About that Canadian Smoke,,,

LuFins Dad

It sounds like something from a Mel Brooks movie.. “Oh no! The alarm is going off! Is it a Code Red?!” “It’s worse… It’s a Code PURPLE!” Cue music and zoom camera in to horrified faces….

George K · "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08

@LuFins-Dad said in About that Canadian Smoke,,,:

It sounds like something from a Mel Brooks movie.. “Oh no! The alarm is going off! Is it a Code Red?!” “It’s worse… It’s a Code PURPLE!” Cue music and zoom camera in to horrified faces….

Before you know it, it'll go plaid.

Jon

@George-K said in About that Canadian Smoke,,,:

@Jon said in About that Canadian Smoke,,,:

Very little I assume. But if you have asthma or copd yesterday probably sucked ass.

Yup. The health dangers from one pack of smokes are negligible. However, as you point out the irritant effect of inhaling the smoke can precipitate an asthmatic attack or worse. Remember how you coughed your lungs out the first time you had a smoke? I do.

But it’s not just lungs, people in NY felt their eyes burning yesterday. Imagine a pack of cigarettes being burned right under your eyes. That would be a bad day.

Again, you're right. I'm not discounting the irritant effects at all. I'm sure they're horrible, and wouldn't want to endure them. But all I hear from the "news" is how bad it is because it's like smoking a pack of cigarettes.

Cigarettes are nasty, vile things (gawd, how I miss them), but the irritant effects of this disaster are what should be stressed.

I wonder how effective the (K)N95 masks are in terms of preventing irritation. Certainly, nothing for the eyes, but in terms of inhaled particulates, do they work?

I assume they’re quite effective for small particles. Think of drywall guys or ceramic cutters or sawmill employees. They all wear construction grade n95s or even respirators.

Jon

@LuFins-Dad said in About that Canadian Smoke,,,:

Can we take a minute to discuss the fact that Code Red isn’t the worst level on their chart? I mean, isn’t that the whole gist of Code Red? Worst possible scenario with the bright primary color screaming danger? Code Maroon doesn’t carry the same urgency…

Yeah but again this was designed with chronic pollution in mind. You want a city in the 150-200 range to consider itself in the red zone.

Jon

The record daily average for San Francisco when the fires were at their worst (2018) was 178.

The daily average in NYC yesterday was 377.

Copper

This is a good time to sneak a few smokes while they are cleaner than the free air.

George K · "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08

Jon

blondie

@Renauda said in About that Canadian Smoke,,,:

I have been living it off and on for going on six weeks. More on than off.

Biden can’t do anything about it. Nor can anyone else. Get used to it.

AQI was 626 in Grand Prairie and 539 in Calgary May 12m with the fires. I looked it up. That day I had to walk 5K to and back for groceries and could taste it. I certainly was thinking of those shit-scared evacuating fires on horseback with herds. Oddly, my white vehicle wasn’t as covered in ash as it was in past years. Americans living in high humidity areas must be gagging. Thank goodness we’re super low humidity in Alberta.

Renauda

@blondie

We had some descending ash from 18 May until 21st. Since then it hasn’t been too bad. Either that I just don’t notice it any more. A wee bit hazy with smell of smoke today.

Rainman

My son is darn-near hospitalized when the smoke gets bad. So far, we're doing fine but of course early in the year.

Does anyone here have a gadget that measures the air quality inside your home? I'd like to measure by our front door, as well as other areas of the house, but not sure how much to spend in order to get an accurate handheld device which can reset and reread air quality repeatedly as I stagger around inside and outside gasping.
We've got several air filters so far in 3 rooms, I'm thinking I may need more. Or, raise or lower the humidity so the air purifiers are more efficient at screening out the smoke.

George K · "Now look here, you Baltic gas passer... " - Mik, 6/14/08

LuFins Dad

Is there any truth the thought that these wildfires would be less severe with more forest management? Clearing away of underbrush, more clearing of deadwood, etc…?

89th

For specific forests maybe, but overall I’ve heard wildfires are natural clearing events and trying to prevent them only makes them more potent? Clearly I’m no expert.