FORT COLLINS - The poor air quality caused by the High Park Fire is sending people to the emergency room.

Gary Kimsey, a spokesman for Poudre Valley Health System, said the hospital system began tracking ER cases with respiratory difficulty caused by the air quality on Monday and has seen nine patients at its two hospitals since then. PVHS owns Medical Center of the Rockies in Loveland and Poudre Valley Hospital in Fort Collins.

PVH has treated six of these patients, as Fort Collins is closer to the fire. No patients suffering respiratory distress as a result of the air quality have been admitted in the last 24 hours, Kimsey said. This could be a result of a slight change in weather patterns that allowed some of the smoke to lift.

The patients who are coming to the ER with these problems are those who already have asthma or some other lung issue, Kimsey said. They are typically treated with a nebulizer or steroids and then released.

Kimsey also noted that neither hospital has seen any fire-related injuries.

No data was immediately available from either of the Northern Colorado facilities managed by Banner Health, McKee Medical Center in Loveland or North Colorado Medical Center in Greeley.