Dealing with wildfire smoke

I know it's been a tough month for smoke - please remember these resources and stay safe.

Vehicle exhaust, woodstove emissions, industrial emissions, wildfire smoke, windblown dust, and other sources contain fine particle pollution (PM2.5) that can seriously affect children’s health. The following public health recommendations to protect children from PM2.5 are designed for school activities and can be applied to child care, before/ after school programs, camp, and sports programs for children by considering the duration of outdoor activities.

Children are more sensitive to health effects from breathing in PM2.5 because their lungs are still developing, and they breathe in more air than adults for their body weight. Children with health conditions, such as asthma, have an even higher risk of health effects, including asthma attacks. Adult staff and volunteers may also be sensitive to air pollution, see WA Air Quality Guide for Particle Pollution. Symptoms from PM2.5 exposure range from minor to severe and include burning eyes, coughing, throat and nose irritation, fatigue, headache, wheezing, and shortness of breath. For children with asthma, follow their Asthma Action Plans. If symptoms become serious, seek medical attention.

We generally recommend the WA Smoke Blog as the best one-stop shop of information to share out during wildfire season. The map in the Blog has the benefit of including PurpleAir Sensors measurements with the federal reference monitors. The Blog is a better option for viewing PurpleAir measurements for wildfire smoke than the PurpleAir Company website because PurpleAirs on the Blog have a well-vetted correction factor applied and they have a NowCast averaging time applied, like the agency monitors, which is thought to be more predictive. Note that WA Smoke Blog measurements for both the agency sites and the PurpleAirs are updated hourly. The forecast tool on the map and the posts below the map also provide helpful information.

Visit https://wasmoke.blogspot.com/ and https://doh.wa.gov/community-and-environment/schools/environmental-health for more information.