Wildfire
Wildfires can pose significant threats to both our facilities and people, especially if we operate in areas prone to such incidents. To mitigate risks, Facilities Services will closely monitor fire conditions, and in case of wildfire alerts or warnings, we will coordinate with local authorities to implement appropriate safety protocols, including evacuation procedures if necessary.
Safety Tips
For fire prevention and life safety reasons, do not prop open:
- Entry doors
- Security access doors
- Fire doors
- Laboratory doors
- Doors to rooms with fume hoods
- Do not open windows if the outside air is unhealthy to breathe. For example, if the air outside is polluted with smoke from fires or with pesticides from agricultural spraying it could trigger asthma or have other adverse health effects.
Poor Air Quality
Extreme weather conditions can lead to poor air quality, particularly in urban areas. We will stay vigilant and closely monitor air quality indices (AQI), and in the event of unhealthy air quality levels, we will alert the community with a notification email from facilitiescommunications@ucsf.edu, take necessary precautions to protect the health and well-being of our employees or other individuals who work outdoors by implementing indoor work arrangements or providing appropriate protective equipment.
Examples of protective methods include:
· Moving work inside buildings/vehicles where the air is filtered.
· Limiting outside work time or time indoors where air filtration is not provided.
· Increasing rest time and frequency during outdoor work, and providing a rest area with filtered air.
· Reducing the physical intensity of the work to help lower breathing and heart rates.
· Using N95 respirator masks.
· Members of the UCSF community are encouraged to check the AQI in their area by visiting the EPA’s AirNow website . This website includes a search box to check air quality by zip code, as well as maps identifying what actions are advised.
· For more information in different languages on how to stay safe from poor air quality, click here.
Building Filtration Basics
What does UCSF Facilities Services do to prepare for Wildfires/Poor Air Quality?
Facilities Services teams take measures to maintain our building’s critical air-conditioning and ventilation systems throughout the year including replacing filters on a regular basis throughout the year. Every building in our campus performs differently based on factors such as age, the equipment in the building, and space and occupancy factors. It is important to keep windows and doors closed when it is smoky or the AQI is unhealthy.
A common complaint we receive during a wildfire events is that the air smells smoky. Indoor air will commonly smell of smoke during a wildfire event, but when we test it, we find it’s consistently better (i.e., containing lower particulate matter) than being outdoors.
During smoke events we:
· Monitor HVAC performance
Many of our buildings have air conditioning and ventilation systems and we monitor their operation during an event.
· Replace air filters
We replace air filters on a schedule throughout the year, but may need to swap them sooner during prolonged smoke events.
· Recirculate indoor air
Wherever we can, we recirculate indoor air. This isn’t possible in some spaces, like a laboratory, which require fresh (i.e., outdoor) air. Toggle the list below to learn more about which currently occupied buildings' indoor air is recirculated during a smoke event
What Is Filtered Air?
Air filters block and catch small particles and make the air healthier to breathe. Many buildings filter outdoor air through a heating, ventilation, air conditioning (HVAC) system.
Filter Rating: A filter’s Minimum Efficiency Reporting Values (MERV) rating reflects the size of the particles it can trap. Filters with higher MERV ratings block out smaller particles and clean the air better than those with lower ratings. A filter with a MERV rating of 13 or above is designed to block viruses that cling to exhaled droplets in the air. High efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters trap even smaller particles.
