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Wenatchee On Fire

Wenatchee On Fire. Saturday, Sept. 8, 2012 more than 400 lightning strikes resulted in over 100 fires in WA. Several fires merged to become Presented by: Mary Small, Chelan Douglas Public Health and Tom Dyet, Central Washington Hospital. Lightning Storms. Smoldering fires…. Wind.

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Wenatchee On Fire

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  1. Wenatchee On Fire • Saturday, Sept. 8, 2012 • more than 400 lightning strikes resulted in over 100 fires in WA. • Several fires merged • to become Presented by: Mary Small, Chelan Douglas Public Health and Tom Dyet, Central Washington Hospital

  2. Lightning Storms

  3. Smoldering fires…

  4. Wind

  5. Home evacuations…

  6. And road closures

  7. View from E Wenatchee

  8. Cashmere View

  9. Wenatchee

  10. What’s in Smoke? • Gases • Carbon Monoxide • Formaldehyde irritates the eyes and respiratory tract • Acrolein has a pungent suffocating odor and is both an upper and lower airway irritant. • Volatile Organic Compounds • Particulate Matter - PM (visible and invisible) • And everyday local pollutants, due to the long term weather inversion

  11. Health Effects of Particulate Matter Damage from the inhaled particles relates to Chemical Composition and Size • Coarse: PM 10 (2.5 micron to 10 micron) Is cleared in the nose and conducting airways • Mold 3-12 RBC’s 5-10 Textile Dust 6-20 • Fine: PM 2.5 (0.1-2.5 micron) The majority are deposited in the alveoli • Lead 0.1- 0.7 Corn Starch 0.1- 0.8 Viruses 0.005- 0.3

  12. Sensitive groups at highest risk of experiencing health complications are:_______________________ • Individuals with pre-existing heart and lung diseases • the elderly • and children

  13. Source EPA findings 2004 http://cfpub2.epa.gov/ncea/cfm/recordisplay.cfm?deid=87903 Health effects of short term exposure to PM 2.5 • Increased Hospital admissions and ER visits for respiratory and cardiovascular diseases • Increased respiratory symptoms such as coughing, wheezing and shortness of breath • Lung function changes especially in children and people with • lung disease like asthma • Changes in heart rate variability, irregular heartbeat • Non-fatal heart attacks

  14. 9/14/11 to 10/10/11 and 9/14/12 to 10/10/12 2011includes WVMC-ED + CWH-ED - 2012includes WVMC Urgent Care + CWH-ED 2011 - 119patients 2012 - 266 patients a 124% increase – in the health conditions listed here

  15. Slide Source from DOH – EH Judy Bardin Washington Air Quality Advisory (WAQA) On the WAQA scale anything *>135 ug/m3 is Hazardous *

  16. Central Washington Hospital Deals with Bad Air Quality View toward Saddlerock from southwest corner of the roof. Saddlerock should be seen in the distance (only .5 miles from CWH).

  17. The recirculated air from the tower comes up from the floor through the return air grill and into the pre-filters. Return air grills This is a full wall of filters

  18. Advice to Schools and the PublicAIR QUALITY Alerts

  19. Student Impacts Student absences for Chelan, Douglas, Kittitas and Okanogan Counties; not including the Cashmere school closure Looking at 9/11/12-10/25/12 There were 3,400 additional absences compared to the same time frame in 2011 Information Source DOH – EH Judy Bardin

  20. All 3 Cashmere schools close for 6 days Closing schools that can not maintain good indoor air quality About 4,800 additional absences After adjustments were made to entrances and HVAC systems, etc, Cashmere schools reopened.

  21. Success through partnerships Phone conferences were held with the school superintendents. These were hosted by the ESD and Chelan Douglas Public Health. (CDHD) Topics included how to get the best air quality with the HVAC systems…what worked what didn’t, why Cashmere was different, masks, absences, recess, forecasting outdoor air quality reports for schools and access to indoor air quality information Indoor Air Quality monitor information was made available through an Environmental Health staff person from CDHD. Staff helped schools assess where they needed to make improvements inside their buildings to reduce bad air quality hot spots. Outdoor air quality monitors were placed at the highest risk school sites Schools then could access specific site data anytime. These sites included Wenatchee High School, Cashmere & Entiat

  22. N 95 MasksGiven to schools - for students

  23. Central Washington Hospital And Local Healthcare Providers While the number of patient visits were up for all, this was not overwhelming for local healthcare, since it was spread over the four weeks of the smoke event.

  24. Homes evacuated…

  25. Healthcare Impacts Staffing: Initially - home evacuations impacted many employees that lived in impacted fire areas General Facility: Reduced HVAC system to 10% outside air & maintained positive pressure to keep smoke out of the building when doors opened

  26. Surgical Suites: (bring in outside air) Used the air purifying machines from the Mt St Helens event - issues included filters, odor, and infection control Masks: Were offered to patients at discharge and were hard to keep stocked as boxes were stolen from the many hospital entrances

  27. Healthcare Lessons Learned Particulate Matter (PM) is heavier than air - And is brought into the facility on hair, clothing and feet. Odor – PM smells like smoke Fans - Make people feel better, but they stir up PM back into the air mix causing infection control issues in all patient care areas

  28. N 95 Masks were found to be in short supply quickly. EM helped to get more & distribute them at local fire stations Public Health Gave out ~35,000 Community Partners Gave out ~30,000

  29. And it was Apple Harvest… many orchardists provided masks for their workers Time to change this one…

  30. Public Health: Planning the Response • Information • PIO coordination conference calls 1pmDOH/USFS/DOE/FIRE/RED CROSS/and LHJ’s • Air Quality technical calls 10am • DOE/USFS/FIRE/LHJ’s/DOH • Weather Forecasting – Dept. of Ecology • 8 am distribution A 4-day weather and smoke forecast for area schools and the media

  31. Lessons Learned… • INDOOR/OUTDOOR AIR MONITORS • Excellent for giving people information to assist in making the best decisions on a buildings air quality and/or for allowing outdoor activities • INDOOR AIR Purifiers Work • They can maintain good indoor air quality! • Coordinate Messaging More Frequently • With local healthcare partners and local PIO group • Ask for help sooner! • A 27 day event??? - the one thing I would have done differently!

  32. The Community Responded to Health Messaging • Willing to cancel and move community events • Closure of impacted schools, public and private, and child care centers • Cancelling daily recess and moving team sports events and outdoor practices • The longer this smoke event lasted, the greater the financial toll on local school and community event budgets

  33. 9/26/12 A Clean Air Shelter Opens • Partnerships for response • Public Health, Red Cross, Link Bus, Douglas County District Fair Grounds, Douglas County Commissioners, and DSHS • Lessons learned… • Open them in the local community impacted, so people can go back and forth to their homes, if desired • Shelters are short term and a last resort • In the end, no one used the clean air shelter in Waterville

  34. Wenatchee Valley without smoke! The last Air Quality Alert was sent out on 10/11/12

  35. Questions? Rumor #1: Fish were caught already smoked… Rumor #2: People were said to be More irritable… Rumor #3 Some smokers were seen wearing N-95 masks, but pulling them down to puff away…

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