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DONAR
A couple weeks ago, many East Boston residents noticed something unusual in the air. The sky looked hazy, the smell of smoke lingered outside, and the air felt heavier than normal. Smoke from Canadian wildfires had spread across much of the Northeast, reaching our neighborhood and raising an important question: how much did our air quality actually change?
To answer that question, NOAH looked at data from nine of our air quality sensors across East Boston. We compared hourly readings from the wildfire smoke week with the week before, giving us a clearer picture of what residents were breathing and how quickly conditions changed.
The week before the smoke arrived, most sensors showed “Good” air quality, with readings below 9 μg/m³. A few sensors briefly moved into the “Moderate” range, and one reached “Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups” for one hour on Saturday the 11th. In other words, East Boston’s air was mostly within a healthy range before the wildfire smoke moved in.
Then the pattern changed sharply. By noon on Monday the 13th, every NOAH sensor had moved into the “Moderate” range. By Wednesday the 15th, all sensors passed the 35.5 μg/m³ threshold for “Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups.” Sensor 00552 in Eagle Hill reached the “Unhealthy” range twice that day.
Conditions improved by Friday the 17th, when all sensors returned below 9 μg/m³, but the relief was brief: within 24 hours, pollution spiked again, and several sensors moved back into unhealthy ranges for much of Saturday the 18th.
One of the most important findings is that air quality did not look exactly the same across the neighborhood. Although the wildfire smoke came from hundreds of miles away, some sensors in East Boston showed much higher readings than others at the same time; sometimes by up to 25 points. That means local conditions still matter, even during a regional pollution event.
This is why NOAH monitors air quality block by block. As wildfires continue across the continent, the data helps us understand when pollution is rising, where residents may face higher exposure, and how the community can prepare for future smoke events.
Monitoring is only one part of the response: NOAH also supports practical measures, such as providing effective air purifiers (which are the size of a moderate suitcase) to community members who need cleaner indoor air during pollution episodes, especially those with asthma, heart conditions, seniors and young children.
To learn more about air pollution and other environmental justice issues in East Boston, visit our website at noahcdc.org or follow us on our social media accounts on Facebook and Instagram