Old forest fire fighter

they have masks

N95 means that it blocks 95% of particulate matter.

The last two summers when we had bad air from smoke from fires in northern Calif, I used them and they helped a lot. BTW, I'm sensitive enough that I knew when the air got bad before changes showed up in the Bay Area Air Quality Management District's air quality maps.

They also help for pollen season.

They come with or without a vent to allow exhalation to escape. The ones without a vent are equivalent to surgical masks. You'll probably want the ones with a vent, especially if you wear glasses--they'll steam up from your exhales if there's no vent. The only reason that I know of to use the ones without the vent is if you're in an operating room and don't want to exhale bacteria on the patient.

They're available in hardware stores, from Amazon, and probably from some department stores.

It has triple filters (some washable but the HEPA filters are not reusable, but last a reasonable time) and got quite the workout but worked well. I purchased mine based on Consumer Reports at the time from an online retailer, but it has been enough years now that I don't know which are the best. Here's the website I got mine from though they may have secondary retailers now too: https://www.rabbitair.com/

I'm sure other brands would be just as good. Bed Bath & Beyond selll them. Best Buy might. Even Home Depot and Lowes sell them (I think). If you can still find one somewhere or get Amazon to deliver one, it will make a BIG difference. Good luck. I feel for you.

of our house's central air system with the highest MERV rating I could find on such short notice which fit our unit (which ended up being MERV 13, up from the MERV 11 we normally use). Then we ran the fan/blower continuously without heating/cooling -- besides obviously keeping the doors and windows closed. It seemed to help, but maybe that was placebo-ish, I dunno.

fyi, MERV ratings are just a heating/cooling industry term, the higher number the more effective the filter (but causes more resistance so uses more energy). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minimum_efficiency_reporting_value

www.Icanbreathe.com

Dear ones, you have all of our compassion.

very helpful

years after some nearby CO wildfires.

I hope you'll find comfort soon.

headache & watery eyes -- it's nausea!!! Your post was helpful in an unexpected way.

put towels at the bottom of doors . turn off all ac / heating vents etc