The bottom line

On June 9, 2026, Oregon Health Authority published a rewritten guide for youth outdoor activities during wildfire smoke and air pollution events that tightens the thresholds at which coaches, camp directors, school administrators, and athletic trainers must modify or cancel play. The old guidance treated a yellow-band Air Quality Index as a "good day to be active outside." The new guidance does not — it adds caution language for youth with health conditions even in the yellow zone, and pushes a hard cancel-or-relocate trigger at any AQI above 150.

If your athletic department or camp medical plan still treats AQI as a number to glance at, you're behind. The new framework is a decision tree, not a stoplight. This guide turns it into a one-page protocol your staff can run cold.

What changed in Oregon's June 2026 update

The most operationally important changes from the OHA bulletin:

• The yellow zone is no longer a "go" zone. AQI 51–100 (Moderate) now triggers caution for any youth with asthma, reactive airway disease, congenital heart disease, or other chronic conditions, regardless of activity length. At four-plus hours of activity, the caution applies to all youth.
• The orange zone collapses across all activity durations. AQI 101–150 (Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups) requires limiting intensity for every youth at every duration — and considering canceling or relocating if intensity and length can't be modified.
• Above AQI 150 is now a hard cancel. Red, purple, and maroon bands (Unhealthy / Very Unhealthy / Hazardous) all require canceling outdoor activity or moving to an area with safer air for all children and youth.
• "Medium duration" is now defined as one to four hours. This matters because most sports practices, summer-camp blocks, and outdoor school programs land in that window.
• Transit counts. OHA explicitly calls out exposure during walk-to-school, bus rides with open windows, and recess immediately before practice. Total daily exposure now drives the decision, not just the practice window.

Oregon is leading, but this is not a Pacific Northwest problem. Smoke events from western and Canadian fires now pull AQI above 150 in Colorado, the Carolinas, the Midwest, and the Northeast every summer. If your athletic-program risk management hasn't been rewritten since 2023, it's stale.

Why kids are not small adults in smoke

Wildfire smoke's headline pollutant is PM2.5 — particulate matter under 2.5 microns, small enough to bypass the upper airway and lodge deep in the alveoli. From the OHA guide and the EPA's PM2.5 health effects literature, the pediatric vulnerability comes from three converging factors:

1. Developing airways. A 10-year-old's bronchioles aren't done remodeling. Inflammation here doesn't bounce back like it does in a 30-year-old.
2. Higher minute ventilation per kilogram. Kids breathe more air per pound of body weight than adults, so for any given AQI they pull more total particulate per pound into their lungs.
3. Exercise multiplies exposure. A youth athlete running suicides at AQI 110 is taking in several times the PM2.5 dose of a sedentary adult standing in the same air.

This is the physiologic reason the new guidance is more conservative than what you'd run for an adult workforce under OSHA's general-industry framework.

The AQI decision tree, simplified

The decision matrix below distills the OHA framework into a protocol your assistant coach can apply in 10 seconds with one glance at AirNow or PurpleAir:

• AQI 0–50 (Green). Normal activity for all youth.
• AQI 51–100 (Yellow / Moderate). Caution for youth with asthma, reactive airway, or congenital heart disease — at any activity duration. For activities four hours or longer, the caution applies to all youth. Action: monitor known-condition athletes for symptoms; pre-position rescue inhalers; consider shortening blocks.
• AQI 101–150 (Orange / Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups). Limit intensity for every youth at every duration. If you can't reduce intensity (no easy way to dial back a championship game), consider canceling or moving the event indoors. Action: switch to skills/walkthrough sessions; cancel high-intensity intervals; relocate indoors if available.
• AQI 151+ (Red / Purple / Maroon — Unhealthy, Very Unhealthy, Hazardous). Cancel outdoor activity or move to an area with safer air for all children and youth. No exceptions. Action: indoor relocation with HEPA filtration, or cancellation.

Duration categories under the new guidance:

• Short: Brief outdoor exposure (recess, transitions, warm-up). The yellow zone still allows this for healthy youth.
• Medium: One to four hours. This is most practices, most camp blocks, and most outdoor school programs.
• Long: Four-plus hours. Day camps, tournaments, all-day field trips. The yellow zone now triggers caution for all youth at this duration.

Building a smoke-ready medical posture

Decision trees only matter if the medical kit is built for what the trees produce. Smoke events do not generate gunshot wounds — they generate asthma exacerbations, eye irritation, sinus/airway burn, heat-stroke risk amplified by reduced lung efficiency, and panic in athletes who feel like they can't get air.

