Best Practices for Managing Indoor Air Quality in Buildings During Wildfires

UL Solutions understands that managing the indoor air quality of buildings during a wildfire smoke event can be challenging.

Please take a look at the below quick tips on managing buildings when outside air conditions are impacted by a wildfire.

Don't hesitate to contact UL Solutions if you have additional questions.

• Maintain your building under positive pressure to help minimize unfiltered outside air from entering the building

• Reduce outside air to the minimum set points. It is not recommended to seal off outside air capacity, as prolonged negative building pressurization can draw in unfiltered outside pollution

• Install pre-filters to the building’s AHUs, if possible, to supplement filtration; poly-media or poly-tacky media are good options

• If the building has access to portable HEPA filters, we recommend placing these around entrances or building lobbies

• Limit the number of building entry points to help maintain positive pressure and reduce entrainment of unfiltered air

• Use the air quality index nearest to you to monitor air quality conditions in real-time. AQI & Health | AirNow.gov

For more information on protecting occupants from Wildfire Smoke in buildings, see the guidance document ASHRAE 44P  HERE

Air Quality Monitoring Data for the South Coast Air Quality Management (SCAQMD) region can also be found here SCAQMD AIR QUALITY DATA

Author: Heather Hays, Account Executive at UL Verification Services Inc.