When should wildfire smoke planning start?

It should start before AQI is extreme. Once the day moves into the orange range or forecast smoke is likely tomorrow, preparation usually beats reaction.

What matters most during multi-day smoke events?

Cleaner indoor air, especially for sleep, becomes the priority. Repeated exposure across several days often matters more than one short outdoor trip.

Is this planner a substitute for local emergency guidance?

No. It is a planning aid. Users should still follow local wildfire, evacuation, and public-health guidance when conditions escalate.

Wildfire Smoke Planner

Plan a smoke day before conditions get worse

This page turns AQI into a practical smoke-response ladder. Use it to decide when to shift from monitoring to indoor protection, schedule changes, and overnight air management.

Open the calculator in wildfire mode Compare a normal day with a smoke day

Smoke day planning ladder

These checkpoints show how the response plan changes as smoke deepens from a cautionary day to a full indoor-air problem.

AQI 100

Moderate

1.61 cigarettes per 24h

Shift hard workouts to cleaner hours or indoor spaces.

Limit unnecessary exposure for children and sensitive groups.

Keep a mask and indoor-air plan ready if readings continue rising.

AQI 150

Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups

2.52 cigarettes per 24h

Move exercise indoors or shorten it substantially.

Use a well-fitted N95 if you must spend time outdoors.

Run HEPA filtration or create one cleaner indoor room.

AQI 200

Unhealthy

6.84 cigarettes per 24h

Cancel outdoor workouts, long walks, and open-window ventilation.

Use a quality mask outdoors and keep trips short.

Prioritize clean indoor air with HEPA filtration and closed windows.

If smoke is forecast tomorrow

Do the setup work early. Smoke planning is more useful before the house smells smoky or the day is already committed.

Close windows early once smoke is moving in, not after the house already smells smoky.

Run filtration continuously in the main living space and sleeping area.

Keep essential trips short and mask outdoors.

Save the current AQI result URL and review it with the next forecast update.

When smoke lasts overnight or several days

Multi-day smoke events change the priority from short outdoor decisions to bedroom air, symptom tracking, and reducing repeated dose.

Smoke smell indoors, which often means the house is no longer protective enough.
AQI staying above 150 overnight or across multiple days.
Vulnerable household members developing symptoms even when inside.

Useful next pages

Compare a normal day with a smoke day

See how a smoke day compares with a routine AQI day before you decide what to cancel.

Open the calculator in wildfire mode

Test the current AQI, duration, and scenario instead of relying on the default smoke-day example.

Seattle

Watch for seasonal shifts, smoke intrusions, and any pollution pattern that turns a normal day into a protection day.

Los Angeles

Watch for seasonal shifts, smoke intrusions, and any pollution pattern that turns a normal day into a protection day.

San Francisco

Watch for seasonal shifts, smoke intrusions, and any pollution pattern that turns a normal day into a protection day.

Trust Signals

Plan a smoke day before conditions get worse

Review methodology

Review policy

March 2026. We update supporting pages when calculator logic, live data behavior, or source framing changes.

Primary sources

AQI uses EPA / AirNow breakpoint logic. Cigarette-equivalent framing follows Berkeley Earth’s PM2.5 interpretation.

AirNow AQI Berkeley Earth

Live data layer

City pages use EPA AirNow where supported, with cached fallbacks and planning baselines if the API fails or coverage is unavailable.