How do urban area fires impact air quality?

SALT LAKE CITY — As the fire in downtown Salt Lake City was put out Monday night, heavy smoke clouded the sky.

Tom Becnel, the director of engineering for TELLUS Network Sensor Solutions, said urban area fires have significant impacts on your health.

"Building fires are really bad because of all the stuff that they're burning, right? There's plastics and metal and insulation and other materials, and those emit, not just carbon like a wildfire smoke might, but also a bunch of bad pollutants like VOCs and more carbon monoxide than normal and other gases,” Becnel said.

Becnel said air quality improves as soon as the fire is put out, but remnants linger in the air.

TELLUS collects air quality data and puts their findings into animations to help community members see what the air looks like