DENVER — In the aftermath of the Marshall Fire which destroyed 1,000 homes and businesses in Boulder County, smoke and debris lowered air quality for people living in the area. A year after the devastation, there are signs of progress.
Air quality monitors are starting to come down.
Denver7’s Veronica Acosta reporting from a Superior neighborhood says right after the fire, Boulder County Public Health initially installed six air quality monitors throughout the burn area.
As soon as funding opened up, they were able to bring in more monitors totaling 22to track air quality.
Now all except eight air monitors stationed at Boulder Valley Public Schools will start to come down.
Bill Hayes, Boulder County Air Quality Program Director explains why he’s comfortable with this move and what health officials have been tracking.
“These get into your lungs, they go through all your body's normal defenses and can get into the bloodstream and impact all the other organs.” said Hayes,
“And so with the fire, you had a lot of dust, fine particulate, we were also worried about asbestos. So our monitoring system was looking for those types of pollutants.”
For concerned residents, Hayes says he is comfortable with the decision to take down the air monitors.
”In the year that it's been up, we've seen very few instances of concerning air quality that we can attribute to the wildfire.”
For months, residents have been able to track air quality in the burn area through the county’s website.
A big reason the monitors are coming down is because of funding, according to Hayes. Residents can sign up for air quality alerts here.
