Hi, Sophia Kingsbury here; Neighborhood Resilience Intern for Lloyd EcoDistrict. Among the objectives and plans laid out in our community’s 2030 Roadmap, we have set a goal to track air quality data. In conjunction with this goal, Lloyd EcoDistrict wants to make this data available and share mitigation strategies for poor air quality days. One of the first projects I am working on is an Air Quality resource page on the Lloyd EcoDistrict website. 

This year, to date no significant wildfires have broken out in the Pacific Northwest. It is very easy to forget that just two summers ago, Portland and the state of Oregon had the worst quality in the world. Within a few days of fires beginning in Oregon, the AQI in Portland reached high 200’s and other areas went beyond the AQI scale of 500. For days the air quality in Lloyd and Portland was deemed hazardous. As a Californian myself, I thought I had seen the worst of the smoke, but the air quality in Portland went beyond my wildest imagination. 

While it has been some time since a bad smoke event in Portland, we know that our area will continue to experience these in the future. Thus, we are enthused to announce a new page on the website dedicated to air quality and preparedness. In addition to having information regarding the current air quality in the Lloyd neighborhood, there will be resources for air quality preparedness, emergency response, and training. We hope that you will use this resource within your community, home, and workplace.  Check it out here. Are there other resources that would be helpful for you to prepare and respond to smoke and bad air quality days? Let me know. 

Tags: Air Quality, emergency preparedness, Lloyd Prepares, Residential Resilience, Resilience, Smoke