SHELBY COUNTY, Tenn. — In Wednesday’s Ransom Note: the local impact of the wildfire burning out west
The Shelby County Health Department says there's reason to be concerned about the wildfires here. Today it issued a special statement on air quality warning vulnerable residents that tiny particles from the smoke are now being found in Shelby County, meaning people with asthma, COPD, heart conditions, and the elderly are susceptible to things like shortness of breath, dizziness, coughing, and headaches. The smoke is so bad it's showing up on satellite imagery. While most of it is over the upper Midwest, stretching to New York, and even Greenland, there are air currents bringing enough to our region to be concerned.
It's easy to think that because those wildfires are a thousand or two thousand miles away, they don't really affect us. The Shelby County Health Department is offering up evidence why that's not the case.
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