• Shorten the amount of time you are active outdoors.
• Be active outdoors when air quality is better.

Mayor Ganim stated, “I strongly urge residents of the City of Bridgeport to continue to be vigilant with their health as they travel from place to place and spend time outdoors. For those that have asthma or heart and lung conditions, I recommend masks be worn until Air Quality Levels are no longer noted as unhealthy.”

The forecast is expected to remain in the Unhealthy Levels (150-200AQI/PM2.5) with the possibility of increased levels to Very Unhealthy Levels (201-300AQI/PM2.5) later this afternoon and evening.

Our recommendations based on the current forecast is for everyone to minimize outdoor activities and remain indoors due to the potential for the increase in higher AQI Levels. Anyone who meets the criteria in the chart below should consider remaining indoors for the day or wearing a mask outdoors to minimize exposure.

For more information or to monitor air quality please visit www.airnow.gov