{"id":23022,"date":"2026-07-08T16:51:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T20:51:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/environmental-health\/?p=23022"},"modified":"2026-07-08T16:51:32","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T20:51:32","slug":"wildfire-smoke","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/environmental-health\/2026\/07\/08\/wildfire-smoke\/","title":{"rendered":"Wildfire Smoke"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Summertime is peak danger for wildfire season due to dry conditions and high temperatures. Smoke from wildfire is made up of a mixture of gases and particles from the burning trees and plants and air pollutants from burning human-made materials and structures. Inhaling fine particulate matter from the smoke is the biggest threat to health. Children, older adults, pregnant women, individuals with heart or lung disease, and people that work outside are at a higher risk of experiencing health effects. Short-term exposure to wildfire smoke can lead to headaches, eye irritation, respiratory issues, and cardiovascular effects.<\/p>\n<p>A few ways to reduce smoke exposure during a wildfire smoke event:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Stay indoors or limit time outside and avoid vigorous activities.<\/li>\n<li>Wear a NOISH approved respirator such as an N95 while outside.<\/li>\n<li>Keep indoor air clean with indoor air filtration.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>For more information, visit:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.epa.gov\/emergencies-iaq\/wildfires-and-indoor-air-quality-iaq\">Wildfires and Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) | US EPA<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/environmental-health\/public-health-toxicology\/wildfire-smoke\/\">Wildfire Smoke &#8211; Environmental Health<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.epa.gov\/system\/files\/documents\/2026-06\/wildfire-smoke-and-health-factsheet.pdf\">wildfire-smoke-and-health-factsheet.pdf<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-23021 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/gb94a569930d88aadabd384b6fcf04a1c5dc3298357b6d31746d065313bdad66fe805b68df519a2cc50acb5a9f27a18c6_1920-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"353\" height=\"235\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/gb94a569930d88aadabd384b6fcf04a1c5dc3298357b6d31746d065313bdad66fe805b68df519a2cc50acb5a9f27a18c6_1920-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/gb94a569930d88aadabd384b6fcf04a1c5dc3298357b6d31746d065313bdad66fe805b68df519a2cc50acb5a9f27a18c6_1920-1024x681.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/gb94a569930d88aadabd384b6fcf04a1c5dc3298357b6d31746d065313bdad66fe805b68df519a2cc50acb5a9f27a18c6_1920-768x511.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/gb94a569930d88aadabd384b6fcf04a1c5dc3298357b6d31746d065313bdad66fe805b68df519a2cc50acb5a9f27a18c6_1920-1536x1022.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/gb94a569930d88aadabd384b6fcf04a1c5dc3298357b6d31746d065313bdad66fe805b68df519a2cc50acb5a9f27a18c6_1920-272x182.jpg 272w, https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/gb94a569930d88aadabd384b6fcf04a1c5dc3298357b6d31746d065313bdad66fe805b68df519a2cc50acb5a9f27a18c6_1920.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 353px) 100vw, 353px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Summertime is peak danger for wildfire season due to dry conditions and high temperatures. Smoke from wildfire is made up of a mixture of gases and particles from the burning trees and plants and air pollutants from burning human-made materials and structures. Inhaling fine particulate matter from the smoke is the biggest threat to health. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":719,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"no","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[191,74],"class_list":["post-23022","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-toxnews","tag-smoke-inhalation","tag-wildfire-smoke"],"modified_by":"cassandragabbert","yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Wildfire Smoke - Environmental Health<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.vdh.virginia.gov\/environmental-health\/2026\/07\/08\/wildfire-smoke\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Wildfire Smoke - Environmental Health\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Summertime is peak danger for wildfire season due to dry conditions and high temperatures. Smoke from wildfire is made up of a mixture of gases and particles from the burning trees and plants and air pollutants from burning human-made materials and structures. Inhaling fine particulate matter from the smoke is the biggest threat to health. 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