There is a lower-cost option: Make your own air purifier by attaching a high-efficiency filter to an electric box fan. You can get a suitable fan for around $30 and the filters for around $20 — or cheaper in bulk.

The website montanawildfiresmoke.org publishes a how-to guide for building such a contraption. The Environmental Protection Agency has an FAQ on box fan air cleaners with instructions for building them.

The EPA recommends using only box fans built in 2012 or later, because earlier models could overheat and cause a fire.

Lab testing has clearly shown such do-it-yourself devices are safe, though they may heat up the room and produce more noise than a portable HEPA cleaner, according to the EPA.

For those who can’t even afford to make an air cleaner from a house fan, nonprofits and local government agencies have provided help. People who don’t have a lot of money are likely to live in older, leakier housing that lets more smoke in. They are also more likely to have chronic illness and thus be in greater need of clean air — yet less able to afford it.

Climate Smart Missoula, a Montana nonprofit, has distributed around 500 air cleaners to low-income and homebound people in recent years, said Amy Cilimburg, its executive director.

In California, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District is providing 3,000 air filtration devices to low-income people with respiratory conditions in nine counties. The American Lung Association has also donated air cleaners to people in need.

But these efforts are tiny compared with the gaping need, said Cilimburg, who thinks the federal and state governments, hospitals and insurers should step in. She envisions a day when medical staffers at a clinic will tell a patient, “‘Oh, look, given x, y or z, you should just take one of these HEPA filters home with you.’”

This story was produced by KHN, which publishes California Healthline, an editorially independent service of the California Health Care Foundation.

KHN (Kaiser Health News) is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues. Together with Policy Analysis and Polling, KHN is one of the three major operating programs at KFF (Kaiser Family Foundation). KFF is an endowed nonprofit organization providing information on health issues to the nation.

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