Heat waves can pose all kinds of threats to human life, but one often overlooked involves the very air we breathe.
“When you have combustion emissions of nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbon emissions from either natural sources or from industrial sources, they mix together and in the sunlight, in the heat, they build ozone,” said Gary Willey, San Luis Obispo Air Pollution Control District executive director.
Willey says a recent heat wave in Paso Robles caused elevated levels of ozone.
“They had an elevated level that wasn’t above air quality standards, but you could tell that it was locally generated by the heat, and that it was more so than it would be if it was 10 degrees cooler,” said Willey.
Ozone is harmful to breathe in, often irritating the mucous membranes in the lungs, eyes, nose and sinuses.
“Ozone is the pollutant that burns your eyes and your lungs. It’s an oxidant. It really wants to oxidize whatever it can find," said Willey.
But even more troubling is the havoc wildfires wreak on air quality and the risk posed by heat waves.
“So our biggest concern right now, with the way that the patterns are set up, are wildfires and the smoke that comes from wildfires," said Willey.
Smoke from wildfires can travel throughout the state and cause harmful effects in communities otherwise unaffected by the blaze.
“The ozone levels go up really high, but the particulate levels go up extremely high and inside those particulates are partially burned hydrocarbons that have a carcinogenic effect," said Willey.
Local doctors say heat waves can cause irritants in the air to increase.
“The more things you pile on there, hot air, high allergens, high pollutants, high ozone, all of those things increase the irritants and together can cause very significant problems, where any one of them alone might not do it,” said Dr. Brian Roberts, medical director at Med Stop Urgent Care in San Luis Obispo's Madonna Plaza.
Asthmatics are likely to be significantly affected by airborne irritants; however, other groups can suffer as well.
“There are people with asthma getting worse and people with what we call reactive airway disease. They don’t normally have asthma, they don’t even have a diagnosis of an airway problem, but the multiple irritants in the air will often cause them to have coughing, wheezing, shortness of breath and similar symptoms," said Dr. Roberts.
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