Making sense of the air quality index and how to protect yourself from wildfire smoke in Delaware

By Kyle McKinnon

Published August 2, 2024 at 7:58 AM EDT

Smoky haze from past wildfires in the western part of the U.S. obscures the Delaware sky.

Wildfires burning out west recently brought smoke and haze to the First State.

It’s the latest instance in what’s becoming a growing regional trend with prolonged poor air quality stemming from wildfires in the western part of the U.S. or wildfires in Canada.

This week, Delaware Public Media Kyle McKinnon talks with Angela Marconi – the Director of the Division of Air Quality for DNREC – about how to make sense of the Air Quality Index and ways to protect yourself from lingering wildfire smoke.

DPM's Kyle McKinnon talks with DNREC Division of Air Quality head Angela Marconi about the AQI and wildfire smoke protection

The Air Quality Index, or AQI, can be a useful tool for Delawareans interested in the safety of the outside air, especially in wake of recent wildfire smoke.

AQI is broken into numbers and colors, with 1 to 50 and green representing good air quality, 51 to 100 and yellow representing moderate air quality, and so on.

Director of DNREC’s Division of Air Quality Angela Marconi says that Delaware’s air quality is usually consistent with a few exceptions.

“We see readings that are either green or yellow, and in Delaware, we usually have a few days of the year for ozone, where we go orange,” Marconi said. “And recently, we’ve seen higher levels of a particulate matter, but I wouldn’t say that that’s the new norm yet. We haven’t quite gotten there.”

Angela Marconi

Angela Marconi, Director of DNREC’s Division of Air Quality.

Marconi explains having a few days of ozone pollution, or more smog than usual, is a normal occurrence for a state like Delaware.

Particulate matters are mixtures of solid particles and airborne liquid droplets. These have a large effect on the air quality in a certain area, though Marconi says Delawareans shouldn’t be too concerned about an overabundance of particulate matter yet.

Despite this, Marconi says there are a lot of simple ways for individuals to help combat poor air quality.

“We always encourage people to do things like to trip chain if you’re going to go out, you know, instead of going back and forth to your house five times, you go out and do all your errands and then come back,” Marconi said. “Not top off your gas tank. Not mowing the lawn at 7:00pm at night because that puts the emissions out into the air late in the day. So, different actions like that.”

There are also plenty of easy ways to protect yourself, from purchasing a purifier and wearing a mask to following online instructions to make a box fan into an air filter.

However, she adds Delaware’s air remains good quality for the most part.

Editor's note: Director Marconi misspoke regarding her comments about mowing lawns after 7pm to promote healthy air quality. According to DNREC, on days with poor air quality, it's best to delay activities that have emissions, such as using a gasoline lawn mower or getting gas from a service station, until after ozone peaks around 4-5pm. Thus, mowing in the evening is a good choice for helping improve Delaware’s air quality.