When Smoke Gets In Your Eyes: Fires in SoCal

There is a reason that I have included the Local Pollen Count on my blog page. Please take a moment to notice that today, under the heading “Air Quality” it says “Unhealthy for Sensitive People,” and under “Primary Pollutant” it says “Particulate matter.”
Attention, Southern California: we have a state of emergency. Please stay in your homes with windows and doors shut.
It may seem pretty obvious, and you may wonder, why is she going on about this? But I would really like to make a solid point here.
If this fire was a simple brush fire, in which trees, grass, and shrubs were burning, I would probably not make such a big deal about it. However, what is burning today are houses. House fires are much more dangerous to all of us, especially those of us with compromised immune systems, because of the toxic content of the smoke.
Houses are constructed to last. There's insulation made of fiberglass, cellulite, vermiculite, polystyrene, and polyurethane. Think burning plastic. There's arsenic-treated 2 X 4's,which frame pretty much each and every house in Southern California. There's sheetrock, which is made of gypsum, fiberglass, plasticizer, potash (a highly toxic and reactive chemical), and EDTA (made from formaldehyde and cyanide). On the sheetrock is housepaint, containing more toxic chemicals. There's carpeting, containing natural and synthetic fibers, including polypropylene, nylon, and other versions of plastic. Then there's siding, which is usually either stucco, a mixture of cement and plaster, or siding, which is usually made of synthetic materials. Of course, the newest siding is insulated, and contains polystyrene foam. And then there's shingles, which are either concrete or plastic, waterproofed red clay, or asphalt, made of fiberglass. And then there's all the stuff that's IN your house...at least half of which is made of plastic.
Can you imagine what we are breathing when we go outside today? It's not just ash from burning trees. It's ash from burning plastic. You might as well light up and smoke a carton of cigarettes.
So the best thing to do today, especially if you have children, or if your immune system is compromised for any reason, is to hop on an airplane and fly up to rural Oregon. Failing that, please stay inside, drink plenty of water, and keep your doors and windows closed until the skies clear, which should be sometime in the next 3 days. And let's all send good energy to our planet—the environmental impact of this catastrophe will probably be felt for a long time.