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How to Maintain Healthy Indoor Air Quality During Local Wildfires

This year’s wildfires in Burbank, CA, and the surrounding areas have burned a record-breaking amount of land. Even if you’re able to stay in your home, the smoke and smog from the wildfires are likely affecting the air you breathe. You might be surprised to learn that the wildfires could even be affecting the quality of the air inside your home. Read on to learn how wildfires affect indoor air quality and what you can do to breathe easier and stay healthy.

How Wildfires Affect Indoor Air Quality

Even if you’re tens of miles away from the wildfires, their smoke travels a great distance. Wildfire smoke can get into your home. The smoke contains tiny particles of ash as well as other particles. They irritate your eyes, nose and throat. Breathing in the particles could worsen your asthma. People with breathing disorders or heart disease have a high risk of complications from wildfire smoke.

How Wildfire Smoke Gets Into Your Home

Wildfire smoke enters your home in up to three ways. It can infiltrate through little gaps around your doors, windows, flue and vents. Your heating and cooling system’s mechanical ventilation may bring the contaminated outdoor air into your home. Natural ventilation from opening doors and windows also allows the smoke to enter your home.

What You Can Do to Protect Your Home’s Air During Wildfires

When wildfire smoke enters your home, consider evacuating. If that’s not an option, use a portable air purifier. If your home has a whole-home air purifier, use it. Replace your standard air filter with a high-efficiency filter with as high of a minimum efficiency reporting value (MERV) rating as you can find.

Certified Service is your go-to source for indoor air quality solutions. We’re also the trusted provider of reliable heating and air conditioning maintenance, repair, replacement and installation services in Burbank. If you’re a business owner, we’re ready to perform your commercial heating and cooling services, too. For more details about indoor air quality during fires, contact us at Certified Service.