Public Health reminds residents to take precautions to protect their health and well-being during and after a fire. If you can see smoke, soot, or ash, or you can smell smoke, pay attention to your immediate environment and take precautions to safeguard your health. These precautions are particularly important for children, older adults, and people with heart or lung diseases.

These precautions also include avoiding unnecessary outdoor exposure and limiting physical exertion (whether indoor or outdoor), such as exercise. Children and people who have air quality sensitive conditions, such as heart disease, asthma, and other chronic respiratory diseases, should follow these recommendations and stay indoors as much as possible even in areas where smoke, soot, or ash cannot be seen, or there is no smell of smoke. If your condition worsens, contact your health care provider immediately for medical advice or call 911.

People who must be outside for extended periods of time in smoky air or an ash-covered area may benefit from using a tight-fitting N95 or P100 respirator to reduce their exposure.

When returning home after a fire, it is important to know the proper steps and actions to take to clean, rebuild and recover safely.