This Mask Filters Out More Smoke Than N95s, So Stock Up Now

It’s tempting to compartmentalize the fires tearing through Southern California as some kind of environmental freak accident. The reality is more sobering.

“It’s important to point the finger here at climate change,” Anthony Wexler, director of the University of California, Davis’ Air Quality Research Center told HuffPost. “This not random.”

Viewed within the context of global warming, the devastation in Los Angeles is more likely than not a glimpse of what’s to come throughout the United States: Worsening climate change creates the conditions for hyper-destructive natural disasters in populous urban environments. That’s why it’s so important to prepare for hazardous emergency conditions now — not later.

Protective masking is a crucial way to guard your health if you must go outside during a toxic disaster. (Wexler emphasized that staying indoors, with a quality HEPA carbon-activated air purifier, is best. If you must go outside, limit your inhalation; in other words, avoid outdoor exercise.) From the ongoing pandemic, many of us are familiar with N95 and KN95 masks to guard against the spread of the COVID-19 virus. But when you’re dealing with toxic airborne ash and hazardous smoke, like Angelenos currently are, P100 masks “provide greater protection,” according to California’s Division of Occupational Safety and Health.

Opting for a mask with even more protection, like a P100 — which filters at least 99.97% of particulates when worn correctly, as opposed to 95% from an N95 — is well worthwhile. Ash and smoke from structural urban wildfires, like the kind Los Angeles is experiencing, contain toxic pollutants from burning homes, including lithium ion and lead acid batteries, paint and paint thinners, plastics, fire retardants from couches and mattresses, and more. These contaminants, which travel by wind for miles and are invisible to the human eye, are more harmful than smoke and pollution from other sources, and can lead to issues like chronic bronchitis and cancer, per the University of California, Los Angeles’ Labor Occupational Safety & Health Program.

You might also want to consider using a P100 respirator, which comes in half- and full-face versions, instead of a disposable P100 mask. In a Zoom webinar with the Coalition for Clean Air, occupational health and safety expert Dr. Rania Sabty explained that a “P100 respirator … [filters particles] to a higher degree than an N95 because it actually fits over the nose a lot better than your N95.”

Like N95s and KN95s, P100s do not provide protection from volatile organic compounds or hazardous gases, Sabty added in the recording. This is why the best practice is to stay indoors with a purifier.

To maximize your mask’s protection, creating a good seal around your face is crucial, but facial hair like beards can get in the way of a sufficiently tight seal. As a result, “People with facial hair … might want to get a full-face respirator, which is a higher degree of protection,” Sabty noted.

In Los Angeles, the situation will change over time and become increasingly localized to the fire sites. Still, “the ash removal will definitely take over a year,” cautioned environmental health expert Jane Williams during the webinar, noting that folks who want or need to stay near the sites of the fires must take precautions.

HuffPost has selected some P100 masks and respirators for your convenience, along with some more information, below.

HuffPost and its publishing partners may receive a share from purchases made via links on this page. Every item is independently selected by the HuffPost Shopping team. Prices and availability are subject to change. The experts consulted for this story do not necessarily endorse the products ahead unless otherwise noted.