Safety Share #67 - Staying Safe During and After Wildfires
Wildfires can spread quickly and leave lasting impacts on our health, homes, and communities. Knowing how to prepare and respond during and after a wildfire is critical to protecting yourself, your loved ones, and even your pets. Below are practical tips to help you stay safe, along with reminders on emotional well-being as we recover together.
Stay safe during a fire. Pay attention to local weather forecasts, especially those that may affect fire conditions, and always follow instructions given by local emergency management officials.
Protect yourself from smoke.
When wildfires create smoky conditions it’s important for everyone to reduce their exposure to smoke. Wildfire smoke irritates your eyes, nose, throat, and lungs. It can make it hard to breathe and make you cough or wheeze. Children and people with asthma, COPD, heart disease, or who are pregnant need to be especially careful about breathing wildfire smoke.
Keep smoke outside.
- Choose a room you can close off from outside air.
- Set up a portable air cleaner or a filter to keep the air in this room clean even when it’s smoky in the rest of the building and outdoors. If you use a do-it-yourself box fan filtration unit, never leave it unattended.
Reduce your smoke exposure by wearing a respirator.
- A respirator is a mask that fits tightly to your face to filter out smoke before you breathe it in.
- You must wear the right respirator and wear it correctly. Children ages 2 years and older can wear respirators and masks. However, Approved respirators do not come in suitable sizes for very young children.
- If you have heart or lung disease ask your doctor if it is safe for you to wear a respirator.
- Avoid using candles, gas, propane, wood-burning stoves, fireplaces, or aerosol sprays and don’t fry or broil meat, smoke tobacco products, or vacuum.
- If you have a central air conditioning system, use high efficiency filters to capture fine particles from smoke. If your system has a fresh air intake, set the system to recirculate mode or close the outdoor intake damper.
Pets and other animals can be affected by wildfire smoke too.
- Learn how to protect pets and livestock.
- Some evacuation centers do not accept animals. Check Petfinder’s Shelter Center for information on local animal shelters and rescue groups
Pay attention to any health symptoms if you have asthma, COPD, heart disease, or are pregnant. Get medical help if you need it.
Evacuate safely.
You may be asked by public authorities to evacuate or you may decide to evacuate. Read about how to evacuate safely and how to develop a family disaster plan, including:
- Finding out what could happen to you
- Making a disaster plan
- Completing the checklist
- Practicing your plan
Stay healthy during power outages.
Large fires can cause long-term power outages. Read about what to do if your power goes out, including:
- Preventing carbon monoxide poisoning
- Food safety
- Safe drinking water
- Power line hazards
Stay Safe After a Wildfire
If your home was affected by a wildfire, do not return home until authorities say it is safe. Take steps to protect yourself and your loved ones.
Continue to check air quality reports.
- Take steps to reduce your exposure to smoke. Smoke can stay in the air for days after a wildfire ends.
Wildfires leave behind a lot of ash that can irritate your eyes, nose, or skin and cause coughing and other health effects.
- Children and people with asthma, COPD, heart disease, or who are pregnant need to be especially careful about breathing wildfire smoke.
- Protect yourself against ash when you clean up. Wear gloves, long-sleeved shirts, long pants, and shoes and socks to protect your skin. Wear goggles to protect your eyes.
- Wash off any ash that gets on your skin or in your eyes or mouth as soon as you can.
- Children should not do any cleanup work.
- Limit how much ash you breathe in by wearing an N95 respirator. Respirators are not made to fit children. If you have heart or lung disease ask your doctor if it is safe for you to wear a respirator.
- Pay attention to any health symptoms if you or your children have asthma, COPD, heart disease, or are pregnant. Get to medical help if you need it.
Drive safely.
- Be alert for broken traffic lights and missing street signs.
- Watch out for trash and debris on the road.
- Learn more: Motor Vehicle Safety
Be careful around damaged buildings or structures.
- Wait to return to buildings during daylight hours, when it is easier to avoid hazards, especially if the electricity is off and you have no lights.
- Learn more: Worker Safety During Fire Cleanup
Clean up safely.
- Wear proper safety equipment, avoid carbon monoxide poisoning, and avoid electrical hazards.
- Learn more: Clean Up Safely After a Disaster
Protect your emotional well-being.
After a wildfire, you may feel sad, mad, guilty, or numb. These are all normal reactions to stress. Talk to a psychologist, social worker, or professional counselor if you need help coping.
As a community, we have experienced floods, rampant fires and evacuations, and smoke, all on top of ongoing stressors. The confluence of events is enough to make anyone feel overwhelmed and naturally ask, “When will this end? What’s next? Should I move?” There are no easy answers to these questions.
In the short run, we need to focus on our own safety and well being, and help those around us stay safe. We will get through this current crisis, together!
Have a great safe week.