Poor air quality WWYD

[Mrs Tiggywinkle Again]

My area is being significantly affected by the Canadian wildfires.  It’s hazy and despite how far we are, there is ash on my car.  This is an area with next to no pollution and generally fantastic air quality.  People are really struggling to breathe.

What do I do? We don’t have an air purifier, our house isn’t well sealed, much like everyone else here.  The ERs are packed with respiratory problems and chest pains.  The kids are inside, recess and baseball playoffs are canceled, but no one is breathing well.  Nothing like this has happened before for this long in even my 90 year old grandmother’s memory.

I know many of you live in areas where air quality is routinely affected by wildfires.  Give me ideas.

Also, we can’t leave. This week DD has her middle school concert and awards ceremony Thursday and Friday. I start my every other day work rotation Saturday.  So leaving isn’t an option, though I know many people are who just packing up and going someplace else for the next week.

[mommyoffive]

Mask, stay inside as much as possible, get an air purifier now or make one from a box fan.

[prairiewindmomma]

If you can’t leave, then I would take to masking in the house right now and then go to buy the materials to make at least 3 corsi-rosenthal boxes: https://cleanaircrew.org/box-fan-filters/

You need one for each room you sleep in, and one to sit right next to you during the day.

Shower after being outside, put cool compresses on your eyes a few times a day. 
 

Know that your clothes dryer brings in smoke. Keep the door shut and air dry your clothes if you can.

You can seal windows that leak badly with frog tape.

[prairiewindmomma]

I forgot: change your HVAC filters to somewhere between MERV 11-13 rated ones. Change them every 3 days if your AQI is over 300. They will be sticky and brown.

[Mrs Tiggywinkle Again]

My kids will absolutely not mask especially in our house.  They all have sensory processing disorder and barely managed to mask during Covid.  I homeschooled two of them because they simply couldn’t tolerate masks in school(or anywhere).  School is still in session here as well and I could send masks with them to school but I’m 100% sure my thirteen and eleven year olds won’t wear them. At least they’ve cancelled outdoor recess.
 
all air purifiers are sold out locally.  Fortunately, the high today is 58 degrees Fahrenheit so at least it isn’t hot.  And none of my kids have underlying respiratory issues.  So that’s in our favor.  I’ll have to figure out what windows might be leaky. I know where the drafts are in winter.

Like most of the older homes here, we do not have an HVAC system. We use ceiling fans and window A/C units and ubaseboard hot water heating. DH says we don’t have filters.(we do have filters in the A/C units, but it isn’t even 60 degrees here and we haven’t put the air conditioners in the windows yet this year, plus there’s always cracks around them letting in outdoor air so I don’t want to put them in yet).

Edited June 7, 2023 by Mrs Tiggywinkle Again
Explaining lol

[Jean in Newcastle]

You can't order an air purifier on Amazon? 

[catz]

Well window AC units just have filters in them by default.  So unless your husband intentionally removed them, that is happening.  Though if the high were 58 (that sounds delightful), I would guess you aren't running them.  You could order an air purifier for the main area of your house at least on amazon if you wanted.  

We have some of that going on here too, though not as bad.  I would just try to stay in as much as possible.  I wouldn't mask at home either.  Run recurcuilating in your vehicle.  Drink a lot of water.  Shower at least once daily.  

[Mrs Tiggywinkle Again]

Just now, Jean in Newcastle said:

You can't order an air purifier on Amazon? 

we did, but Amazon is showing a Monday delivery.  The shortest we can usually get anything from Amazon is 3 days. 
Our air conditioners do have filters, but honestly it hasn’t even been warm enough yet this year to put them in the windows, and it isn’t forecasted to be much above 68 until the middle of next week.

[lauraw4321]

Stay inside. Make sure everyone is hydrated and breathes through their nose, which will filter out a lot of particles. Have everyone blow their noses well in the shower. If there are visible cracks around windows and doors, seal them even if just with tape. I’m sorry - I know how much this sucks. 

[Pawz4me]

Window AC units should have filters. They may be the reusable type you can take out and wash or vacuum.

[catz]

You could put your AC units in and just run them in the fan mode?  

