Are you ready for wildfire season?

The predictive meteorologists with the Northern Rockies Coordination Center are expecting above-average fire activity for our region in August and September. Things are heating up out there, and July will be over sooner than any of us would like. 

As we prep for a potentially bad fire season, and therefore bad smoke season, I have a question: Do you know where your air filters are?

Hopefully, last year you stocked up on efficient furnace filters for your HVAC or HEPA filters for your portable air cleaners and you’re ready for this year. If not, the time to prepare for wildfire smoke is now, my friends.

We prepare for wildfire smoke because it is a dangerous pollutant. Smoke is a chemical stew, and the component we’re most concerned about is fine particulate matter, which in smoke is less than one micron in diameter. The fine particulate is so tiny it bypasses your natural defenses when you breathe it in and can pass into your bloodstream where it sets off an inflammatory response. Its health impacts include (but are not limited to) exacerbated asthma, reduced lung function, worsened COPD symptoms, increased risk of heart attack and stroke, increased hospitalizations and mortality.

Children, the elderly, people with diabetes, people with heart or lung disease and pregnant people are most at risk. This translates to roughly 30 percent of a given population. Even if you aren’t in the “at-risk” category, smoke is bad for you. The longer you’re in it the worse it is. We haven’t even touched on the complicating factor of COVID-19. Which, unsurprisingly, is bad.

The best way to avoid smoke is to have clean air to breathe. Unfortunately, smoke comes indoors, which means you need to take some proactive steps to clean your air. Hence, the prepping.

Throughout July, I will provide information on creating cleaner air spaces in your homes. We’ll go over furnace filters, portable air cleaners and what to do when it’s hot and smoky outside. We’ll also discuss larger spaces such as office buildings, schools, gyms, etc. and steps they can take to protect their occupants from smoke.

Along the way, we’ll discuss the intersection of COVID-19 and wildfire season, and how it will impact our navigation of smoke season. In the era of COVID, creating cleaner indoor air is more important than it has ever been. Many of the at-risk categories for COVID-19 and wildfire smoke overlap. To make matters worse, a recent study found exposure to air pollution led to worse health outcomes for COVID patients. If we want to avoid the compounding impact of wildfire smoke on COVID -19, we need to have clean air to breathe.

If you’re ready to learn more about creating cleaner indoor air, you can sign up to receive my smoke-ready blog in your inbox by emailing me at scoefield@missoulacounty.us. If you don’t want to wait for my emails, you can hop over to Climate Smart Missoula’s website www.montanawildfiresmoke.org for some excellent advice about creating cleaner indoor air spaces!