How To: Minimize Your Exposure to Wildfire Smoke

Wildfire Smoke Is Dangerous To Your Health

Wildfire smoke contains many air pollutants that are known to contribute to cardiovascular and respiratory outcomes. Children, the elderly, and people with pre-existing heart and lung diseases or who are immuno-compromised may be more impacted by exposure to smoke.

Wildfire smoke contains:

· Particulate matter, especially fine particulate matter that can go very deep into the lungs and may contain other dangerous substances.

· Ozone

· Carbon monoxide

· Polycyclic aromatic compounds

· Nitrogen dioxide

Steps to Take to Minimize Your Exposure To Wildfire Smoke

Steps you can take at home:

· Keep windows and doors closed as much as possible.

· If you have an air-conditioning system, set the amount of outside air as low as possible. This means that the system will recycle the air already inside the house instead of continuing to pull in smoky air from outside. Make sure to change the filters in the air conditioning system regularly.

· If you have to go outside, consider wearing a respirator.

What you need to know before you wear a respirator:

· Bandannas, paper masks that do not fit tightly on your face, and other masks will not provide protection from the most dangerous parts of smoke.

· Some health conditions like heart or lung disease make wearing a respirator difficult or dangerous.

· If you choose to wear a respirator, please make sure you wear it correctly so that it protects you. See https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/2010-133/pdfs/2010-133.pdf for more information.

· Even if you wear a respirator, spend as little time outdoors as possible. Refrain from physically exerting yourself — when you exert yourself, your breathing becomes deeper and quicker which means you breathe in more smoke more deeply into your lungs.

· If your employer provides a respirator to you at work, there are standards and laws that your employer must follow. This includes fit testing to ensure that the respirator provides sufficient protection and ensuring that you have access to the right size and type. See Cal/OSHA’s website for more information: https://www.dir.ca.gov/dosh/dosh_publications/N95-mask-questions.pdf.

For more information, see the California Department of Public Health’s FAQs on wildfire smoke: https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/EPO/Pages/BP_Wildfire_FAQs.aspx.

Study on Emergency Department Visits and the 2017 Wildfire Season

After the big fires in California in 2017, researchers investigated whether visits to the Emergency Departments went up after days with heavy smoke. They found that:

· ED visits increased significantly for all adults when smoke was denser, but especially for adults over 65 years old.

· The risk for a heart attack increased significantly for adults over 65 years old following a day with dense smoke.

· The risk for strokes significantly increased for adults over 65 years old even on light and medium smoke days.

· ED visits for asthma increased significantly on days with medium and heavy smoke.