Sonoma house ground zero for air quality

Bryan Kennedy’s smoke sensor became town’s lone air-safety gauge|

Other air monitoring sites

1. Air Now – This website, maintained by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, provides similar real-time air pollution data. Its nearest data collection point to Sonoma are Santa Rosa and Vallejo. www.airnow.gov

2. Spare the Air – Operated by the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, this site provides air pollution measurements in the Bay Area, along with a five-day forecast, information about commuter incentives and rules on wood-burning fireplaces. To sign up for text alerts, text the word “START” to 817-57. www.sparetheair.org

3. Air Visual – A worldwide map of air quality sensors in big cities. www.airvisual.com/world-air-quality

Every time you refresh the Purple Air air quality monitoring website, you might want to say a quick thank you to the Kennedy family.

Until late last week, there was a single red dot on the global air monitoring system’s map, indicating where in Sonoma air-quality was being monitored during the smoke-heavy days of the raging Camp Fire. All Purple Air data for the Valley came from a sensor attached to the front of Bryan Kennedy’s house on the corner of Fifth Street East and Napa Road.

The sensor has been quietly doing its thing unobserved by most residents since last April, when a few “Spare the Air” days in Sonoma made Kennedy, 38, a little worried about the air his young daughters were inhaling. He found himself checking the AirNow.gov site frequently but was dismayed to realize that its nearest air-quality sensor was located 25 miles away in Vallejo.

One night, over dinner with some tech friends in San Francisco, he heard about PurpleAir.com and learned that he could easily install his own sensor for around $250.

Kennedy worked through the two main options: connecting the sensor inside or outside (he chose outside); and making the sensor readings public or private (he chose public, so his data would be shared globally). He connected the small, round white sensor to his Wifi, and then didn’t think much about it.

But over the 10 days since the thick smoke of Butte County’s Camp Fire first settled over Sonoma, and Purple Air’s website emerged as Sonoma County’s de facto gold standard for air quality measurements, the Kennedy family’s sensor has become renowned in town.

Purple Air caught on quickly, in part, because its map is user friendly. Its readings use the Federal Environmental Protection Agency Air Quality Index (AQI) scale. The AQI allows comparison for different pollutants with an easy to visualize color scheme. The air goes from “good” green air to yellow to orange to red to “hazardous” maroon air.

Readings range from zero to 500, and AQI guidelines state that anything between 150 and 200 could potentially and adversely affect even healthy people. Sonoma Valley has been hovering between 150 and 275 for the past week.

Kennedy was surprised when he realized that local schools were relying on his family’s sensor data to make decisions about staying open or closing their campuses, but pleased that at least officials had truly local air quality readings upon which to base their decisions. Last Tuesday, the Sonoma County Office of Education drew criticism from some local families when it announced that it had decided upon 275 (“Very Unhealthy”) as the AQI level at which local districts should consider canceling classes.

Kennedy doesn’t want to go on record with an opinion on what the right AQI number might be to cancel school, but he would like to do more to help local officials – and families – have all the facts they need to make their decision as to whether students should be in school.

On Monday, Kennedy reached out to the Sonoma Valley Unified School District and to the Sonoma Valley Education Foundation to offer to purchase sensors for each school campus. He likes the idea that schools could incorporate the sensor data into their science education curriculum.

Local parent Michelle Dale Jernigan loves the idea. She said her two teens check the site frequently and are particularly interested in studying the map.

“They have been checking it throughout the day to see what the air is like here compared to friends and relatives in Napa and in the city,” she said. “Kids these days are yearning for more information and tools like this put knowledge into their hands.”

By the end of last week Kennedy’s sensor was not the only red dot on the Purple Air map of Sonoma – and he’s thrilled.

“The more sensors we have here, the better the data,” he said.

Over the weekend, a private home on High Street and a house in Oakmont went live with additional sensors feeding data to Purple Air.

Sonoma Valley Hospital brought two Purple Air sensors online on Nov. 22. The exterior sensor is located outside near the main lobby entrance. Hospital spokesperson Celia De la Cruz said that the hospital’s indoor sensor will be “moved around the hospital to assess air quality in patient and staff areas.” De La Cruz said that both sensors are measuring temperature, humidity, barometric pressure, and the amount of particles in the air.

“The recent Camp Fire prompted us to pursue obtaining a device that would give us instant and accurate air quality readings to ensure patient and staff safety,” said De La Cruz. She noted that the hospital’s Plant Operations Team made the recommendation earlier in the week and the sensors arrived quickly thereafter.

At the end of last week, Kennedy’s sensor, as well as both the hospital’s exterior and interior sensors, were reporting “unhealthy” air quality. (At press time on Monday, the hospital’s interior sensor was no longer reporting data. De la Cruz said the hospital was looking into it and that portable air scrubbers were in place inside the hospital.)

There is also an exterior sensor at Sugarloaf State Park, north of Kenwood. The park’s monitor is located near the white barn area (close to the observatory), and it has been online for the most part since then, according to Park Manager John Roney.

Contact Lorna at lorna.sheridan@sonomanews.com.

Other air monitoring sites

1. Air Now – This website, maintained by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, provides similar real-time air pollution data. Its nearest data collection point to Sonoma are Santa Rosa and Vallejo. www.airnow.gov

2. Spare the Air – Operated by the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, this site provides air pollution measurements in the Bay Area, along with a five-day forecast, information about commuter incentives and rules on wood-burning fireplaces. To sign up for text alerts, text the word “START” to 817-57. www.sparetheair.org

3. Air Visual – A worldwide map of air quality sensors in big cities. www.airvisual.com/world-air-quality

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