Smoke is Very Difficult between 3 big fires!

[Mikala43]

The smoke IS horrible. But the devastation is horrendous.

[ChrisMT]

Originally Posted by toomuchthinking

Honestly I think this smoke even in small levels is hazardous. I've had asthma my whole life and I can put up with a lot of pollution, smoky casinos and dry cold air but this wildfire smoke is choking me up badly. My son in law drives a tow truck and he had to call in a sick day due to headaches and feeling sick from the smoke (no he didn't have covid or a fever). I'm in Ferns and it's almost cruel when a bit of blue sky approaches...the thick dirty orange plumes just settle right back in. It comes into the house no matter what. I have 20x20 heater intake filters duct taped to box fans just to clear the inside air. Seems to actually work.

I’m just the opposite, I absolutely cannot tolerate cigarette smoke, I get very sick just walking through a casino to a restaurant sometimes. The wildfire smoke doesn’t effect me the same way at all. As we live in a series of valleys with mountains all about here, the smoke is highly variable by location. It isn’t hard for me to find a place to hike or bike with tolerable air within a 15 minute radius of my home.
The air monitors will not pick up the patchy smoke, so even though the numbers look bad at the monitor site there can be sunshine just a little higher in elevation or across the valley. IMHO indoor air quality in a bar or casino is far more hazardous as is inhaling vape and cigarette smoke. I am using central air with hepa filters though so my home air quality is good. My home seems to be located in an area that has less smoke than the valleys. I’m fortunate.
But I am grateful we are just dealing with smoke in the valleys and not the actual fires. My city is full of fire refugees from Tahoe right now. It’s very difficult for them.
I can’t even talk about stories of injured wildlife I’ve heard. It’s a traumatic time for our communities right now.