In the Spotlight
Prevention Guidelines:
Protect Yourself and Your Family from Debris Smoke
What you need to do if you smell smoke.
Indoor Air Quality Information
List of offices or programs identified by each state as dealing with indoor air-related health inquiries.
General Information
- Fire Safety
Smoke from wildfires is a mixture of gases and fine particles from burning trees and plant materials. Smoke can hurt your eyes, irritate your respiratory system, and worsen chronic heart and lung diseases. - Protect yourself and your family from debris smoke
Smoke produced from burning debris after natural disasters is unhealthy for you to breathe. It can cause shortness of breath or tightness in the chest or coughing. It also can sting your eyes, nose, or throat. - Volcanoes
You can do many things to protect yourself and your family from the dangers a volcanic eruption can cause. Volcanoes can produce ash, toxic gases, flashfloods of hot water and debris called lahars, lava flows, and fast-moving flows of hot gases and debris called pyroclastic flows.
Resources
-
National Environmental Public Health Tracking Network - Outdoor Air
The National Environmental Public Health Tracking Network is a system of integrated health, exposure, and hazard information and data from a variety of national, state, and city sources. - Presentations at the August 2007 International Biomass Smoke Health Effects Conference co-sponsored by CDC and the University of Montana
- Wildfire Smoke: A Guide for Public Health Officials [PDF, 1422 Kb]
A report for public health officials on the dangers of wildfire smoke — characteristics, health effects, sensitive populations, etc.
- Links to non-federal organizations are provided solely as a service to our users. These links do not constitute an endorsement of these organizations or their programs by CDC or the federal government, and none should be inferred. CDC is not responsible for the content of the individual organization Web pages found at these links.
Contact Us:
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
1600 Clifton Rd
Atlanta, GA 30333 - 800-CDC-INFO
(800-232-4636)
TTY: (888) 232-6348
24 Hours/Every Day - cdcinfo@cdc.gov