Air quality alert: smoke and ozone

We have had an air quality alert since last week (at one point it was so smoky out it was supposedly worse than Beijing!). Now, Kiwi was presumably hatched and spent 16 years of his life in Arizona where there was several big wildfires a year that would leave the state smelling like a big campfire and seems to handle to occasional influx of smoky air ok. I noticed today, however, there has been an addition of ozone to the warning about smoke from nearby forest fires at some point to our local warning here in OR. I wasn't overly concerned about forest fire smoke, but I am ozone. My throat is very sore after running some errands earlier and my tonsils are inflamed. I don't think I have a throat infection, as I've been having mild issues with the smoke since last week and this seems to be an exacerbation after spending time outside. I am very concerned about little Kiwi if I'm feeling a sore throat. I haven't noticed him acting funny, but I know ozone is particularly toxic to parrots. We have several air purifiers running but I don't know that they filter ozone (and we obviously have things sealed up, doors closed, windows closed, etc...). Is there anything else I should be doing besides observing him? Any herbs to give to help boost his lungs? He seems ok, but feeling how I do right now I can only imagine he must be having some kind of discomfort with his sensitive little respiratory tract

I've heard there are some plants you can get which can assist in filtering ozone but I can't remember what plants specifically

try and point fans/filters and what-not towards windows in an effort to try and keep all the bad particles away and just keep an eye on kiwi. Possibly even ask the vet if they have any suggestions?

The warning, 'especially' the smoke should always be a concern. The air purifiers will actively work to remove the particles that make-up the smoke. I am much more concerned about the smoke than I am with the ozone, with sensitive Adults and more so with Babies and Parrots, so keep the air purifier's running.

Ozone Action Days have always been a bit of a mystery to me since its more a huge mixture of a ton of different contaminates with ozone 'itself' not being the majority of this mixture. I think what happened was that all the scares of the 80's regarding the loss of ozone over the South Pole had people concerned when they heard the word. And, if you think of it, saying ozone action day is a bunch more attention getting than to say Lots of Junk in the Air Day!

You likely have very high temperatures, high humidity levels with very light winds, which has all that junk in the air hanging around and building up day after day.

For you, I would recommend one of those face masks that you would use when you are using a heavy chemical. You may look a bit odd when you are out and about, but it will filter much of that junk out of the air when you are outside! What you are feeling, the sore throat, is more likely the contaminates in the smoke than the air in general. Think Japan and lots of people where those masks!

Hope this helps!

FYI: Keep the house still with the exception of the air purifiers. Avoid open doors and windows - keep the bad stuff outside.

A large bag of activated charcoal, spread out on say a coffee table , and agitated every so often, to expose fresh charcoal, might help with the ozone. Carbon, the main ingredient, readily binds chemically to almost any molecule.

Kiwibird said:

We have had an air quality alert since last week (at one point it was so smoky out it was supposedly worse than Beijing!). Now, Kiwi was presumably hatched and spent 16 years of his life in Arizona where there was several big wildfires a year that would leave the state smelling like a big campfire and seems to handle to occasional influx of smoky air ok. I noticed today, however, there has been an addition of ozone to the warning about smoke from nearby forest fires at some point to our local warning here in OR. I wasn't overly concerned about forest fire smoke, but I am ozone. My throat is very sore after running some errands earlier and my tonsils are inflamed. I don't think I have a throat infection, as I've been having mild issues with the smoke since last week and this seems to be an exacerbation after spending time outside. I am very concerned about little Kiwi if I'm feeling a sore throat. I haven't noticed him acting funny, but I know ozone is particularly toxic to parrots. We have several air purifiers running but I don't know that they filter ozone (and we obviously have things sealed up, doors closed, windows closed, etc...). Is there anything else I should be doing besides observing him? Any herbs to give to help boost his lungs? He seems ok, but feeling how I do right now I can only imagine he must be having some kind of discomfort with his sensitive little respiratory tract

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Some air cleaners / purifiers of the electrostatic type can actually produce ozone. Some ozone in small quantities I believe is considered an antibacterial / antiviral.
The place where we are getting our B&G uses something similar in their nursery to keep germs down.

That said, too much ozone can irritate eyes, throat, etc.
There may be a charcoal option with some of the filter / purifiers but the charcoal would need replacement at regular intervals.
I hope the levels are not too high to cause any harm to you or your flock. There may be some form of ozone level monitor, similar to what the weather service would use that may give you an indication as to inside levels but further research may be required to find ways to reduce levels to safe if they are too high.
I'd say time to start googling.

Kelly and I wish you the best and hope the fires and poor air quality stay far away.

Thanks
Kelly and Karl


Thanks
Kelly and Karl

If you have a over cooker hood that expels smells 'out', some of these have a charcoal filter I believe?

Hoping the winds pick up soon for you but hopefully not in this direction?

Hopefully this stuff will blow out today as the alert ends tonight. While I may be suffering, I haven't noticed any respiratory changes in Kiwi fortunately and he was active as normal yesterday. I spent a good deal of time out and about yesterday, but he has been inside since the advisory was posted and of course we've made sure to keep minimize the outside air getting in.

