Air quality monitor in place in Havre

The Hill County Health Department and Havre City-County Airport teamed up to fill, at least temporarily, a huge gap in the region — an air quality monitor.

Hill County Public Health Director Kim Larson said she and airport manager Tony Dolphay worked together this year to request an air quality monitor for Havre, and last week Montana Department of Environmental Quality installed one on the roof of the Hill County Courthouse Annex, which houses the health department.

“Tony and I kept sending emails and got us on a waiting list,” Larson said. “… Because Havre is kind of in a hole.”

Malta, Great Falls and Kalispell have the nearest permanent air quality monitors, she said, and people might see those monitors listing “fair” air quality conditions while Havre has an air quality with a 2-mile visibility.

“A huge space didn’t have monitors at all,” she said.

DEQ has temporary and emergency monitors it puts in place such as during fire season, she said, and Havre and Cut Bank each have one, for now.

The air quality in those communities can now be seen on the DEQ webpage showing the quality at monitors in the state.

The monitor this morning showed the impacts Larson was talking about — Great Falls, Cut Bank and Kalispell each showed “good” air quality while Havre listed “unhealthy for sensitive groups” and Malta listed “moderate.”

Larson said watching the air quality can be extremely important. Wildfire smoke contains minute particles that can have serious impacts.

“It’s oftentimes overlooked,” she said, with people thinking, “It’s just a little smoky out.”

But the particulates get into people’s lungs and can affect organs in ways they don’t realize, she said, including exacerbating underlying conditions they aren’t aware of, such as heart conditions.

“It can be fatal,” Larson said.

She said student athletes with unknown conditions have been known to collapse on practice fields during smoky conditions.

“It’s very serious,” Larson said. “I just like to let people know what’s going on.”

The health department had been posting air quality alerts on its Facebook page including the impacts of the quality listed, and those are still on the page, she said.

Now, with the state webpage listing Havre, hovering over the different categories listed to the side of the page brings up what impacts the categories have.

Clicking on “Explanation of Categories” below the listing brings up more detailed information.

Other links on the page bring up information such as “About Today’s Air” and “Wildfire Smoke Outlook.”

Larson said the Havre monitor will be left in place through this year’s wildfire season — which has no definite end, depending on the weather.

She said DEQ sometimes leaves the temporary monitors in place longer.

“They might leave it through the winter and see what our air does,” she said.

That might lead to a longer-term or permanent monitor.

“This is a temporary monitor for us, but it’s a step forward,” Larson said. “If it shows what’s going on here, we have a better chance of getting one in the future.”

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Department of Environmental Quality air quality monitor webpage: http://svc.mt.gov/deq/todaysair/.