Useful to community scientists or air quality professionals alike, PurpleAir sensors are easy to install, requiring only a power outlet and WiFi. Visualize PM2.5 AQI in your area for free. It is important to pay attention to local air quality alerts and the U.S. Hyper-local, real-time, public air quality map.
Instead, you can use damp cloths and spray lightly with water. Use a HEPA-filter vacuum cleaner to clean the ash in your home.Take off shoes before entering your home.If you do come in contact, wash any part of your body immediately to avoid irritation. Avoid cleaning up ash or soot if you have health problems.N-95 or P-100 respirators can offer some protection, if they are tightly fitted and worn properly. Avoid using wood-burning stoves and furnaces.ĭo not rely on dust masks, surgical masks or bandanas for protection.Do not run whole house fans or swamp coolers.Make sure it has a clean filter and turn on the “recirculate” setting. Use your Air Conditioner to filter the air.
Here are things to do during and after a fire to protect yourself. Older adults, children, pregnant women and those with underlying health conditions may experience shortness of breath, wheezing, coughing, fatigue and chest tightness. On September 9, 2020, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite captured this natural-color image of thick smoke streaming from a line of intense fires in Oregon and California. Smoke from wildfires contains small particles that can cause burning eyes, runny nose, sore throat, headaches and illnesses (i.e, bronchitis). Wildfires continue to rage in the western United States. Firefighters made significant progress since it began. The more people contribute data, the less likely there are to be information gaps.It's important to know the potential health effects. The River Fire, south of Salinas in Monterey County, had burned 48,732 acres as of Friday, destroying 30 structures and injuring four people. Those who don’t have their own sensors can find crowdsourced maps online.
As wildfire season gets more destructive and its impacts are felt in new places, a growing number of these tools are being installed everywhere from private homes to government sites. And many are turning to a growing collection of apps and maps to help gauge the risks in their particular location, down to the neighborhood level.Īir quality sensors, which measure the local air quality index (AQI), can help quantify the severity of nearby pollution and guide behaviors to protect against adverse health effects. But now, residents down the East Coast as far south as Georgia and into the Midwest are confronting the smoky conditions - some for the first time. Fire crews in the East Bay are at the scene of a vegetation fire in Antioch Friday afternoon that is kicking up a large black cloud of smoke into the sky. The campfire smell and apocalyptic haze are eerily familiar to residents of the American West who have had similar experiences during fire seasons past. The smog settling in the sky above eastern North America, created by smoke billowing from hundreds of wildfires in Canada, made the air quality in New York City and Toronto among the worst in the world on Wednesday.