Drake Reed is the newly onboarded co-manager of the Berkshire Environment Action Team’s Breathe Easy Project.
“The work I'm going to be doing is conducting a survey and doing research around how air quality affects your health, as well as doing more community outreach within the project to help get that community engagement piece and really get a lot of information from Pittsfield residents,” he told WAMC.
The project is supported through the Environmental Protection Agency, and will focus on neighborhoods of Pittsfield that have been disproportionately impacted by pollution, like Morningside and the West Side.
Specifically, it will be measure particulate matter and nitrogen oxides in the air.
“These are two different materials that are in our air that can affect different aspects of our life that we don't even notice," said Reed. "So, those things can be the effect of running the car, trucks and busses and traffic, or even other things like energy resources, like peaker plants, for instance, or other different energy mechanisms that we use.”
Monitoring is underway for the project at locations across Pittsfield.
“We have some at the fire station, for example, and then some in other neighborhoods with our residents- One specifically that's closer to a dam that's being demolished within Pittsfield," Reed said. "So maybe we can see different elements and different ways we can possibly pick up pollutants in the air around those communities, but specifically, just getting to the basis of understanding the importance of air quality and understanding the importance of community safety.”
Friday’s meeting concerns the impact of the 2024 Butternut Fire on Pittsfield’s air quality. The wildfire sprung up in the highlands above Great Barrington 20 miles to the south in November, covering the surrounding area in thick smoke for days.
Officials responded by issuing warnings about poor air quality, including calls for those with health concerns to mask up while smoke filled the Berkshire skies.
Local Carolyn Stewart spoke for many when she shared her shock at the situation as the fire raged on the wooded ridge above town.
“I never thought I’d be in this situation," she told WAMC. "In the Berkshires, you feel pretty safe, you don't- All these natural disasters you are hearing about in other parts of the country, you just don't think it's going to happen here. But I don't think any of us are immune. It seems like a whole, entering a new era in that respect.”
The fire grew to around 1,700 acres before being contained by early December. Though the flames never approached Pittsfield, the smoke did.
“A lot of the smoke actually from Great Barrington traveled from Great Barrington into Pittsfield and really affected the air quality later into the duration of the fire," Reed continued. "So, we kind of just want to have a general community discussion around specifically looking at the six senses of the body, right- Hearing, smell, seeing, things like that, to capture a picture in the community of what they experienced on the specific day of the really big peak in hazardous air quality during the fire.”
As extreme weather conditions continue to expand due to climate change and rising global temperatures, Reed says the wildfire – a relative rarity in Berkshire history – could serve as a lesson for the county’s challenges to come.
The roundtable discussion with Pittsfielders will help Reed and the Breathe Easy Project develop their final report on the community’s air, with data-gathering running through early next year.
The Breathe Easy Project public meeting on Pittsfield’s experience with wildfire smoke is set for 1:30 Friday at its 20 Chapel Street office.
