A couple of fire season questions (AQI & predicting fire growth)

Post date: 2026-08-05 10:06:11

As I enter my second fire season, I find myself with some questions. First, I'm struggling to find good information about how I, as a relatively healthy person, should respond to different AQI readings that go beyond the generic chart that keeps popping up. Second, for my own curiosity I'd enjoy learning more about the science of fires and fire fighting.

To slightly elaborate:

For the first question, a lot of information I've found is fairly general and more focused on who should avoid spending time outside at what AQI readings. This WHO report (on p.4) seems a bit more specific - but I'm a bit unsure what it means and if AQG is the same as AQI? In short, luckily where I live, most of the year the AQI is <50, but there are days when it gets over 100. I suppose I wonder in layman's terms how much lung damage is involved in say, taking a neighborhood walk or even a hike on those days? Is it like smoking a couple of cigarettes once a year? Worse? What about when it's between 50-100?

For the second question, I understand the basics (i.e. fires spread more with high winds + hot/dry conditions), but I'd enjoy any recommendations for articles, books, videos/documentaries that provide a bit more detail and/or explain techniques for fighting fires.

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