Avoid these 5 mistakes to protect your home from wildfire smoke

Jun 12, 2023

This article originally appeared on Fast Company.

Wildfire smoke can be harmful to your health, especially for people with respiratory problems. Image: Unsplash/Deep Rajwar

Arianne Cohen

Our Impact

What's the World Economic Forum doing to accelerate action on Nature and Biodiversity?

The Big Picture

Explore and monitor how Air Pollution is affecting economies, industries and global issues

A hand holding a looking glass by a lake

Crowdsource Innovation

Get involved with our crowdsourced digital platform to deliver impact at scale

Stay up to date:

Air Pollution

Wildfire smoke can be harmful to your health. But people make some surprising mistakes when trying to keep smoke out of their homes.
Don't open windows and doors to let in fresh air when the air quality is poor. This can actually make the problem worse by bringing in more smoke.
Even new or well-sealed doors and windows can leak, so it's important to take additional steps to seal any gaps.
If you must go outside, wear a mask that covers your nose and mouth.

This week, US East Coasters are learning about all of the surprising ways that wildfire smoke can seep into a seemingly well-sealed home. (As a reminder, wildfire smoke is really bad for your health.) Here are the common mistakes to avoid:

Closed windows and doors can still leak

Don’t assume that new or well-sealed doors and windows are keeping smoke out. Painter’s tape is your friend, particularly where two window sashes meet. Seemingly secure doors will also leak, and need painter’s tape around their edges and a towel stuffed along the bottom. Wet towels will work better if more protection is needed.

Discover

What's the World Economic Forum doing to tackle air pollution?

During COP26 the World Economic Forum and the Clean Air Fund launched the Alliance for Clean Air, the first global private sector initiative to tackle air pollution.

The Alliance for Clean Air brings together business leaders committed to measuring and reducing value chain air pollutant emissions, investing in innovation, and working with policy makers and peers to champion the social, economic and climate benefits of tackling air pollution.

Announced at COP27, the Alliance for Clean Air announced the release of a guide to help businesses deliver on their commitments to reduce air pollution across value chains and get ahead of sustainability reporting standards.

Image: Jane Burston/ World Economic Forum

A Practical Guide For Business Air Pollutant Emission Assessment – developed by the Stockholm Environment Institute, Climate and Clean Air Coalition, and Inter IKEA Group – enables alliance members to quantify the air pollutant emissions along their value chains from key sectors, including electricity generation, transport, industrial processes, agriculture and waste. This has enabled them to consider the impact of their existing climate mitigation strategies on air pollution and ways to increase their ambition through specific air pollution mitigation measures. It is an important contribution that businesses can take to enhance their sustainability strategies.

Also announced at COP27, companies interested in learning more about the business case for tackling air pollution as part of their climate strategies can access a new business action toolkit launched in partnership with Accenture and the Clean Air Fund.

If your company is committed to improving air quality contact us to express interest in working with us.

Don’t use bathroom fans and range hoods

So you turned on your exhaust fans, thinking you’re sucking smoky air out of your home! You’re a genius! Except, not. First, indefinitely running an exhaust fan is a fire hazard. Second, if you’re constantly sucking air out of your home, that means you’re also pulling in smoky air through small gaps around the house. This is dumb! You can sometimes determine whether this is happening by holding a tissue up against window and door edges and looking to see if the tissue blows gently inward. A wet hand also works. For the same reason, skip ongoing use of portable air conditioners that blow air outside.

Beware of your basement

If you are thinking of turning on central air conditioning to filter a home, consider where the air is coming from. Many West Coasters in wildfires over the past few years have learned the hard way that doing this only drew smoky air up from old, not-well-sealed basements. Palm to forehead. Your home is only as smoke-sealed as your least-sealed room.

Skip vacuuming

Most vacuuming just launches microscopic particles into the air—which is usually not a problem, but right now is hazardous. The exception: You can vacuum if you have a HEPA filter in your vacuum, which most of us don’t.

Avoid cooking, candles, incense, etc.

If you’ve sealed up your home and don’t have a HEPA-filtered furnace or central air system filtering the air, you need to cease all indoor activities that increase indoor air pollution. For example, the fumes released from cooking meat are carcinogenic; normally, a good range hood and cross breeze takes care of them. Ditto with particulates from gas-burning stoves. This month is also an excellent time to skip using powerhouse cleaning chemicals indoors. Good ventilation is everything when it comes to safe air, and right now you don’t have it. Deep breaths.

Have you read?

Wildfires around the world: In pictures

Don't miss any update on this topic

Create a free account and access your personalized content collection with our latest publications and analyses.

License and Republishing

World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.