How Can I Clear My Home of Wildfire Smoke?

Tim Heffernan, Ellen Airhart · Aug 7, 2018 · 5 min read · nyti.ms

With more significant fires becoming the new normal, even people not directly threatened are concerned with what to do about the spread of wildfire smoke. As wildfire season reaches its peak, smoke may creep its way into your living room. Here’s how to maintain the air quality inside your home.

Picking up a dedicated air purifier or getting new filters for your central air conditioner are the most effective ways you can help protect those in your home. (That includes pets —the American Veterinary Medical Association recommends keeping an eye out for specific animal health issues related to wildfire smoke). But you can also take cheap, simple, and immediate steps using stuff you probably already own, such as a mop and a washing machine. Here’s what we recommend.

Invest in an air purifier

Two different air purifier models next to each other.

First, consider a HEPA air purifier. We have an extensive guide to air purifiers, but the basic facts are these: According to the EPA, wildfire smoke predominantly consists of particles that are smaller than 10 microns. And HEPA air filters are exceptionally good at removing particles of that size from the air. Our top pick, the Coway Airmega Mighty2 (AP-1512N), is a well-priced, superb performer, and reliable. It’s powerful enough for rooms up to 350 square feet, which includes most bedrooms and living rooms. The Blueair Blue Pure 211i Max, our pick for larger spaces, can rapidly clear the air in bigger rooms and open-floorplan homes.

We’ve recommended Coway air purifiers since 2015, but in recent years several companies have produced models that approach our high standards, and we’ve added a few new options to include a wider range of price points and aesthetics.

We recommend running an air purifier on high for an hour the first time you turn the machine on. That’ll clear the air quickly by passing the entire volume of air in the room through the filter four to six times. Thereafter, running the machine continuously on medium or auto will keep the air clear. Noise is usually not an issue; on lower settings, the purifiers we recommend are virtually silent.

Upgrade your HVAC Filters

If you have central air and heating, you may consider a different option: upgrading to one of the furnace and air-conditioning filters we recommend. The EPA recommends filters with a rating of at least MERV 13, or, “as high a rating as your system fan and filter slot can accommodate,” and we recommend MERV 13 filters, too.

MERV stands for minimum efficiency reporting value, and it is a measure of how well a central-air filter removes particulates from the air. The basic MERV 1–4 filters often used in HVACsystems only capture pollutants visible to the naked eye, such as pet hair and dust bunnies. They typically look like a see-through mesh of blue or green string.

Higher-MERV filters, in the 8 to 13 range, are effective on fine particles that cannot be seen. They’re typically white, opaque, felt-like in texture, and pleated like an accordion.

In our guide to furnace and air-conditioning filters, our picks are all MERV 13. That means they are highly effective at capturing minuscule smoke particles (and even more effective on larger stuff like pollen and dust). Thanks to a 2024 California law that requires filter makers to publicly display their filters’ air resistance, we were able to identify highly capable MERV 13 filters that will nonetheless put very little strain on modern HVAC equipment.

Smoky conditions will clog the filters in as little as half the recommended replacement cycle (usually three months), so we suggest replacing the filters once the fires are over. And wildfires or not, if your system is more than 15 or 20 years old, it may not be up to the extra effort of medium-MERV filtration. In that case we recommend using a portable air purifier instead.

Keep smoke from getting inside

It may seem obvious, but close your windows. Most of the time, outside air contains fewer particulates than indoor air, so open windows are a good idea. But in wildfire conditions, that isn't the case. Closing your windows will help keep smoke from entering your home in the first place. Minimize entrances and exits through exterior doors, and use any double-door configuration you have (like an attached garage, separate basement entrance, or vestibule) to isolate smoke upon entry and prevent a full waft of it from infiltrating the living space.

If your windows lack a good seal or tend to be drafty, fill the gaps with weather sealing tape. In our guide to weatherizing your home, we recommend Frost King’s 0.25-inch Silicone Weatherseal for its ability to fill gaps as small as as small as 0.125 of an inch and up to 0.25 of an inch. Plus, it’s adhesive and trimmable, making it easy to install; apply it to both the upper and lower sash of each window. It can also be used around door jambs, but if you have a larger gap underneath an external door, a door sweep is your best bet.

We like Frost King’s Extra Wide Heavy Duty Door Sweep, but it installs with screws, making it a permanent solution. A good landlord probably wouldn’t mind you making an improvement to their property, but for a non-permanent, renter-friendly option, the brand also makes a slide-on variation, though we haven’t tested its efficacy. Even less permanent is a simple draft stopper, or even a strategically-placed rolled-up towel.

Keep your place clean

Even fine smoke particles eventually drop out of the air and settle on surfaces, including floors. We recommend damp-mopping your floors to pick them up rather than vacuuming, which can simply blow them back up into the air. Our picks for dust mop and wet mop do a great job and are inexpensive, durable, ergonomic, and washable. But any mop you own will work.

Smoke particles also settle on your clothes, skin, and bed. If you’ve spent time outdoors in the smoke, change into clean clothes when you get home. Wash your sheets more often than normal, too. And take a quick shower before you go to bed.

Wear a respirator

Wearing a mask can help you protect yourself while these longer term fixes are underway. We researched relevant products in the best respirator mask for smoke and dust. Our testing identified specific models of N95 respirators we found to be versatile in fit, reliable in performance, and widely available.