title: Portable air cleaners should be at the forefront of the public health response to landscape fire smoke.
abstract: Landscape fires can produce large quantities of smoke that degrade air quality in both remote and urban communities. Smoke from these fires is a complex mixture of fine particulate matter and gases, exposure to which is associated with increased respiratory and cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. The public health response to short-lived smoke events typically advises people to remain indoors with windows and doors closed, but does not emphasize the use of portable air cleaners (PAC) to create private or public clean air shelters. High efficiency particulate air filters and electrostatic precipitators can lower indoor concentrations of fine particulate matter and improve respiratory and cardiovascular outcomes. We argue that PACs should be at the forefront of the public health response to landscape fire smoke events.
authors.affiliation: Environmental Health Services, British Columbia Centre for Disease Control, 655 West 12th Avenue, Vancouver, BC, V5Z 4R4, Canada. prabjit.barn@bccdc.ca.|National Collaborating Centre for Environmental Health, 200-601 West Broadway, Vancouver, BC, V5Z 4C2, Canada. prabjit.barn@bccdc.ca.
authors.forename: Prabjit K
authors.initials: PK
authors.lastname: Barn
authors.affiliation: Office of the Chief Medical Officer of Health, P.O. Box 2703, Whitehorse, Yukon, Y1A 2C6, Canada.
authors.forename: Catherine T
authors.initials: CT
authors.lastname: Elliott
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, BC, V5A 1S6, Canada.
authors.forename: Ryan W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Allen
authors.affiliation: Environmental Health Services, British Columbia Centre for Disease Control, 655 West 12th Avenue, Vancouver, BC, V5Z 4R4, Canada.|National Collaborating Centre for Environmental Health, 200-601 West Broadway, Vancouver, BC, V5Z 4C2, Canada.
authors.forename: Tom
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kosatsky
authors.affiliation: Environmental Health Services, British Columbia Centre for Disease Control, 655 West 12th Avenue, Vancouver, BC, V5Z 4R4, Canada.|National Collaborating Centre for Environmental Health, 200-601 West Broadway, Vancouver, BC, V5Z 4C2, Canada.
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Rideout
authors.affiliation: Environmental Health Services, British Columbia Centre for Disease Control, 655 West 12th Avenue, Vancouver, BC, V5Z 4R4, Canada.
authors.forename: Sarah B
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Henderson
mesh_terms: D016902:Air Pollution, Indoor / Q000517:prevention & control*; D004781:Environmental Exposure / Q000517:prevention & control; D005374:Filtration / Q000295:instrumentation*; D005390:Fires; D006798:Housing; D006801:Humans; D012906:Smoke
chemical_list: D012906:Smoke
keywords: HEPA filters; Intervention; Landscape fire smoke; Portable air cleaners; Wildfire smoke