Originally Posted By: Meadowlark
4) Smoke. It's quite thick and traveling much further than one would suspect. It's a very large fire, and people with asthma or other conditions are wearing bandanas and face masks. It's causing headaches and other problems even for people who aren't normally over-sensitive to smoke, because it's been several days' worth.

I experienced that here in California during one big wildfire upwind of me. Even wearing an N95 mask and staying indoors as much as possible, I still eventually almost had an asthma attack after being enveloped in smoke for many days straight. Bandanas and cheap paper masks aren't going to do much. It's the super fine particles that you really need to worry about and those will go right through and leak around those barriers.

People with heart trouble need to be careful, too. Smoke and toxic gases like carbon monoxide can put an extra strain on your heart, even if you're not exerting yourself.

Stay safe!