[Mrs Tiggywinkle Again]

Just now, catz said:

You could put your AC units in and just run them in the fan mode?  

None of our A/C units actually fit tight to the windows, and there’s always about a half inch gap letting in air.  Our house is older and nothing is designed for it.

[prairiewindmomma]

Bathroom exhaust fans can also be leaky. We haven’t ever taped ours shut (once the corsi boxes are going we are good), but we have thought about it once we went over 400.

I can feel a difference in my lungs for about every 100 we go up on the AQI scale. I really struggle once I am over 300.

The Corsi boxes do a much better job than our Honeywell HEPA units, but they are louder, and that has a sensory component for a couple of mine.

We go through about 1/2 roll of tape for each setup, if you need to eyeball whether you need to buy tape. The hard part for us was cutting down the box the fans came in to the right dimensions to cover the gaps. Once you do one, the other setups go faster—about 20 min per box.

Edited June 7, 2023 by prairiewindmomma

[EKS]

If you have N95s, wear those.

[prairiewindmomma]

7 minutes ago, Jean in Newcastle said:

You can't order an air purifier on Amazon? 

Amazon delivery shuts down for us. Does it not for you? UPS and FedEx usually do too.

[Jean in Newcastle]

In our area, which does have bad air quality days every summer, the government designates places like the YMCA as places people can go with good quality air filtration. This isn’t something you can fix personally but hopefully your local government will consider this. 

[skimomma]

We are in a similar boat and have been for about a week now.  It has been HOT here and most people, including us, don't have AC.  We cannot just shut the windows when it is 85 degrees.  When they say "stay indoors," I always wonder what difference it makes when all the windows are open and there is no HVAC system anyway. Most businesses don't have AC, let alone businesses.  Dh's car has no AC.  There is no driving around with no windows open in 85+ degrees.  It's confusing.  

[Jean in Newcastle]

1 minute ago, prairiewindmomma said:

Amazon delivery shuts down for us. Does it not for you? UPS and FedEx usually do too.

No?  I have never heard of delivery shutting down.  Why would it do that?  

[prairiewindmomma]

Just now, Jean in Newcastle said:

No?  I have never heard of delivery shutting down.  Why would it do that?  

Our state will make an emergency health declaration. All of the protections for outdoor farm workers go into place, and most of the delivery places and other outside workers will also go into emergency status. The clean air shelters open, and Trimet stops collecting fares.

Keep in mind also that we usually have dozens of people die each time we get significantly bad air for more than a week.

https://osha.oregon.gov/rules/advisory/smoke/Documents/DraftWildfireSmokeRule-5-4-21.pdf

https://www.oregon.gov/deq/FilterDocs/WFresponse.pdf

 

[KSera]

26 minutes ago, prairiewindmomma said:

If you can’t leave, then I would take to masking in the house right now and then go to buy the materials to make at least 3 corsi-rosenthal boxes: https://cleanaircrew.org/box-fan-filters/

You need one for each room you sleep in, and one to sit right next to you during the day.

 

This. Hopefully it’s early enough in fire season that Home Depot and similar have lots of MERV 13 furnace filters on the shelves still. It will make a big difference. I also wouldn’t use the bathroom fans, as those bring outside air in. 
 

I’m sorry you’re dealing with this. It’s really miserable. It’s alarming to me that it’s this bad already at this point in the year and in now even more places that didn’t used to have wildfires. I’m kind of dreading this summer for this reason. 
 

 

[prairiewindmomma]

OP, expect a sharp uptick in heart attacks and lung disease at work. I am so sorry y’all will be working in these conditions.

[Mrs Tiggywinkle Again]

Other than outdoor recess, nothing has shut down.  This is a completely unprecedented event. My area is almost totally old construction without adequate ventilation as it is.  I am on a county emergency management team and we had a meeting yesterday trying to identify what buildings would be usable for emergency shelters for air quality.  
We are set up for heating and cooling shelters, but our natural disasters are limited to blizzards and a very occasional flood.  This is an absolutely unprecedented event for us and there is only very minimal preparation.  Our school would be the only half suitable shelter, and it would not be large enough(only the gym has the adequate ventilation meeting governmental standards for air quality emergencies). 

