Montana News
Schools keep kids indoors on smokey days. Researchers wonder if the air is any better inside
With Montana News, I'm Elinor Smith. Schools kept students inside for recess and athletics Monday as a thick blanket of smoke smothered Western and Central Montana. MTPR's Austin Amistoy reports on an effort to better understand air quality inside schools. Montana had a higher rate of smoke-caused deaths than any other state between 2006 and 2018, according to research group GeoHealth. That fact is driving Carrie Nommen's work at the state environmental quality department. So it's obviously a very serious threat to Montanans, and anytime we can spread awareness of that is important to us. Nommen is spearheading a free program to install air quality monitors in Montana high schools. The devices come in pairs, one for inside the school and one for outside. U.M. air quality researcher Dave Jones says schools often keep students inside during episodes of unhealthy air. He says researchers need more data before they can advise schools on how to better clean indoor air. What we're finding is that typically indoor air during events like this can be as bad if not worse than outdoor air. So we've got some work to do to get that all figured out. Nommen says the monitors can be set up in under an hour. She says it's an easy way to help communities track air quality, especially in rural areas without other options. The department says 36 Montana high schools have monitors online with another 50 coming soon. For information on how to get air quality monitors in your high school, click on this story at mtpr.org. In Missoula, I'm Austin Amastoy.