BUTTE — When you can’t see the Highland Mountains south of Butte, that’s a good indication that the air quality is not very good. Wildfire season is in full swing and Butte is getting a lot of smoke from regional fires and that’s making it potentially dangerous to Butte’s most vulnerable population.
“Our vulnerable groups are especially people who have like, heart disease, lung diseases, the very old, the very young,” said Butte’s Environmental Health Manager John Rolich.
Butte’s Health Department reports Butte’s air quality index is at unhealthy for sensitive groups. Because winds are coming into the area from the northwest, much of the smoke in and around the Butte area is from wildfires in Canada, and not so much the recent Blacktail Canyon fire burning just southeast of Butte.
This actually makes the air quality worse.
“The farther the smoke travels, the more hazardous it becomes for a human,” said Rolich.
A man traveling with his family from Colorado stopped in Butte and said this region is very smoky. He was hoping to get a good look at the Our Lady of the Rockies statue on the East Ridge.
“ My daughter, she’s six, and she’s like, ‘Where’s the statue you’re talking about, Daddy?’ I’m like, well, you have to look carefully, I’ll have to show you pictures of it on the internet,” said Andrew Johnson.
If air quality worsens, the health department recommends people stay inside more. The department also has more than a dozen air purifiers that can be loaned out to low-income families.
“When we get to unhealthy categories, air pollution is like smoking a couple packs of cigarettes a day,” said Rolich.
