PHILADELPHIA—The Health Department has declared that residents living in the area of yesterday’s fire located at Wheatsheaf Lane and Richmond Street in Port Richmond should continue to exercise caution – especially if they have chronic health conditions that can be exacerbated by poor air quality – but otherwise can return to their normal routines. The fire caused a temporary rise in the amount of particulate matter, or PM 2.5, in the immediate area that persisted overnight. No toxic compounds were identified at levels that would pose a threat to human health.

The Health Department’s Air Management Services division maintains two monitoring sites that happened to be close to the fire location. Both monitoring stations identified elevated levels of PM 2.5 through the night, with the highest peaks coming between 5:00 and 6:00 p.m. on June 2, 2022. It was around this time that the Health Department issued a recommendation for
residents in the area to stay inside.

Readings at each site dropped steadily through the night, with the monitor south of the fire location back to normal levels, while the monitor north continues to see slightly elevated levels of PM 2.5. Air Management Services expects that these levels will return to normal shortly.

Particulate matter 2.5, or PM 2.5, refers to tiny particles or droplets in the air that are two and one half microns or less in width. Particles in the PM 2.5 size range can travel deeply into the respiratory tract, reaching the lungs. Exposure to fine particles can cause short-term health effects such as eye, nose, throat and lung irritation, coughing, sneezing, runny nose and shortness of breath. Exposure to fine particles can also affect lung function and worsen medical conditions such as asthma and heart disease. People with breathing and heart problems, children and the elderly may be particularly sensitive to PM 2.5.

Air Management Services collected an air sample in the immediate vicinity of the fire in the early evening of June 2, 2022. This sample was run through the AMS Lab’s gas chromatography–mass spectrometer. The results of that test showed that no toxic compounds were identified in quantities that would threaten human health.

For more information on the state of Philadelphia’s air quality, please visit our website: https://www.phila.gov/services/mental-physical-health/environmental-health-hazards/air-quality/.