As a blanket of smoke from wildfires burning near the California-Oregon border clouds the Bay Area, San Francisco has rolled out a new program to distribute air filtration and air conditioning units.
The city's Department of Emergency Management said it's just one way the city is responding to smoke and other issues caused by climate change.
"Most of the time we're pretty lucky, but the impacts on our neighbors in the forms of fire and heat are still going to impact us," Department of Emergency Management Executive Director Mary Ellen Carroll said.
All of the units are portable, so all of the organizations that have received them can put them in any facility where they're needed.
Nearly 40 organizations applied for the portable devices, and the city has distributed several units across 90 sites.
On days when many cities in the Bay Area can direct residents to facilities with air conditioning and air filtration, San Francisco simply cannot on a large scale because there just aren't any built thanks to the city's usually cool temperatures.
"This is the beginning of work that unfortunately is going to have to be ongoing to retrofit our buildings to adapt to climate change," Carroll said.
Not every organization that applied for the items was awarded them. The city is hoping to continue the program next year if it can secure more funding.
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