LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – As wildfire smoke pours into the Las Vegas Valley, Clark County is using 18 different monitoring stations to keep an eye on air quality in the Las Vegas Valley.
“This year has been an especially rough year for wildfire smoke, so we’re always watching for that,” Clark County Division of Air Quality Public Information Officer, Kevin MacDonald, says.
The Jerome Mack Air Quality Monitoring Station, near Lamb Blvd. and Sahara Ave., is called a ”‘super station” because of all the different pollutants it monitors, MacDonald says.
A metal intake device on the station’s roof brings air inside, and then these instruments analyze the data in real time.
“This is pulling the air in, going right to the instrument, and it’s being synthesized into data,” MacDonald says.
The data is available on the county’s website here.
MacDonald says the stations are spaced out throughout the valley, and also in Jean and Mesquite.
They aren’t manned 24/7, but he says a team of about 15-20 people are constantly checking the stations to make sure they’re running properly.
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