The past several summers have made one thing pretty clear: wildfires are increasingly a fact of life in the U.S. While factors like forest management, faulty electrical grids, and irresponsible behavior can all contribute to how these fires start, the reality is that climate change is causing the conditions for larger, harder to control wildfires and longer burn seasons.
If you live in fire-prone areas, the thought of preparing for wildfires probably isn’t new to you. From making evacuation plans to cleaning up ash, you may already have some plans for what to do when a fire starts nearby. But given the way that smoke can spread, no matter where you live, it’s a good idea to spend some time thinking about how to maintain good indoor air quality during fire season.
The Air Quality Index (AQI) is a metric used by the National Weather Service and the EPA to report daily air quality. It is calculated based on levels of five major pollutants: ground-level ozone, particulate matter, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, and nitrogen dioxide. It is measured on a 0-500 scale, and the higher the number, the worse the air quality.
When wildfires burn, AQI spikes because they emit large amounts of particulate matter, nitrous oxides that produce ozone, and toxic compounds from burning materials. And wind patterns bring smoke, hazy skies, and poor air quality thousands of miles from wildfires. Poor air quality has serious health consequences, especially for children, the elderly, and other vulnerable populations, so it’s important to pay attention to air quality during fire season, even if you don’t live in a fire-prone area.
The advice for what to do during periods of poor air quality, historically, has been simple: stay inside. Unfortunately, we’ve learned recently that indoor air quality isn’t necessarily any better than outdoor, especially if nothing is done to monitor and maintain the air.
Better advice would be: stay inside and clean your air. There are four main steps to take to protect yourself and maintain the air quality inside your home:
1) Keep outside air from getting inside.
2) Use filters to clean the air inside your home.
3) Avoid activities that compromise air quality or increase your respiratory rate.
4) Ventilate your home during periods when the outdoor air quality improves.
First things first: when it’s smokey outside and air quality is terrible, close your doors and windows! The goal is to keep that smoky air out of your home, so make sure everything is closed up. But there are a few more steps you can take to limit smoky air coming into the home.
If you have an HVAC system, consider upgrading the filter to a MERV 13 filter. These high-efficiency filters take out more small particles from the air that cause health issues, and most HVAC systems can accommodate this level of filtration without any other modifications.
To filter air in specific rooms, you have a few options. The best option is to purchase a high-quality air filter. The California Air Resources Board maintains a list of certified safe, effective filters that do not create ozone, so that’s a great place to look to make sure any filter you buy will do the job!
That said, portable air filters can be expensive, and during air quality emergencies like wildfires, they can be hard to find. The EPA has some tips on creating and using a DIY air filter from a box fan and HVAC filters. There aren’t a lot of studies about exactly how effective these are, but they’re a great option in a pinch.
If you are dealing with heavy smoke with little time to prepare, consider making a clean room. This is where you focus on sealing air leaks and filtering the air in one or two rooms in the home, rather than the whole space, and try to spend most of your time in that room. It’s not a long-term solution, but this can help you get through the severe periods of smoke!
We may not think about it day to day, but there are some daily activities that can worsen our indoor air quality, especially if windows are closed. Activities to avoid when air quality is a concern:
Also, while relaxing might seem tough, it’s important! Try to avoid strenuous exercise or other activities that will make you breath heavily when there’s a lot of smoke—this will limit the amount of smoke that you may inhale, so put your feet up and take the day off from cardio!
With wildfire smoke, the way the wind blows can completely change the air quality in your area in a matter of hours. Keep an eye on the outdoor air quality index, and when the air clears up (even if it’s just temporary), try to air your house out. This can include turning the fresh air intake back on your HVAC, opening windows, and using fans to encourage natural ventilation. If the outdoor air quality gets worse again, close everything back up!
Climate change is increasingly making wildfires a fact of life, so being prepared to stay healthy and safe is a good idea, no matter where you live. Monitor the AQI during fire season, and when necessary, don’t hesitate to take steps to make sure the air in your home is as clean and safe as possible.
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