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Aug. 3, 2000
It's another voluntary no drive day along the Wasatch Front, as smoke from wildfires adds to the usual amount of ozone from cars and trucks.
The Utah Department of Environmental Quality predicted unhealthy levels of ozone by this afternoon.
With all that haze in the air, is it hazardous to breathe?
News Specialist Scott Light filed this report Tuesday.
On a clear day in the Salt Lake Valley you can see from one mountain range to the next.
Now, the views are blocked by a thick layer of haze that's socked in and getting worse.
The haze is smoke from fires that are scattered around.
Plus the normal, daily output of pollutants.
Until there's a storm, there's nowhere for all of it to go.
Phil Wright/Wasatch County Health Director: "LIVED HERE MY WHOLE LIFE AND IT'S AS BAD AS I'VE EVER SEEN IT."
From the Heber Valley you can't even see the top of Mount Timpanogos.
People with respiratory and heart ailments have more to worry about than just the view.
They should not be overly exerting themselves outside, especially during early and mid-afternoon hours.
Dr. Ed Bronsky demonstrates a breathing machine that measures lung capacity for patients.
He says the haze also affects allergy sufferers.
There's no escape for the pollutants or the pollen.
Dr. Ed Bronsky/Intermountain Allergy and Asthma Clinic: "AND YOU END UP GETTING BIGGER CONCENTRATIONS AND IF YOU ARE ALLERGIC TO IT, IT CAN CAUSE A REACTION IN YOUR NOSE OR IN THE LUNGS."
What can you do to help the situation?
The Department of Environmental Quality has issued a voluntary no-drive day for the fourth day in a row.
Other suggestions are car-pooling or even telecommuting.
Scott Light, Eyewitness News: "OTHER SUGGESTIONS FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY INCLUDE COMMON SENSE THINGS LIKE MOWING YOUR YARD AT NIGHT AND FILLING UP YOUR TANK AT NIGHT WHEN THE TEMPERATURES ARE COOLER."
John Rogers/Bicyclist: "I WENT RIDING LAST NIGHT AND YOU CAN JUST FEEL IT IN YOUR LUNGS. I DONT KNOW IF YOU CAN TELL BUT MY FACE IS ALL PASTY."
The D.E.Q. also told us to expect voluntary no-drive days for the next three to five days.
