While the N95s and similar aren't perfect, I would rather have some during fires or volcano eruptions than not. NOT having any seems to me to be worse than being exposed to ALL the debris just because I don't have $1900 piece of perfection that protects me against everything.

And when people refer to 'testing', my cynical little self wonders how they did the tests. Under likely conditions or extreme conditions?

Test: We sewed several mice into two N95s and then buried it under three feet of fine ash in a 55-gallon barrel. Said mice were removed after 30 minutes. All the mice were dead.

Test results: N95 masks don't protect against fine ash.

Cynical Sue