Air Quality

Smoke from wildfires is a mixture of gases and fine particles from burning trees and other materials. Smoke can hurt your eyes, irritate your respiratory system, and worsen chronic heart and lung disease.

Some things you can do to protect yourself from wildfire smoke are:

Pay attention to local air quality reports. Listen and watch for news or health warnings about smoke. Pay attention to public health messages about taking additional safety precautions.
Refer to visibility guides. South Lake Tahoe has a monitor that measures the amount of particles that are in the air. There are also guidelines to help people estimate the Air Quality Index (AQI) based on how far you can see.

Visibility Range	Health Category	Health Effects
10 + Miles	Good	None
5-10 Miles	Moderate	Usually sensitive people should consider reducing prolonged or heavy exertion.
3-5 Miles	Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups	Sensitive people should reduce prolonged or heavy exertion.
1.5-2.5 Miles	Unhealthy	Sensitive people should avoid pro-longed or heavy exertion. Everyone else should reduce prolonged or heavy exertion.
1-1.25 Miles	Very Unhealthy	Sensitive people should avoid all physical activity outdoors. Everyone else should avoid prolonged or heavy exertion.
<0.75 Miles	Hazardous	Sensitive people should remain indoors and keep activity levels low. Everyone else should avoid all physical activity outdoors.

If you are advised to stay indoors, keep indoor air as clean as possible. Keep windows and doors closed unless it is extremely hot outside. Run an air conditioner if you have one, but keep the fresh-air intake closed and the filter clean to prevent outdoor smoke from getting inside.