The Board of Commissioners of Multnomah County on Thursday passed a resolution that sets stricter goals for reducing wood smoke, a leading contributor to air pollution. The move comes amid recent analysis of environmental health data maintained by the federal Centres for Disease Control and Prevention that reducing particulate matter by just 5 percent would prevent 13 deaths each year in Multnomah County. Medical experts hoped the resolution will help to align the emission benchmarks of Multnomah County with those set by the World Health Organisation. The move is expected to help immunocompromised patients with respiratory illnesses such as COPD, asthma to have a better quality of life.