What air purifiers are best for your home amid wildfires?

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GRAND RAPIDS, Mich — As wildfire smoke from Canada continues to hover over West Michigan, many people are looking to find the best air purifier for their home.

"The last couple of months hadve been really difficult, particularly for people who have lung disease, or are at the extremes of age, those were really young or older adults have had a lot of trouble," said Dr. Alexander Rabin, a physician in the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at the University of Michigan.

"We've seen those patients in our clinics coming in with difficulty breathing," he said. "And we've sent some folks to the emergency room to get treatment."

Dr. Rabin says there's a few simple interventions that people can make.

You should first be aware of the air quality outside and now there are lots of apps to do that you can look on, obviously on your phone, your weather app or airnow.gov.

Dr. Rabin says parents of children with asthma should limit how much time they spend outside and keep you windows shut, so you avoid any exposure to smoke in the home.

"If you have the ability to get an air purifier, that's generally a good idea because it can reduce the amount of certain particles inside of your house," Dr. Rabin said.

Dr. Rabin offered tips if you are looking to purchase an air purifier for your home:

Dr. Rabin says most commercial air purifiers are pretty good as long as they contain a HEPA filter, which is a High Efficiency Particulate Filter.

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