It’s been another bad day for air quality across much of the state. Today Libby became the first location to enter the “hazardous” air quality category on the state Department of Environmental quality’s air monitoring website.
"It’s pretty bad out there," says Jennifer McCully, public health coordinator for Lincoln County.
McCully says the air actually looks better today in Libby than it did yesterday. The “hazardous” reading on the DEQ website is for a 24-hour average. One-hour averages for the day in Libby today have been two notch below the “hazardous,” category at “unhealthy.”
"People want to know why we can’t do something about it,"McCully says, "but there’s just a lot of fires in the area."
Air quality is being listed as “very unhealthy,” in Hamilton, Missoula, Frenchtown, Seeley Lake and the Flathead valley. Towns in the “unhealthy” category include Butte, Helena, Great Falls, St Mary and Lewistown.
Air in Bozeman and Billings is listed at “unhealthy for sensitive groups.”