A few weeks ago, while visiting friends in San Francisco, I stopped by the Linda Brooks-Burton Branch Library in the city’s Bayview Hunters Point neighborhood. Rather than checking out books, I was there to check out a room — a nondescript space with a few tables and chairs, a hand-washing station, and two quiet but impressive MERV 13 air filters.

The room is part of a new pilot program in California to establish cleaner-air centers as a response to wildfire smoke. The idea, akin to public cooling centers, is to upgrade air-filtration systems or provide portable air cleaners to community gathering spaces, creating indoor oases where residents can go to get respite from hazardous air.

This summer, Canadian wildfires have blanketed the East Coast and Midwest with smoke, as our northern neighbor faces its worst wildfire season to date. On one day, the Air Quality Index in New York City jumped to 480, earning it the temporary superlative of the worst air quality anywhere in the world. (The scale goes from 0 to 500; anything above 150 is considered unhealthy for everyone.)

While this was a shock to many in the Eastern U.S., wildfires and the air pollution they bring to surrounding areas have become increasingly familiar in the West, where some cities have begun piloting solutions to keep residents safe from the hazards of smoke and emergency response systems to deploy when conditions are bad.

Read the full article about clean-air centers by Claire Elise Thompson at Grist.