Edited June 7, 2023 by Mrs Tiggywinkle Again

[Jean in Newcastle]

5 minutes ago, prairiewindmomma said:

Our state will make an emergency health declaration. All of the protections for outdoor farm workers go into place, and most of the delivery places and other outside workers will also go into emergency status. The clean air shelters open, and Trimet stops collecting fares.

Keep in mind also that we usually have dozens of people die each time we get significantly bad air for more than a week.

https://osha.oregon.gov/rules/advisory/smoke/Documents/DraftWildfireSmokeRule-5-4-21.pdf

https://www.oregon.gov/deq/FilterDocs/WFresponse.pdf

 

Perhaps it’s because my area is one of the areas where Amazon uses electric vans (as well as others but we do have a large fleet of electric.). Our area also has a large fleet of zero emissions buses and has retired the last diesel buses in 2020. Some buses are hybrid. 

[Mrs Tiggywinkle Again]

2 minutes ago, Jean in Newcastle said:

Perhaps it’s because my area is one of the areas where Amazon uses electric vans (as well as others but we do have a large fleet of electric.). Our area also has a large fleet of zero emissions buses and has retired the last diesel buses in 2020. Some buses are hybrid. 

Amazon’s delivery is all through usps and ups here. Two day delivery is a joyous occasion lol. It’s usually 3-5 days.

[alysee]

I am so sorry! We are dealing with it here to in Ontario. I don't have any suggestions other than stay inside. 

[Jean in Newcastle]

I doubt your kids will go for this ( though my autistic kid would have, while my NT wouldn’t) but there is some benefit to using nasal irrigation to remove pollutants from the nasal cavities. 

[bolt.]

Staying inside, as sealed-up as possible, is really going to be the only solution (other than masking and homemade filtration).

I think, in your shoes, I'd try for one of those furnace-filter-and-fan contraptions, as well as going around the home taping, saran wrapping, or foam-filling any leaky spots. (I wouldn't open the windows to put in any unnecessary air conditioners: outdoor air is the enemy.)

I think I'd probably also order an air filter on amazon: it's better late than never, and it's a good thing to have on hand even if it does arrive after this particular event.

[prairiewindmomma]

4 minutes ago, Jean in Newcastle said:

Perhaps it’s because my area is one of the areas where Amazon uses electric vans (as well as others but we do have a large fleet of electric.). Our area also has a large fleet of zero emissions buses and has retired the last diesel buses in 2020. Some buses are hybrid. 

Here it’s because previously workers were collapsing during smoke events. Amazon delivery shuts down to protect the workers…both in the warehouse, and the delivery drivers.
 

Everything goes onto emergency status—trash didn’t get picked up last time, meters didn’t get read unless they were the newer ones you can read from the truck, and so on.

The shutdown doesn’t always happen….but when it’s really bad, it does.

 

[Terabith]

I’m seeing reports about horrendous air quality in your area on my news.  The pictures look positively apocalyptic. I’m so sorry.  

[Jean in Newcastle]

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5930792/

Supplements apparently can protect people from pollutants. My family uses curcumin, NAC and quercetin. 

[MEmama]

Weirdly we aren't affected by the smoke (yet) but sometimes we do get here in northern New England from California/Oregon/BC/Alberta. Like the OP, it's mostly older houses here and we don't have AC or a house fan. Frankly, it's still cold enough here that we are still sometimes running the stove; no way would I be installing window air conditioners yet.

I think the only thing you can do, OP, is to order filters to use in a few days (the hardware stores might have quicker shipping), keep the house closed up best as you can and lay low. The less activity the better even in the house.

May it get better soon! For those of us who aren't used to it, poor air quality not only feels bad (my lungs are super sensitive to smoke and DS has asthma) but it feels eerie too. 

[Faith-manor]

I would consider wearing a cloth mask indoors, and a N95/KN95 outdoors. I just went outside with the dog - we live 3 miles west of the "air quality is bad for everyone" warning, inside the "warning for sensitive groups, stay indoors", and frankly, they need to move the very bad warning west to us. I was out five minutes, and didn't realize how bad it was so I did not have a mask on. I now have a near migraine, I am blowing my nose constantly and what is coming out is kind of scary given how little time I spent out, and my eyes are watering.  I even feel a little off in my breathing. It feels like when I am super anemic, like not enough oxygen circulating. I am putting down a puppy pad for Lewis and giving him permission to use it this afternoon so I do not have to take him out again.

