Fire in Salerno on December 23, comparison between PM10 values ​​on site and in the city center

Salerno. Further results of the monitoring of air pollutants underway in the industrial area of ​​Salerno are available. Salerno, inside the location of the Salerno Pulita organic waste recovery plant, affected by a fire that broke out during the night between 22 and 23 December.

With reference to the sampling period from 26 to 27 December, a PM10 value of 1674 μg/m3 (micrograms per cubic metre) was found.
The value is higher than both the limit value of 40 µg/m3, on a calendar year, and the limit value of 50 µg/m3, on a daily average (legislative decree 155/2010), legal values ​​used for comparative purposes only but not strictly applicable to the case in question.

With regard to the PM10 values ​​found, it is worth highlighting that during the execution of the monitoring of atmospheric pollutants, the Fire Brigade was in progress with demolition activities of part of the damaged structures and operations to clear away the burning materials with earth-moving equipment; these activities certainly contributed to the increase in the concentration of dust within the site itself.
In order to verify whether similar increases have affected the air quality in the urban areas of Salerno, the data from the stations of the fixed regional monitoring network and those from the mobile station located in the locality fr were examined.

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The data collected by the stations mentioned above do not show, on December 27, for the PM10 parameter, any exceedances of the legal limits, although peaks were recorded during peak hours of vehicle traffic. The data recorded by the SA22 and Fratte lab stations in the reference period are reported below:
* “Salerno SA22 Hospital of Via Vernieri” station: daily average value of PM10 equal to 15 µg/m3;
* mobile laboratory “MMA Fratte”: daily average value of PM10 equal to 13 µg/m3
In light of the above, based on the data recorded by monitoring stations in the Salerno area, it can be assumed that the fire event did not negatively affect air quality on the date in question.
For detailed information on the data from the Arpac air quality monitoring network, please refer to the daily bulletins published on the Agency's institutional website. For a complete overview of the intervention carried out by Arpac so far, please refer to the previous press releases and updates on the fire in question, also published on the website arpacampania.it.