Scientists are still keeping a close eye on the volcano nearest to Anchorage, despite an ongoing decrease in activity. They're pouring over seismic data and periodically conducting fly-overs.
“We're not out of the woods yet, by any means,” said Matt Haney, a researcher with the Alaska Volcano Observatory. “There's still earthquakes happening at Mount Spurr.”
But as of Wednesday, the observatory said the likelihood of an eruption continued to decline. It’s still possible, but there would probably be warning signs for weeks or days ahead of time, including increased earthquakes and deformed ground around the volcano. Haney said Spurr could blow a few weeks from now, a few months or not at all.
If it does erupt, you should think about protecting your home.
Here are three main things to keep in mind.
1. Your heating system could bring ash into your home
But let’s first establish why ash is really bad for you. It’s not the same as breathing smoke. It’s full of tiny, sharp particles that can cause inflammation to your lungs, and sometimes long-term damage. You don’t want to breathe it when you’re outside, and you really don’t want to breathe it inside your home.
So you want to keep ash out of your house. And one of the easiest ways ash can make it in, is through your heating system. It’s not an issue for most people with electric heat. But those with heat pumps will be affected and so will anyone burning fossil fuels with things like boilers and furnaces.
“When you have that style of heating system, they have to have an intake hole to bring fresh air into the building,” said Marc Houston who does energy audits for the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation.
When you’re burning fossil fuels, in order for the combustion heating system to work, fresh air needs to replace the exhaust from those burned fossil fuels. That’s where the intake comes in — it’s a 6 to 10 inch hole in the wall that lets in outside air. If there’s ash in the air during an eruption, it’ll probably get pulled into the house through the intake.
So just plug the hole with a towel or something, right?
Houston said that’s a really bad idea.
“Doing that, but letting the appliances keep running, will cause potentially a backdraft, which is carbon monoxide taking over the house,” he said.
A simple solution: Turn off your furnace, said Tony Jones, vice chair of the central Alaska chapter of the International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials.
Jones said if it’s too cold he’ll use space heaters to take the edge off. He said he’ll keep his furnace off until after it rains, since ash can easily get stirred back up into the air.
But what if Spurr doesn’t erupt until later in the year and those space heaters aren’t enough? Jones said you could rig up a filter on your intake if you’re using the right materials, like air filter media.
“If I needed the heat, I would put filter media on my place and monitor it all the time,” he said. “If it is dumping and it's very thick ash, I just wouldn't run it.”
That’s because filters can clog up fast, limiting air flow and essentially acting as that towel you’re not supposed to use. If you’re planning to put a filter over your intake, Jones said, wait until the eruption to install it, and then keep a very close eye on it. If there’s a visible ash buildup, turn your heating system off and change out the filter.
A little homework goes a long way, Jones said. Make sure you know where the air intake is — generally the garage or laundry room. And make sure you’re clear which is the intake, and which is the exhaust pipe — that’s where the carbon monoxide and other combustion gases leave the house. If you’re not confident in what you’re doing, Jones recommends calling a mechanical contractor for help.
“Have somebody come out and assess it for you,” he said. “Talk to a professional. That would be probably your best bet, if you're not familiar with your system.”
Another thing: Don’t use your wood stove during a volcanic eruption and close the damper.
2. Take off your shoes and outer layers at the door
So you’ve got your heat sources figured out, but there are other ways ash can sneak in. That’s another thing you should know: How to keep indoor ash to a minimum. Jeremy Zidek is with the Alaska Office of Emergency Management. He said first, take off outer layers outside. Shoes, jackets and other clothing should come off at the front door or in the entryway.
“We also encourage people to have one location that they're coming into their home if there's an ashfall event,” he said. “And that way it makes it a little bit easier to clean up."
And it’s best to rinse those clothes in a bathtub before tossing them in the wash, since large amounts of ash could damage your washing machine.
He also recommends wrapping delicate or precious possessions like artwork in plastic wrap.
3. Don’t brush off the ash
Cleaning up ash can be tricky, both inside and outside the home. Volcanic glass, rock and minerals can easily scratch things if you try to brush it off. To clean up indoors, use a wet rag or sponge to clean surfaces.
Outside the house, it might be tempting to just hose everything down. But according to Zidek, that’s not the best move.
“We don't really encourage people to saturate the ash,” he said, “that can make it like a paste that's more difficult to clean up, and it also will potentially harden that ash up into something that's much more difficult to clean.”
Instead, he said it’s best to dampen the ash, scoop it into piles and throw it away.
Zidek said some things don’t need to be cleaned. For example, the wind and rain will eventually clear the ash off roofs.
“We're not anticipating an amount of ash that would collapse any roofs, and therefore there's no reason to try to get up on your roof to clean it off,” he said.
The last time Spurr erupted in 1992 there was about an eighth of an inch of ash on the ground.
