Hood River Fire & EMS advises everyone with respiratory problems, asthma, reactive airway disease, or other reactions to air pollutants, specifically smoke, to seek shelter indoors in an air conditioned environment. The heavy smoke conditions are expected to continue throughout the night potentially causing difficulty breathing and difficulty traveling due to vision impairment.
Precautions to minimize smoke exposure, particularly for those with asthma or other lung problems, include: If you’re having difficulty breathing, call 9-1-1; If you smell smoke or experience symptoms, consider temporarily locating to another area as long as it is safe for you to do so; Seek locations where air is filtered: the local mall, movie theater or recreation center, for instance; Close windows and doors and stay indoors.
However, do not close up your home tightly if it makes it dangerously warm inside; If they are filtered, run the air conditioning, the fan feature on your home heating system (with the heat turned off) or your evaporative cooler. Keep the outdoor air intake closed and be sure the filter is clean. Filtered air typically has less smoke than the air outdoors. Running such appliances if they are not filtered can make indoor smoke worse;
If you have HEPA room air filtration units, use them; Reduce your physical activity level. Avoid exercise or other strenuous activities in heavy smoke. If smoke is simply unpleasant or mildly irritating, changing the timing of a few activities may be all that is necessary.
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