SANTA FE, N.M. (KRQE) – In New Mexico, wildfires can bring hazardous smoke miles away from the actual site of the fire. So, what can you do to protect yourself?
The New Mexico Department of Health (DOH) offers a few tips. These include using air quality monitoring tools and limiting your time outdoors on smoky days.
“While many of us love spending time outdoors all over New Mexico, during wildfire season and prescribed burns the air quality can change rapidly,” Patrick Allen, the New Mexico Department of Health cabinet secretary, said in a press release. “There are some simple steps that you can take to protect yourself, your family and your home from fire and smoke.”
First, it’s important to protect your home from fires as a way to make sure you’re not at the center of a smoky situation. To protect your home, make sure you:
Stack firewood away from your house.
Clean gutters, rake leaves and remove dead limbs from around your home.
If there is a wildfire threat, use your garden hose to wet your roof and shrubs around your house.
Beyond that, keeping safe from smoke largely means avoiding smoky air. To do so, DOH recommends you:
Use the 5-3-1 Visibility Tool, which helps you estimate air quality based on how far you can see outside during a wildfire.
Listen to media channels and watch for air quality reports and health warnings about smoke.
Stay indoors and keep the air clean by closing windows and doors. Create a clean room to help keep low levels of smoke and other particles.
Do not use a swamp cooler on smoky days as the coolers bring smoky air indoors.
Consider moving any planned outdoor events indoors.
Reach out to those that may be impacted to ensure their safety.
If you need to go outdoors on smoky days, DSOH says only “particulate respirators” offer some protection from smoke. These generally include masks labeled N95, N100, and P100, DOH says. Other masks, like paper dust masks or handkerchiefs, don’t offer protection from small smoke particles.
