Argos Scientific, Inc.

08/01/2023

Hey Parkrose Community!
We hope you are safe and well. Today, we want to address a significant event that impacted the community, the Kmart fire. We understand the concerns and anxieties that arose during this incident, and we want to keep you informed about our findings and next steps.

We have completed a presentation for the results of the Kmart fire. During the fire, particulate matter (PM) levels were found to be significantly higher than background levels at both the school monitoring location and the apartment complex adjacent to the fire. The increased PM levels raised concerns, especially for the residents of the apartment complex.

As we move forward, Argos will continue to support Parkrose by installing air monitoring equipment in the neighborhood, this will enable us to keep a close eye on air quality and take prompt actions if any concerns arise. Likewise, we will be implementing a formal sample and analysis to determine possible community exposure to asbestos and make all the information available to the public.


Find the presentation here: fil:///C:/Users/Argos/Downloads/Argos-Review%20of%20Air%20Monitoring%20Data%20July%2018-19th%20Kmart%20Fire%20080123.pdf
Find the Parkrose Website here:

The UV DOAS air monitoring system detects gases such as benzene, toluene, xylene, nitric oxide (NO), and sulfur dioxide (SO2). These gases may be emitted by mobile sources such as cars and trucks. They are also commonly found in the ambient air near refineries, chemical plants, as well as oil and ga...

07/31/2023

A recent fire at a local Kmart has raised serious concerns about air quality in our community, particularly with the possibility of asbestos debris scattering in the area. At Argos Scientific, we understand the gravity of this situation and are committed to ensuring the safety of our neighbors.

For the past 3 months, we've been collaborating with the Parkrose School Board to monitor air quality, employing state-of-the-art systems to track gases and particulates. In the wake of the Kmart incident, our data has shown that particulate matter has skyrocketed over the safe limit, emphasizing the urgent need for continued vigilance.

We've taken immediate action by closely monitoring air quailty and polution. Don Gamiles, company owner, has spoken in-depth about our efforts on Fox 12 news network. Watch the report here to learn more about how Argos Scientific is actively working to protect the health of our community:

🎥 Watch the Interview with Don Gamiles on Fox 12

Stay safe, and rest assured that Argos Scientific is here for our community. If you have any concerns or questions, please feel free to reach out to us.

Following a 4-alarm fire at a former Kmart building in NE Portland, nearby residents reported fallout from the flames and shared concerns For more Local Ne...

05/11/2016

We want to let the community of Porter Ranch know that the air monitoring equipment is back on line and reporting data. We're really sorry for the interruption in data. We're taking steps to get a backup computer in place that has all of the software needed to operate the equipment ready to go. Thanks for your patience.

03/10/2016

Last night I had the opportunity to attend the Porter Ranch Neighborhood Council's monthly meeting. During the meeting a very nice person from the local health department was asked questions about why the indoor air sampling program had not been started. Her response was along the line of "Indoor air sampling is really hard to do and we're working with the Federal EPA to figure out how to do this". I found this response to be really disappointing....

In reality, sampling the air inside homes is not difficult, there are all sorts of standard tests and methods to do this. If there is a difficulty (and I don't think there is one), the challenge lies in taking the time to educate the people getting the tests in what their results mean. For example she mentioned that homes where the garage is attached to the home will often have higher levels of benzene in the air as compared to homes that have detached carports. She mentioned that this difference makes air sampling hard. I disagree. The reason homes with attached garages may have higher levels of benzene in the air is gasoline has benzene in it and people store lots of items with gasoline in their garage. So if you park your car in your garage, or have gas cans for your lawnmower in your garage, the fumes from these sources will show up in your sample and skew the results. Is this a difficult concept to understand? Other sources of benzene include cigarette smoke. Again, how hard is it to let people know their test results may be impacted by this?

Having the pleasure to visit Porter Ranch this week for the first time, the one obvious thing I see is the people making up this beautiful community aren't stupid. You may not be experts in atmospheric and environmental science, but you're certainly capable of being educated on the basic concepts associated with environmental sampling. Frankly if that's not being done, the fault lies in the experts, not the people wanting answers.

03/06/2016

For the past day or so, the winds in Porter Ranch have been blowing from the South and West. At the same time, the methane levels in Porter Ranch have dropped down to normal. This is what the methane levels are supposed to look like!

03/05/2016

Apparently some people are concerned about the motives behind the researchers at UCLA wanting to sample the residue associated with the gas leak. My only response to these concerns is they’re baseless, unfounded and frankly quite silly. The researchers associated with this effort have been working on a shoestring budget to collect an incredible number of environmental samples within the community of Porter Ranch throughout the gas leak. Their work and scientific credentials are beyond reproach. They’ve acted independently of all outside influences and are doing some of the best science we’ve ever seen. People living downwind of the leak should be thankful there are people like these researchers who are willing to step up and work towards finding what the true impacts of the gas leak are on their health. If you don’t want to have your house tested, then by all means don’t. My only regret is the fact there aren’t more people like these researchers who are willing to support communities like Porter Ranch.

03/04/2016

Please help......

Researchers affiliated with the UCLA department of Environmental Health Sciences are looking for residents within the Porter Ranch community who noticed an unusual or oily residue inside or outside of their homes that accumulated during the gas leak and would like to have the residue tested. They are preparing to conduct surface samples early next week (beginning March 7th) and are looking for several volunteers homes to test. If you are interested, please email Diane Gonzales at [email protected] before Monday, March 7th. UCLA has a limited number of sample kits available and testing may be limited based on the number of people responding. If your home was not impacted in this manner but you know someone was, please forward this message on to them.

03/02/2016

I'm reposting a comment I made below on where the best location would be for the fence line equipment at Porter Ranch...

The best place to locate the equipment would be along the fence line of any of the communities that are adjacent to the gas field. The equipment uses beams of light to detect the gas. At one end of the path is a light source that we shine through the air like a flash light. At the other end of the path we use a telescope to collect the light. The light is then sent to an analyzer that tells us what gases crossed through the light beam as well as how much of each gas was there. With the equipment we currently have at Porter Ranch, the light beam can be as long as 100 yards. We want to cover as much of the fenceline as possible, so the ideal location is a place where we can shine the light right down the fence line. The systems use very little power. The light bulb we use for the system is a 35 watt light bulb.

03/02/2016

The real-time air monitoring equipment at Porter Ranch has been off-line since the afternoon due to Internet connectivity issues. Unfortunately these issues will continue as long as the system is setup in a temporary location. Under normal circumstances we would operate the equipment with a secondary Internet connection that would keep the systems on-line if the primary connection is lost. We have made repeated attempts to contact community officials seeking assistance to find a long term location for the equipment but have yet to receive any response from them. We would greatly appreciate any help we can get from the community in achieving this goal.

02/27/2016

Saturday - February 26, 2016 --- The computer that collects data for the air monitoring equipment is off-line. We will get it back in operation as soon as we can get someone out to restart the computer.

02/27/2016

Fence line monitoring update. The air monitoring equipment was off-line for a couple hours today. We lost power and Internet but thanks to some help from Porter Ranch community members, we were able to get everything reset and back on line. Thanks again for the help.