Dear UCSF Community, 

UCSF leaders, Emergency Management, and Environment, Health & Safety (EH&S) are monitoring deteriorating air conditions due to wildfire smoke coming into the Bay Area from Oregon and Northern California. Currently, air quality continues to vary between moderate (yellow), unhealthy for sensitive groups (orange) and unhealthy (red), depending on location. 

Members of the UCSF community can check current air quality in their area by visiting the Environmental Protection Agency’s AirNow website and searching by ZIP code. 

Active youth, adults and people with respiratory diseases should avoid prolonged outdoor exertion when air quality is at unhealthy levels. Others, especially children, are advised to limit outdoor exertion and take frequent breaks during outdoor activities. 

To minimize the impact of poor air quality on your health, please: 

• stay indoors with windows and doors closed,
• set air conditioning units and car vent systems to re-circulate to prevent outside air from moving inside, and
• leave the affected area, if possible, for the duration of the heavy smoke event.

For more information, the UCSF community can refer to the UCSF Wildfire and Air Quality website for both general air-quality resources and UCSF-specific information. For questions about air quality at UCSF, please contact EH&S via email at [email protected].

Sincerely,  

Douglas Dresnek
Assistant Vice Chancellor, EH&S

Kevin Dugan
Interim Director, Enterprise Emergency Management