Air Quality Index at a glance

MOSES LAKE — The smoke from regional wildfires will inevitably make its way into the Columbia Basin and could have adverse impacts on the health of residents.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Air Quality Index is a helpful tool that lets the public know how clean, safe and polluted the air is in an area. The index breaks down into six groups that are put together into a color-coded system.

The groups are as follows:

• Good: Air quality poses little or no risk to the public.
• Moderate: Air quality is acceptable, but pollutants could possibly pose a moderate health risk to a limited number of individuals.
• Unhealthy for sensitive groups: Air quality presents a risk for people with lung diseases, older adults and children.
• Unhealthy: All people may begin to experience adverse health impacts and members of sensitive groups could experience serious health impacts.
• Very unhealthy: Air quality presents such a rick that a health alert is sent out that states everyone could possibly experience serious health problems.
• Hazardous: The entire population is likely to be affected by the air quality.

The Washington Department of Health offers the following tips to protect against outdoor smoke:

• Check local air quality reports.
• Avoid physical exertion outdoors if skies are smoky.
• Follow your doctor's instructions if you have asthma or other lung diseases and call your healthcare provider if your symptoms get worse.
• Stay indoors.
• Keep indoor air as clean as possible by keeping windows and doors closed, run an air conditioner, set it to re-circulate and close the fresh-air intake and use an air cleaner with a high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filter.
• Avoid adding to indoor pollution by not using food boilers, candles, incense, fireplaces and gas stoves.
• Don't vacuum unless your vacuum has a HEPA filter.