What every camp or athletic-training kit needs above and beyond your standard first-aid build:

• Rescue inhaler protocol. Albuterol metered-dose inhalers are not in a typical commercial first-aid kit — they require a standing order from a medical director or individual prescriptions on file with parental consent. Camps and schools should have a state-authorized stock-inhaler program if law allows.
• Sterile saline eye irrigation. Smoke particulates dry and inflame the cornea fast. Single-use 250 mL eye irrigation bottles belong in every kit during smoke season.
• N95 or KN95 respirators sized for youth. Adult masks leak on a 12-year-old. Stock pediatric/small-adult sizing.
• Pulse oximeter. SpO2 below 95% on a previously healthy athlete after activity in smoke is a transport indication, not a hydrate-and-rest indication. A reliable fingertip pulse oximeter is a $25 decision-changer.
• Peak flow meter. For athletes with known asthma, a peak flow reading below 80% of their personal best on a smoke day is an early warning before they ever feel symptomatic.
• Cold packs and electrolyte replacement. Smoke + summer heat is a multiplier. Heat-illness risk goes up when athletes are working harder to ventilate.
• Written cancel-or-modify decision card. A laminated card in every coach's bag and every camp director's clipboard. Names the AQI bands, the duration cutoffs, and the action. No judgment calls under stress.

A kit list isn't a protocol. The MED-TAC Trauma Kit Selector will route school-based and youth-program buyers toward platforms that handle both trauma and the respiratory event profile — and the MED-TAC store carries the eye irrigation, pulse oximeter, and chest seal inventory you'd be reaching for during the bad days.

Writing the policy your board will sign

If your athletic department, camp, or church youth program doesn't have a written smoke policy, the OHA framework is the cleanest starting point in the country. The minimum elements:

1. Authoritative AQI source named. Pick one (AirNow.gov, PurpleAir, your state air quality agency) and write it into the policy. Don't let staff use whatever app they have on their phone.
2. Decision authority named. Who calls cancel/modify? Athletic director, camp medical lead, school nurse, head coach? One name, with a documented chain of succession.
3. Decision thresholds aligned to OHA bands. Yellow caution → Orange modify → Red cancel. No bespoke thresholds.
4. Transit and total-exposure language. Reference the OHA point that walking to school and bus exposure count toward the daily total. This protects you when a parent asks why practice was canceled at AQI 95 after kids spent four hours outdoors at recess and walked home in the smoke.
5. Inhaler and medication protocol. Stock inhaler authority, parental consent forms, medication storage, return-to-play criteria after a flare.
6. Indoor-relocation plan. Where do 80 campers go when AQI hits 160 at noon? Pre-scout the gym, library, or church basement with HEPA filtration BEFORE smoke season starts.
7. Communication plan. How are parents notified of a cancellation? Group text, app push, email tree. Build it now.
8. Documentation. Every smoke-driven cancellation or modification gets logged. This is your defense when somebody questions the call after the fact.

Bottom line

Oregon's June 2026 rewrite is the new floor, not the new ceiling. The science of pediatric pulmonary vulnerability hasn't changed in a decade — what changed is that one state's public health agency finally codified what athletic trainers and pediatric pulmonologists have been saying since the 2017 Eagle Creek fire. If your jurisdiction hasn't updated, you can still adopt the OHA framework today. The next AQI 175 afternoon is coming, and your decision tree should be on a laminated card before it does — not invented on the fly while 60 kids are mid-sprint.

Humo de incendios forestales y deportes juveniles 2026: el árbol de decisiones del AQI que cada entrenador, director de campamento y entrenador atlético necesita (Español)

La conclusión directa

El 9 de junio de 2026, la Autoridad de Salud de Oregón (OHA) publicó una guía reescrita para actividades juveniles al aire libre durante eventos de humo de incendios forestales y contaminación del aire que endurece los umbrales en los cuales entrenadores, directores de campamento, administradores escolares y entrenadores atléticos deben modificar o cancelar la actividad. La guía anterior trataba un AQI en banda amarilla como "un buen día para estar activo afuera". La nueva guía ya no — añade lenguaje de precaución para jóvenes con condiciones de salud incluso en zona amarilla, y empuja un gatillo duro de cancelar-o-reubicar en cualquier AQI por encima de 150.

