The Houston area is no stranger to natural disasters and chemical fires with plant explosions taking place in recent years in Deer Park and on Gessner Road that resulted in air quality concerns. Now, thanks to a new piece of equipment, the city of Houston is better equipped to inform the public about air quality, city officials said.

In a Jan. 20 press release, the city announced the deployment of its second Mobile Ambient Air Monitoring Laboratory to accompany a network of fixed-site monitors and other air monitoring tools that help give residents, emergency responders and regulators real-time data for their health and safety.

“It has definitely increased our capacity to help the community, to go to more sites more frequently, and to deploy to multiple events if needed,” said Nguyen Ly, environmental investigator with the Houston Health Department’s bureau of pollution control and prevention. “If there was a disaster like a hurricane or a flood, we’re not trapped on one side of town. We can deploy throughout the city and get more data to communities quicker.”

According to the release, the lab has a meteorological station, an ozone monitor, a GPS locator, humidity detector, infrared video cameras, atmospheric pressure monitors and a temperature gauge.

The new mobile lab allows trained chemists to go out to the field to analyze and identify specific emission sources. The lab responds to reports of unusual smells, airborne particles, smoke, fumes, outdoor pollutants and emergency situations, such as the 2019 chemical plant fire in Deer Park.