@Criggie I live 140 miles from the recent norcal fires (and right in the middle of where the worst california fire was a year ago), so... for a couple of weeks... air filter in house (smoke-rated filter in the furnace), minimal outdoor activity, basic disposable N95 mask for brief outdoor activities, and when I got fed up with inactivity, full respirator thing (P100+organic vapor) for ride to work.

California got fairly serious about air quality a few decades ago. The SF Bay Area has an "air quality management district" that declares both summer and winter "spare the air days". When one of those is active in winter, it's illegal to burn wood unless it's your home's only source of heat.

@freiheit Living here in Scotland where air quality is always good (barring pollen or midges) seeing the California fires is terrifying for me!

@RoryAlsop though, isn't it cold in Scotland? Also perhaps rainy?

Imagine scotland on fire.... it just wouldn't happen

"jes' would'nae happ'n"

by the way is there a risk of fire in New Zealand?

Yeah - but not quite the "world on fire" that california enjoys.

We had a big burn a couple years ago that took out 20 houses, killed one helicopter pilot. But that was exceptional

en.wikipedia.com/wiki/2017_Port_Hills_fires

Same here, nothing major. I can't remember any news about wild fires, but some peasants burn their fields at the end of summer or the beginning of autumn (instead of cleaning it).

Burning is easier than weeding

Yeah :-D