With smoke from the wildfires burning throughout the west shrouding Utah skies, the Salt Lake County Health Department says this is what you can do to improve the air quality inside your home and protect your lungs:
- Start by checking the air quality in your neighborhood.
There’s a real-time air quality map available online at SLCo.to/AirQuality. Expect to see lots of orange along the Wasatch Front indicating unhealthy air on the county’s AirView map, provided in partnership with TELLUS and developed in collaboration with the University of Utah Research Foundation.
- Use fans rather than opening windows or running swamp coolers.
If you don’t have air conditioning, the federal Environmental Protection Agency recommends cooling down with fans and keeping windows shut. Swamp cooler use should be limited as much as possible since the units bring in air from outside.
- Have air conditioning? Make sure you switch to a recirculating option if available.
Some window air conditioning units have settings to recirculate air that should be used on bad air days instead of bringing in outside air. The same advice goes for central air systems that offer a fresh or outdoor air circulation option: turn if off temporarily.
- Don’t make the air quality worse by burning.
Burning or cooking outside is ill-advised during wildfires, the health department says, warning that recreational fires or smoker grills add to the poor air quality.
- Consider buying an indoor air purifier.
Indoor air purifiers should be used on the highest possible setting during fires, according to EPA recommendations. Have a central air system with filtration? Run the system’s fan on the highest possible setting to help move out air particles that might have settled.
- Postpone house cleaning.
Vacuuming kicks up dust and small particles and can make indoor air quality worse, unless your vacuum has HEPA filtration. So the health department suggests putting off vacuuming while there’s wildfire smoke in the air.
- Avoid too much activity.
A smoke or wildfire event is a good excuse to skip strenuous exercise, especially outdoors, the health department says, since cardiovascular exercise increases the amount of air you take into your lungs.
- Wear a mask outdoors.
If air quality is visibly poor, use an N95 or KN95 mask (or better) when outdoors.