Re: Ozone- when researching air purifiers, I saw on many sites and sources to never run ozone air cleaners and to not buy air purifiers where the ozone producing feature couldn't be shut off as the ozone can be harmful or deadly to them. We currently have 3 air purifiers and one does not produce ozone the others only produce it if you turn that feature on (which I of course keep off at all times). I'm surprised to hear breeders would be using ozone around sensitive chicks!

Kiwibird said:

Hopefully this stuff will blow out today as the alert ends tonight. While I may be suffering, I haven't noticed any respiratory changes in Kiwi fortunately and he was active as normal yesterday. I spent a good deal of time out and about yesterday, but he has been inside since the advisory was posted and of course we've made sure to keep minimize the outside air getting in.

Re: Ozone- when researching air purifiers, I saw on many sites and sources to never run ozone air cleaners and to not buy air purifiers where the ozone producing feature couldn't be shut off as the ozone can be harmful or deadly to them. We currently have 3 air purifiers and one does not produce ozone the others only produce it if you turn that feature on (which I of course keep off at all times). I'm surprised to hear breeders would be using ozone around sensitive chicks!

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Ozone is one of those magic particulates that are wonderful in low levels and deadly a high levels. Talking ozone is confusing because so much of it depends on the air exchange rate of the area it is being used in. Ozone producing equipment is used to clear the air of particulates and it also is known to kill many of those very tiny bugs that seem to be near everywhere.

When an ozone action day is called, that commonly means that the wise person stops the use of equipment that produce it because the air outside is likely poorer than inside. Continued use would likely increase the volume levels indoors since the outside air is already at or above the inside air.

Deep in the recesses of my mind, I seem to recall that ozone attracts other particulates and as a result form a ball of Junk. This explains the use to remove particulates in the air. So, the good part is that ozone collects all this Junk in the air and the bad news is that if the air mast is still, all that Junk is in larger balls that irritates the throat, lungs, eyes, etc...

So, when the winds are blowing ozone is okay. But if not, its bad because all that Junk in the air collects on it.

SailBoat said:

Ozone is one of those magic particulates that are wonderful in low levels and deadly a high levels. Talking ozone is confusing because so much of it depends on the air exchange rate of the area it is being used in. Ozone producing equipment is used to clear the air of particulates and it also is known to kill many of those very tiny bugs that seem to be near everywhere.

When an ozone action day is called, that commonly means that the wise person stops the use of equipment that produce it because the air outside is likely poorer than inside. Continued use would likely increase the volume levels indoors since the outside air is already at or above the inside air.

Deep in the recesses of my mind, I seem to recall that ozone attracts other particulates and as a result form a ball of Junk. This explains the use to remove particulates in the air. So, the good part is that ozone collects all this Junk in the air and the bad news is that if the air mast is still, all that Junk is in larger balls that irritates the throat, lungs, eyes, etc...

So, when the winds are blowing ozone is okay. But if not, its bad because all that Junk in the air collects on it.

Click to expand...

According to our air purifier instructions, the ozone producing feature is for killing germs in the air and removing strong odors. I believe it did mention something about binding to particulates in the air. I've never used it because it scares me and I don't want Kiwi to get ill or die. I never thought about it having a similar effect on the outdoor air full of smoke and general pollution. Curious, besides ozone generators and air purifiers that generate it purposefully, what other equipment makes it? I've heard of chemicals and things that deplete ozone but not produce it as a pollution source:33:

It's sad that indoor air quality for many people is so much worse than outdoor the owners that be have to post a warning when the outside becomes worse! You'd think it would be the exact opposite since one has a greater control of what substances they put in their indoor air and can easily filter it in a confined space. Though, when I go into a non-bird owners home and they have all those chemical scents to "fragrance" their home, I'd find the air fresher standing next to chain smokers by the freeway. Like a fog of chemicals in the air:26: maybe that's why my respiratory tract is so upset over all this air pollution outside- air not polluted inside and body not used to dealing with it.

Most of the members above are correct. A lot of home air cleaners generate ozone. Ozone is O3 it really wants to be O2 though so it releases it's extra Oxygen molecule to just about anything close to it. This is how it cleans the air, for instance changing CO to CO2.

Ozone is a poisonous gas but you can literally smell ozone at levels of about .05ppm and it's not dangerous till about 1ppm. 5ppm is very bad. It's a case of the poison is in the dose. The EPA charts you see consider a score of 100 to be .100ppm.

I'd be much more worried about the smoke. The smoke is probably whats causing your sore throat. The ozone is actually combating the smoke.

All that said, keep track of your weather reports, keep your windows shut, put in a new AC filter, especially one designed to filter out smoke.

I've breathed in my fair share of ozone at my last job, we used an ozone generator to oxygenate de-ionized water to grow a layer of oxide on semiconductor wafers...Believe me when you smell it you can really smell it.