Smog sends many residents to ERs

Tuesday, Oct. 2, 2001 | 9:34 a.m.

Hospital emergency rooms are reporting higher than usual numbers of patients with respiratory problems, in the wake of recent air pollution caused by dust and smoke.

Air monitors stationed around the Las Vegas Valley registered "unhealthful" levels of pollution today.

Dust, smoke from distant forest fires and stagnant air combined to create the pollution.

University Medical Center's emergency room today reported a steady increase over the past 10 days in patients with breathing problems.

"Instead of the typical 10 to 15 respiratory complaints a day, the numbers are 29 to 30 a day," UMC spokesman Rick Plummer said.

Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center has seen about a 10 percent increase in respiratory complaints, spokeswoman Ann Lynch said.

Monitors registered higher levels of pollution across the entire valley Monday morning, according to the Clark County Division of Air Quality Management website.

When air quality is in the "good" category, the monitors register numbers in the 50s. The monitors record the amount of pollution, with the numbers referring to particles per cubic yard of air.

A monitor at the Joseph Neal Elementary School near North Rancho Drive recorded 207 from particulate matter at 9:20 a.m. Monday.

At 10:30 a.m., Boulder City, 25 miles southeast of Las Vegas, registered 170.

The Environmental Protection Agency considers anything above 150 on the index to be unhealthful to the general public. Readings between 101 and 150 can affect sensitive people, such as children, the elderly and those with heart and lung diseases.

Four other monitoring stations in northern and northeastern Las Vegas recorded levels ranging in the 120s to 130s on the Air Quality Index. Another seven recorded moderate levels of pollution, meaning readings were around 100.

A monitor at Craig Road near Interstate 15 was recording 176 on the index at 3:20 p.m. on Monday.

A high pollution reading of 320 at 10:20 a.m. in downtown Las Vegas Monday was in error, Femi Durosinmi, county chief air quality monitor, said.

Durosinmi said the downtown monitor was undergoing maintenance and did not record such a high level, which is considered hazardous to public health. A technician was changing the downtown machine's filter when the number showed up on the Air Quality Division's real-time website.

The air pollution has environmental critics concerned.

"Clearly, we should be alarmed," Dan Geary, Nevada director of the National Environmental Trust, said after learning of the pollution levels.

Winds are not expected to blow away the pollution until after Wednesday, National Weather Service meteorologist Charlie Schlott said late Monday.

The haze hanging over the Las Vegas Valley came as light winds brought smoke, dust and humidity from Hurricane Juliette, which hit Baja, California last week. The hurricane since Friday has been downgraded to a tropical depression, which is winds of less than 70 mph.

Winds shifted from the southwest to the east, drawing in smoke from forest fires burning near the Grand Canyon, Weather Service meteorologist Brian Fuis said.

The valley's air has been stagnant since Saturday, Fuis said. Winds today were blowing 3 to 5 mph. They would need to be at least 20 mph to have force enough to blow the pollution out of the valley.