We do not have an air purifier, but we have the air conditioning, and there is a mode for not cooling, but circulating air and running it through the filter so I am turning it on. It is only 72°F out, so it would normally be a day I would putter around in the garden and take a long walk with Lewis. Ugh.

So ya. If you can't purify the air, consider masking.

[KSera]

11 minutes ago, bolt. said:

I think I'd probably also order an air filter on amazon: it's better late than never, and it's a good thing to have on hand even if it does arrive after this particular event.

If you’re able to get the materials to make a box fan filter, I’d stick with those unless you have a huge budget to drop on very expensive air cleaners. The corsi rosenthal cubes are more effective than the majority of what’s out there to buy ready made. They’re bulky and not pretty, but they work well. 

[melbotoast]

My friend who loves near there just posted that it's like being in Mordor. 😧 I hope it clears up soon!

[itsheresomewhere]

Same here.  I taped our ac units in the windows all the way around like usual and just put more on.  We ended up at the mall to walk it. My kids are wearing the cloth masks with filters outside of it is more and a walk to the car.  It is horrible outside right now. 

[prairiewindmomma]

Wildfire smoke particles are largely PM2.5 in size. They are tiny, and therefore can go deep into your lung tissue. Cloth masks will not filter out this particle size sufficiently. 
 

N95s block 95% of that particle size. Two layer cloth masks only filter out 30-50% of particles that size.

[marbel]

1 hour ago, Jean in Newcastle said:

I doubt your kids will go for this ( though my autistic kid would have, while my NT wouldn’t) but there is some benefit to using nasal irrigation to remove pollutants from the nasal cavities. 

We are getting it here too (SE PA). My allergy kid - including smoke allergy - has been doing sinus wash daily for a few days. Usually it's only occasionally. Also wore an N95 to work today as the warehouse he works in has no A/C so they often leave the big door open for airflow.  It's rough here so I can imagine where you are it is much worse. Last night it smelled like the fire was right here. 

[Clarita]

1 hour ago, prairiewindmomma said:

If you can’t leave, then I would take to masking in the house right now and then go to buy the materials to make at least 3 corsi-rosenthal boxes: https://cleanaircrew.org/box-fan-filters/

You need one for each room you sleep in, and one to sit right next to you during the day.

Shower after being outside, put cool compresses on your eyes a few times a day. 
 

Know that your clothes dryer brings in smoke. Keep the door shut and air dry your clothes if you can.

You can seal windows that leak badly with frog tape.

Also remember this isn't COVID-19 it's stuff burning up, the particulates you are trying to filter out are all shapes and sizes. What @prairiewindmommamentions is what you should aim for but anything until then is better than nothing. So if you can't get any filters (our "first" bad wildfire everything ran out Amazon was weeks to be able to get us actual filter stuff), then build one out of towels or any sort of cloth. It's not as effective, but it will get some stuff out of the air. Figure out if you can use the A/C units without the A/C part, if not still seal up your house and run it to pull some amount of smoke particulates from the air inside your house. 

Masking is the same thing. If you need to be outside wear something on your face. Find something that your kids will kind of tolerate on their face (even if it's not tight fitting, won't do anything against COVID); it will still block something. 

[prairiewindmomma]

I am trying to find the study—if anyone has it linked—OHSU measured indoor air quality during the 2020(?) maybe 2021 year and inside air was roughly the same bad quality as outdoor air if not filtered. So, it may feel better inside but it isn’t safer if it isn’t filtered.

I thought I had it bookmarked. I know I have posted it here on the forum before.

[wathe]

Thirding (or fourthing?) a Corsi-Rosenthal box.  Easy, effective and cheap:

20" box fan. We used an inexpensive Lasko

4 of the highest MERV furnace filters you can find. We used these 16x25" ones from Costco, just have to make a second cardboard shroud to fill the gap between the fan and the box.  20x20" filters fit more neatly, but here they are harder to find and more expensive than the 16x25" size.  Filtration surface area is the same.