Qué cambió en la actualización de Oregón de junio de 2026

• La zona amarilla ya no es zona de "adelante". AQI 51–100 ahora activa precaución para cualquier joven con asma, enfermedad reactiva de vías respiratorias, cardiopatía congénita u otras condiciones crónicas, sin importar la duración de la actividad. A cuatro o más horas, la precaución aplica a todos los jóvenes.
• La zona naranja colapsa a través de todas las duraciones. AQI 101–150 requiere limitar la intensidad para cada joven en cada duración — y considerar cancelar o reubicar si no se pueden cambiar la intensidad y la duración.
• Por encima de AQI 150 es ahora una cancelación dura. Las bandas roja, púrpura y granate requieren cancelar la actividad al aire libre o trasladarse a un área con aire más seguro para todos los niños y jóvenes.
• "Duración media" ahora se define como una a cuatro horas. Esto importa porque la mayoría de los entrenamientos deportivos, bloques de campamento de verano y programas escolares al aire libre caen en esa ventana.
• El tránsito cuenta. OHA explícitamente menciona la exposición durante caminatas a la escuela, viajes en autobús con ventanas abiertas y recreo inmediatamente antes del entrenamiento.

Por qué los niños no son adultos pequeños bajo el humo

El contaminante principal del humo es PM2.5 — material particulado menor a 2.5 micrones, lo suficientemente pequeño para evadir las vías respiratorias superiores y alojarse profundamente en los alvéolos. La vulnerabilidad pediátrica viene de tres factores convergentes:

1. Vías respiratorias en desarrollo. Los bronquiolos de un niño de 10 años aún no han terminado de remodelarse. La inflamación aquí no rebota como en un adulto de 30 años.
2. Mayor ventilación minuto por kilogramo. Los niños respiran más aire por libra de peso corporal que los adultos.
3. El ejercicio multiplica la exposición. Un atleta juvenil corriendo a AQI 110 está absorbiendo varias veces la dosis de PM2.5 de un adulto sedentario en el mismo aire.

El árbol de decisiones AQI, simplificado

• AQI 0–50 (Verde). Actividad normal para todos los jóvenes.
• AQI 51–100 (Amarillo). Precaución para jóvenes con asma o cardiopatía congénita en cualquier duración. Para actividades de cuatro horas o más, precaución para todos los jóvenes.
• AQI 101–150 (Naranja). Limitar intensidad para todo joven en cualquier duración. Si no se puede reducir intensidad, considerar cancelar o trasladar el evento bajo techo.
• AQI 151+ (Rojo / Púrpura / Granate). Cancelar actividad al aire libre o trasladarse a un área con aire más seguro para todos los niños y jóvenes. Sin excepciones.

Construyendo una postura médica lista para humo

• Protocolo de inhalador de rescate. Los inhaladores de albuterol no están en un kit comercial estándar — requieren una orden permanente del director médico o recetas individuales archivadas con consentimiento parental.
• Irrigación ocular salina estéril. Las partículas de humo secan e inflaman la córnea rápido. Botellas de un solo uso de 250 mL en cada kit durante temporada de humo.
• Respiradores N95 o KN95 tamaño juvenil. Las mascarillas adultas tienen fugas en un niño de 12 años.
• Pulsioxímetro. SpO2 por debajo de 95% en un atleta previamente sano después de actividad en humo es indicación de transporte.
• Medidor de flujo pico. Para atletas con asma conocida, una lectura por debajo del 80% del mejor personal en día de humo es advertencia temprana.
• Compresas frías y reemplazo de electrolitos. Humo + calor de verano es un multiplicador.
• Tarjeta de decisión escrita cancelar-o-modificar. Una tarjeta laminada en cada bolsa de entrenador. Nombra las bandas AQI, los cortes de duración y la acción.

Escribiendo la política que tu junta firmará

1. Fuente AQI autoritativa nombrada (AirNow.gov, PurpleAir, agencia estatal).
2. Autoridad de decisión nombrada — un nombre, con cadena de sucesión documentada.
3. Umbrales de decisión alineados con bandas OHA.
4. Lenguaje de tránsito y exposición total.
5. Protocolo de inhalador y medicación.
6. Plan de reubicación bajo techo con filtración HEPA.
7. Plan de comunicación con padres.
8. Documentación — cada cancelación se registra.

Conclusión

La reescritura de Oregón de junio de 2026 es el nuevo piso, no el nuevo techo. Si tu jurisdicción aún no se ha actualizado, puedes adoptar el marco de OHA hoy. La próxima tarde de AQI 175 viene, y tu árbol de decisiones debería estar en una tarjeta laminada antes de que llegue — no inventado al vuelo mientras 60 niños están a mitad de un sprint.

Sources:
- Oregon Health Authority — OHA updates guidance for youth outdoor activities during wildfire smoke (June 9, 2026)
- EPA — Health and environmental effects of particulate matter (PM2.5)
- AirNow.gov — Air Quality Index basics