Tesla aims to cut wildfire smoke exposure for Nevada Gigafactory workers

As a monolithic wildfire chewed done tens of thousands of acres successful California implicit the past week, fume and ash billowed into adjacent towns including Sparks — location to Tesla's Gigafactory successful Nevada.

Tesla is taking steps to shield employees from vulnerability to the fume from the wildfire — known arsenic the Mosquito Fire — arsenic overmuch arsenic imaginable but the institution stopped shy of furloughing workers.

According to an interior memo shared with CNBC, Tesla informed employees astatine the installation that the building's heating, venting and cooling (HVAC) strategy was acceptable to a "recirculation mode to bounds the magnitude of extracurricular aerial pulled into the factory."

Overall aerial prime astir the Tesla installation was ranked "unhealthy" to "very unhealthy" connected Thursday and Friday with astir 57 micrograms of good particulate substance per cubic metre of air, according to the U.S. Air Quality Index.

When aerial prime is that poor, radical of each ages are advised to earnestly bounds outdoor activities, and deterioration a disguise extracurricular to filter fume and different pollutants. They are besides advised to support windows closed to unopen the contamination retired of their homes and offices.

Nevada Gigafactory HVAC filters person been upgraded to a MERV 13 level oregon higher implicit the past twelvemonth to seizure wildfire particulates. Those filters person been swapped retired for caller ones connected a much predominant ground this year, Tesla told workers, and that should proceed amid the smoky conditions.

The portion was plagued with wildfires and aerial contamination past twelvemonth arsenic well. California's Caldor Fire, for example, burned much than 220,000 acres successful 2021, destroying homes, onshore and starring to hazardous air prime successful surrounding areas including successful Nevada.

According to the California Air Resources Board (CARB), "climate change, chiefly caused by the burning of fossil fuels, is expanding the frequence and severity of wildfires not lone successful California but besides each implicit the world."

Workers stationed astatine oregon often going to outdoor areas were urged to prime up N95 masks astatine an bureau successful the Gigafactory, and kept apprised of aerial prime levels this week arsenic well.

The Mosquito Fire was 20% contained arsenic of precocious Friday according to the CalFire website, with cooler upwind forecast implicit the play that was expected to assistance occurrence fighters successful their effort to extinguish the flames.