The cardboard the fan came in, and tape.  Total cost $70USD

It's super effective.

(LED party lights optional 🙂 )

 

 

[dsmith]

I was just out (Northern NJ) and it amazes me that nobody is masking. Just me and one other person I saw. There were quite a few elderly people walking in this, people with car windows rolled down, one person jogging, crazy!!  I'm only going out when it's absolutely necessary. My chest is getting a little tight and I have a headache. And like a previous poster mentioned, it really does look like Mordor! It's getting worse by the hour, too.

[catz]

1 hour ago, Mrs Tiggywinkle Again said:

None of our A/C units actually fit tight to the windows, and there’s always about a half inch gap letting in air.  Our house is older and nothing is designed for it.

I'd put towels around them and do what I could to seal it up as well as possible.  It's not going to be perfect.  

[Clarita]

1 minute ago, dsmith said:

I was just out (Northern NJ) and it amazes me that nobody is masking. Just me and one other person I saw. There were quite a few elderly people walking in this, people with car windows rolled down, one person jogging, crazy!!  I'm only going out when it's absolutely necessary. My chest is getting a little tight and I have a headache. And like a previous poster mentioned, it really does look like Mordor! It's getting worse by the hour, too.

That's nuts! Don't they feel actually uncomfortable?? This isn't even "doing it to protect others"; it's actual irritating stuff in the air.

[Starr]

That sounds horrible. It really is a thing that not everywhere can you overnight mail or packages. You will get through this round but I would be thinking about what you can do if it comes around again with all the fires this year. Can any of you get away for a few hours for some relief or are better air buildings just too far away?

[prairiewindmomma]

Here’s a reference to the study made in a news article. I will keep digging: https://www.nwnewsnetwork.org/2022-08-19/scientists-work-to-protect-indoor-air-quality-from-wildfire-smoke

[mommyoffive]

Well, it's wildfire season... - by Katelyn Jetelina (substack.com)

[Mrs Tiggywinkle Again]

This is about 45 minutes away from me. It looks the same from my living room window.

I know there are places where hazardous wildfire smoke is a common occurance; I just cannot stress how unprepared my area is for this.

I don’t even know where we could reasonably travel to right now with better air.

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT81dFmP5/

[prairiewindmomma]

FWIW, if you are getting ash fall:

1. Take off shoes at the door. This stuff will come in on your clothes and shoes.

2. If you get a chance to be out for 10 minutes a day, rinse off your garden plants, and your HVAC intake.

 

After the event:

1. Wash your car gently. Give it a good rinse, or take it to a touch-less car wash. Any ash on your washing cloth can scratch the car.  If you've been driving heavily during a longer event, you'll want to change your air filter (which is usually HEPA rated, fwiw).

2. Use a mild detergent to wash any playground equipment or outdoor lawn furniture. Smoke residue is sticky. Gently dampen it first. Don't use a leaf blower, which puts ash back into the air. 

3. Wash your windows inside and out.

4. Take a damp cloth to anything you clean inside---wiping down walls, gently mopping the floors. After 2020, we had to shampoo carpets and wash the curtains also to get rid of the residual smoke smell. Adding vinegar gets rid of the smoke smell in your clothes.  Don't vacuum unless you have a good HEPA filter on your vacuum, it will just send the invisible particles back into the air.

 

[prairiewindmomma]

1 minute ago, Mrs Tiggywinkle Again said:

This is about 45 minutes away from me. It looks the same from my living room window.

I know there are places where hazardous wildfire smoke is a common occurance; I just cannot stress how unprepared my area is for this.

I don’t even know where we could reasonably travel to right now with better air.

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT81dFmP5/

You can still see in the distance.

It can get worse. 😞 

[Mrs Tiggywinkle Again]

1 minute ago, prairiewindmomma said:

You can still see in the distance.

It can get worse. 😞 

Right now tomorrow is forecasted to be the worst day and then slowly getting better.  Fortunately I am learning a lot from all your tips and am going to put together resources for our emergency management county offices.  I am afraid that this might be the first time in recorded memory, but it won’t be the last, and I need to learn how to prepare.