Excessive heat is on the way for Maryland as wildfire smoke reaches the Mid-Atlantic.Canadian wildfire smoke is causing poor air quality across Maryland, with experts warning that conditions will worsen through Friday and urging residents to take precautions to protect their health.Doctors and health officials recommend staying indoors as much as possible — even if it’s inside vehicles using the air recirculation feature to prevent smoky air from entering.Dave Sakin, owner of Value Remodeling, a deck, roofing, and siding remodeling business, said he takes steps to protect his crews when working in challenging weather conditions. “We look closely at the weather and we have a good idea what it is,” Sakin told WBAL-TV 11 News. “If it looks like it’s going to be too warm, I discuss with them, ‘If you don’t feel well, leave.'”That same rule applies to poor air quality.”Nothing we’re doing is an emergency, so it’s best for them not to have an emergency,” Sakin told WBAL-TV 11 News.The Maryland Department of the Environment issued a Code Orange air quality alert for most of the state on Thursday, which is considered unhealthy for sensitive groups such as children, older adults and people with respiratory issues.| LINK: Air Quality Forecast (MDE)MDE officials are particularly concerned about a Code Red alert for Friday, which will be unhealthy for everyone.Weather Talk video below: Dalencia Jenkins explains meaning behind Code Red”Plan your day accordingly to limit your exposure, and if you do have to be outside, find ways to limit the amount of air that you’re breathing over time,” said Joel Dreessen, air quality meteorologist and deputy program manager for MDE’s Air Monitoring Program. “You don’t need to be exercising when concentrations are at unhealthy levels. We’re just, as a broad message, trying to let people understand that this can have impacts to health.”MDE experts said some air quality alerts may extend into Saturday.Adverse symptoms of poor air quality | What to doDr. Panagis Galiatsatos, a pulmonologist at Johns Hopkins Medicine, said the health impacts of poor air quality can include coughing, wheezing, and inflammation, especially for individuals with heart or vascular disease.”It is pretty common to see after bad air quality days, three or four days later or a week later, patients coming into the emergency room with chest pain or a stroke because they’ve developed these vascular complications,” Galiatsatos told WBAL-TV 11 News. Galiatsatos also stressed the importance of limiting time outdoors and warned against relying on masks for protection.”The particles we’re about to see, these things again have traveled hundreds of miles, have really been shaped to be so small. So, face masks are not likely to protect you with the kind of air pollutants that we are expecting,” Galiatsatos told WBAL-TV 11 News.Galiatsatos advised seeing a doctor if symptoms, such as coughing, persist for more than a few days.

BALTIMORE —

Excessive heat is on the way for Maryland as wildfire smoke reaches the Mid-Atlantic.

Canadian wildfire smoke is causing poor air quality across Maryland, with experts warning that conditions will worsen through Friday and urging residents to take precautions to protect their health.

Doctors and health officials recommend staying indoors as much as possible — even if it’s inside vehicles using the air recirculation feature to prevent smoky air from entering.

Dave Sakin, owner of Value Remodeling, a deck, roofing, and siding remodeling business, said he takes steps to protect his crews when working in challenging weather conditions.

“We look closely at the weather and we have a good idea what it is,” Sakin told WBAL-TV 11 News. “If it looks like it’s going to be too warm, I discuss with them, ‘If you don’t feel well, leave.'”

That same rule applies to poor air quality.

“Nothing we’re doing is an emergency, so it’s best for them not to have an emergency,” Sakin told WBAL-TV 11 News.

The Maryland Department of the Environment issued a Code Orange air quality alert for most of the state on Thursday, which is considered unhealthy for sensitive groups such as children, older adults and people with respiratory issues.

| LINK: Air Quality Forecast (MDE)

MDE officials are particularly concerned about a Code Red alert for Friday, which will be unhealthy for everyone.

Weather Talk video below: Dalencia Jenkins explains meaning behind Code Red

“Plan your day accordingly to limit your exposure, and if you do have to be outside, find ways to limit the amount of air that you’re breathing over time,” said Joel Dreessen, air quality meteorologist and deputy program manager for MDE’s Air Monitoring Program. “You don’t need to be exercising when concentrations are at unhealthy levels. We’re just, as a broad message, trying to let people understand that this can have impacts to health.”

MDE experts said some air quality alerts may extend into Saturday.

Adverse symptoms of poor air quality | What to do

Dr. Panagis Galiatsatos, a pulmonologist at Johns Hopkins Medicine, said the health impacts of poor air quality can include coughing, wheezing, and inflammation, especially for individuals with heart or vascular disease.

“It is pretty common to see after bad air quality days, three or four days later or a week later, patients coming into the emergency room with chest pain or a stroke because they’ve developed these vascular complications,” Galiatsatos told WBAL-TV 11 News.

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Galiatsatos also stressed the importance of limiting time outdoors and warned against relying on masks for protection.

“The particles we’re about to see, these things again have traveled hundreds of miles, have really been shaped to be so small. So, face masks are not likely to protect you with the kind of air pollutants that we are expecting,” Galiatsatos told WBAL-TV 11 News.

Galiatsatos advised seeing a doctor if symptoms, such as coughing, persist for more than a few days.