California’s Paradise Fire ignited on November 8th and was not contained until November 25th. The fire consumed 153,336 acres, 18,793 structures and caused 85 deaths. Nitrogen dioxide (NO2), carbon monoxide (CO), and particulate matter with a diameter of less than 2.5 micrometers (PM2.5) were all elevated at air quality monitoring sites located downwind of the fire. Maximum hourly PM2.5 peaked at the Chico East Avenue and Gridley Cowee Avenue monitoring sites in Butte County, hitting concentrations of 995 ug/m3 on November 9th at the Chico site and 769 ug/m3 on August 10th at the Gridley site. Maximum hourly CO peaked at 20.78 ppm at the Chico East Avenue site on November 9th. NO2 values fluctuated but were consistently elevated from their normal range of 0.01-0.04 ppm, to 0.066 ppm at the Sacramento T Street site on November 12th, 0.064 ppm at the Sacramento T Street site on November 16th, and 0.057 ppm at the Vallejo site on August 16th. Based on a review of the scientific literature pertaining to health impacts, it is estimated that PM2.5 concentrations remained consistently “unhealthy”, or “very unhealthy”, or hazardous” from November 10th-19th for all PM2.5 sites studied, and most sites PM2.5 pollutant levels remained in one of these three categories up until November 21st.

Air quality and health impacts from California’s Paradise Fire

Macromolecular Chemistry: The Second Century

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ACS Spring 2020 National Meeting & Expo

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.