ARE YOU WILDFIRE SMOKE PREPARED?
By Charles J. Lippert, Air Quality Specialist, Department of Natural Resources
Wildfire smoke is a significant public health problem and climate change accelerates and intensifies this problem. Over the past 20 years, the number of acres burned annually due to wildfires in the U.S. has doubled; in 2022, nearly 70,000 fires burned 7.5 million acres. Smoke plumes can have impacts over a large portion of our population. The health impacts of wildfire smoke are significant, ranging from eye and throat irritation to asthma attacks, cardiovascular events, and even premature death. Many communities in the U.S. experience smoke from wildfires for days, weeks, or even months in a given year, and over multiple fire seasons.
Wildfire smoke can make the outdoor air unhealthy to breathe. Local officials often advise people to stay indoors during a smoke event. However, some smoke from the outdoors can enter homes and buildings and make it unhealthy to breathe indoor air, too. So, what are some things we can do to be Wildfire Smoke Prepared? The two most simple things we can do are ensure we have a good air purifier indoors to scrub out any wildfire smoke entering our indoor environment, and be aware of the ambient air quality and any wildfire smoke plume it may be carrying.
If you or your family members have chronic lung-health issues, then a home furnace system with a MERV 11 rating or higher is preferred; a MERV 13 rated filter is recommended. While MERV 11 filters will remove pollen, dust, dust mites, fine lint, mold spores, large bacteria (such as legionella), and many aerosols, MERV 13 will also remove medium-sized and most small-sized bacteria, large- and medium-sized aerosol smoke (including from tobacco and other smoking products), and viruses that are attached to particulate matter. In rooms where you and your family members with chronic lung-health issues spend the most time, a portable high-efficiency air purifier with a combination of charcoal filter and MERV 15 or higher air filter may be used.
What if you’re a healthy individual and don’t have compromised lung health? You still need an air cleaner to scrub out the wildfire smoke that may enter your home to protect your health. But because you’re healthier and your lungs are stronger, you have a cheaper option for yourself and your family. By using a MERV 11 or better air filter attached to a box fan, you can build yourself a low-cost air purifier. You can do an internet search on homemade air purifiers, and you will get results with videos, tutorials, and patterns for making temporary-use, high-efficiency air purifiers that you can run in your indoor environment during high-smoke event days.
So, how do we know when we have a high-smoke event day? You can keep yourself informed of the status of your ambient air quality. Government Air Regulatory Agencies operate particulate matter air pollution monitors to determine the particle load in the air. Based on this information, they issue air quality forecasts and air quality alerts. The US Environmental Protection Agency offers the AirNow Fire and Smoke Map (https://www.fire.airnow.gov) to inform the public on current particulates matter loading in the air, satellite-detected fires, and smoke plume. Current air quality conditions and air quality alerts are also issued by most state environmental quality agencies such as the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (https://www.pca.state.mn.us/air-water-land-climate/ current-air-quality-conditions) and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (https://airquality.wi.gov/home/map).
However, these air quality monitors are relatively few in number with large territorial spread between air monitor sites. Consequently, this is another area that you are able to act on by participating in citizenry science. While particulate matter air pollution monitor systems cost over $30,000 each with a high degree of quality assurance and accuracy, their cost is one contributing factor that makes their presence relatively low. However, with advancements in technology, air quality sensors that cost under $1,000, and more typically under $300, have made it so that everyday people can put up these particulate matter sensors.
While these sensors are not as accurate as a monitor, they are still accurate enough to properly inform us of air quality trends and helps inform us if the smoke, pollen, dust, and aerosol pollution levels are going up or down. Because of the recent explosion of sensor science to the general public, places such as the South Coast Air Monitoring District in California have done extensive sensor performance evaluation. All sensors have their strong and weak points, and their evaluation of particulate matter sensors can be seen by visiting https:// www.aqmd.gov/aq-spec/evaluations/criteria-pollutants/summary-pm. Once the individual makes their sensor data public, either by default through sensor participation or through information release to the government agency, the sensor data can augment the monitor data by filling in air quality condition coverages between the monitor locations. This can be seen in AirNow Fire and Smoke Map where permanent monitors are indicated with circles, temporary monitors indicated with triangles, and sensors are indicated with squares, filling in the gaps left by the monitors.
The Band’s Department of Natural Resources recently applied for a Clean Air Act Section 103 EPA Air Quality Sensors Grant for Air Pollution Control Agencies under the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 Section 60105(c) as a way to make our community be wildfire smoke prepared. In that grant, the Band will be deploying Purple Air PA-II Classic particulate matter sensors (https://www2.purpleair.com/products/purpleair-pa-ii) primarily in east-central Minnesota. The sensors will inform our citizens of particulate matter loading in the air. These sensors are easy to set-up, easy to use and access their data, and are relatively low maintenance. Coupled with air quality forecasts and air quality alerts issued by their state environmental quality agency, the sensors will feed into the federal government’s wildfire smoke awareness campaign to inform the public of dangers of wildfire smoke to lung health.
The Band recognizes that far northern, far western, and far southern areas of the state lacked both monitors and sensors and chooses to help empower communities in other areas of Minnesota. The sensors there can help inform all Minnesotans by enabling the state air pollution modelers to have more data points so that they can produce better air quality forecasts and air quality alerts. The Band is a beneficiary to both of the state’s air quality information products. In the coming months, the Department of Natural Resources will be holding workshops for Band members to learn more about air quality information websites and alerts, and how to build temporary air purifiers.
You don’t need to wait for your community to act to be wildfire smoke prepared. You can start now, in your home; encourage your family, friends, and neighbors; and make the preparedness a grass-roots action. There are many actions that can be taken to be wildfire smoke prepared. But protecting your indoor environment with an air purifier — even one that you’ve built for temporary use — and staying informed of your ambient air quality conditions are two simple ways you can act to be wildfire smoke prepared.
