It's Air Quality Awareness Week, and we're taking a look at who's looking out for residents in the Kanawha valley.

The technology has drastically changed over the last decade or so.

We have our most organic sniff detector, our nose. "We'll get people to call in and say, you know, bad broccoli, rotten eggs, or, you know, sulfur," says Jesse Adkins with the Division of Air Quality at the Department of Environmental Protection.

DuPont senior emergency response specialist Barry Lindley says, "If somebody says, 'Gee, I smell dead fish,' we know what family of chemicals to go out and look for."

They still do some of the simplest wet pH tests. Charleston Fire Department Assistant chief Rodney Winter says, "Whenever it gets into the air and starts getting a color change just over top of it, that tells me we need to get another level of protection."

Some more high-tech equipment can detect the amount of a chemical in the air, like a photo ionization detector. "If there's an organic chemical in the air, and it has what's called an ionization potential, this is gonna pick it up," says Lindley.

There is also incredible sniff detection equipment that can monitor sites from at least a mile away. "It's one of two things, it's either toxic or it's flammable," says Winter.

The newest technology that places like DuPont are using and sharing with emergency workers is called the AccuSense. So far, it's been programmed to detect several dozen chemicals. It's about the most advanced technology out there.
"This is probably one of the latest pieces of technology that will actually tell you the quanity of the chemical as well as identify the chemical itself," says Lindley. In the next six to eight months, the machine will be able to detect up to 500 different chemicals.

They also monitor weather conditions and have emergency systems in place at each plant. "They know who would be affected immediately and who we need to something with immediately, so it's a group effort with everybody," said Kanawha County director of emergency services Dale Petry.

Lindley says, "Being able to do the air monitoring just assures everybody that we can protect them."

The DEP says you can also help detect an emergency. "If it's an abnormal in length or strength, then you should definitely call."