Airborne Hazard: Why Wildfire Smoke Is Different

You’ve probably been hearing a lot about wildfires in the news the last few years. While the number of actual fires themselves has gone down, their size and intensity have gone up. Fires are also burning more areas inhabited by humans, destroying homes, businesses and infrastructure along the way. The fire itself is only one component of a wildfire, the other component is the smoke.

 

What Is In Wildfire Smoke?

Wildfire smoke isn’t like your typical campfire smoke, it is actually very complex. Both are bad for you, but wildfire smoke is much worse. Wildfires burn everything in their path across huge areas for a long period of time, while a campfire only burns a small amount of wood in a small area for a little while. Not only are trees, bushes, brush and any other plant materials burning, so are houses and any other buildings in the way. That adds materials like plastic, wiring, electronics, insulation, chemically treated wood, and any common household chemicals. Wildfires also burn hotter and with less oxygen, creating smoke that has harmful chemicals that can create nasty byproducts. 

 

Amazingly wildfire smoke can actually change over time as it travels. Chemicals in the smoke can react with things in the air, making new substances that can be more dangerous. Smoke particles can even grow larger in size as they float along and combine with other things. As the smoke floats along it even interacts differently with light over time, absorbing less light as time goes on. Chemical components like potassium remain about the same level, things like ammonium actually increase. All these changes can make the smoke more harmful to breathe and are why anyone living downwind from these fires should take precautions to protect themselves.

 

How Does Wildfire Smoke Move Around?

Intense heat from a wildfire lifts the smoke high into the air in the beginning. This can happen in multiple places along the fire area, making different smoke plumes that reach different heights. Once the smoke hits the upper atmosphere layers it can travel hundreds of miles away from the fire itself. Wildfire smoke moves differently depending on the terrain. Mountainous areas can channel wind through valleys and passes, moving smoke at a faster rate. Even the time of day can affect how smoke moves. During the day heat from the sun helps move smoke up into the atmosphere, but at night things cool down making the smoke act differently. When cooler night air starts to sink it can actually push wildfire smoke down to ground level. These temperature changes can also lead to the chemical changes in the smoke as mentioned previously.

 

When Is Wildfire Season?

 

This isn’t as easy an answer as it used to be. Due to growing fluctuations in the global climate, it is getting harder and harder to pinpoint when wildfire season occurs. In areas like California wildfires are happening year-round now. There is some seasonality for certain regions that can still be applied, but are not absolute. Here are a few examples:

• West Coast - June through October

• Southwest - May through September

• Rocky Mountains and Midwest - June through September

• Southeast - All year, but can be more active in Spring and Fall

• Alaska - June through August

Wildfires can happen any time in any region, so the best advice is to stay informed. You can check the NOAA website for wildfire favorable weather conditions. You can also track current wildfires on AirNow.gov to see where wildfires are active across the United States.

 

Protecting Yourself From Wildfire Smoke

There are a few things you can do to protect yourself and your loved ones from the effects of wildfire smoke. 

• Keep doors and windows closed

• Wear a N95 face mask when outside

• Use a high-quality air purifier inside
  
  

Intellipure offers high-quality indoor air filtration units that can remove harmful airborne smoke particulates and chemical compounds. Now that you know more about how wildfire smoke works you can be better prepared when a wildfire breaks out. Just remember that wildfire smoke can travel vast distances, so you can be affected by even a distant wildfire. Stock up on N95 face masks and make sure your air purifier is always in good working order by replacing the filters as recommended.

 

*Third party testing shows a 53% reduction in Toluene over a 60 minute period within a 1,007 cubic foot test chamber.