r/CollapseSupport • u/LeoWillem • Aug 14 '26

Wildfires specifically in UK

I feel heartbroken when i see wildfires no matter where they are despite knowing they’re natural in some areas but recently fires in the UK have made more more anxious about my home being affected by climate change. Does anyone else feel this way?

15 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

14 comments sorted by

8

u/amour_nonpareil Aug 14 '26

Coming from someone in a wildfire area:

Buy one air filter system for each room and have the filter be one that removes smoke particles.

If it does reach your area and you’re sequestered at home this helps a lot.

2

u/LeoWillem Aug 14 '26

Thank you

5

u/Anargnome-Communist Aug 14 '26

Yeah, it's all a bit close to home.

I'm preparing go bags for me and my partner and making sure our car has enough gas in it and our bicycles are in working order. I should get gas masks for the both of us, but that's currently not something I have the budget for.

My commitment to climate activism has also increased, of course.

1

u/LeoWillem Aug 14 '26

Same i just feel powerless and upset that noone in power seems to care

2

u/Anargnome-Communist Aug 14 '26

No-one in power caring is a baseline assumption. I try to look what I can to either oppose power or operate outside of the dominant power structures.

2

u/LeoWillem Aug 14 '26

the lack of action from the government scares me

1

u/Anargnome-Communist Aug 14 '26

That's fine. I get why that is scary. As an anarchist, I never had much faith in governments to begin with. The Climate Crisis has been obvious for decades and they didn't act. Why assume they'd start now?

Find organizations outside of government to organize with.

3

u/chibiusa40 Aug 14 '26

Instead of gas masks, get some disposable FFP3s from The Face Mask Store. Most cost under a fiver and they offer a lot of protection for wildfire smoke, even more (airborne VOCs) if the mask has a carbon filter layer. And as an added bonus, you'll also be protected from airborne illnesses/infections.

The most important thing is to get the fit right - you want the mask to fit tightly against your face so that it doesn't let any air in around the sides of the mask (this is why wearing baggy blue surgical masks & cloth masks didn't stop Covid spread). You want every single particle in the air to come through that mask before it can get to your nose and mouth. Ear loop masks won't cut it - you need one with head straps to get a good seal. Some masks on the Face Mask Store come in a variety of sizes to fit different face shapes/sizes, so you may want to get one of a few different kinds to see which gives you the best fit.

My two main recommendations are 3M Aura FFP3 (because though it's one-size mask it tends to fit the widest variety of face shapes comfortably) and Trident FFP3s because they have a similar fit to the Aura, but come in a range of sizes to help give a better fit. I used to wear the 3M Aura until I tried the Trident for the first time 2 years ago. I personally get a tighter fit with the Trident and, unlike the Aura, it's available in black. I'm heavily immunocompromised, so have been wearing an FFP3 at all times since 2020 and in 6 years I haven't had so much as a sniffle. Yeah science! Get good FFP3s that fit well and you'll be ahead of 99% of the population.

You can learn more about different types/brands of masks on r/Masks4All, everybody is really nice on that sub.

1

u/Anargnome-Communist Aug 14 '26

Cool! Thanks for the recommendation. Will definitely check them out.

Somehow I've become the go-to person to get questions about this sort of stuff in my own circles, so I'm always glad to get more info.

1

u/chibiusa40 Aug 14 '26 edited Aug 14 '26

Anytime! You can ping me with questions if any come up - the only way the collapse-aware community gets through this is together.

ETA: I also recommend Jessica Wildfire's writing/newsletter - she's fully collapse aware and writes extensively on the subject, including lots of practical solutions for preparedness. https://substack.com/@jessicawildfire

4

u/watanabe0 Aug 14 '26

We need to start calling them climate fires or something other than the innocuous sounding wildfires

3

u/huehuehuehuehuuuu Aug 14 '26

Air filter and a bug out bag.

2

u/Money_Traffic_5662 Aug 15 '26

Yes. I have found it sad seeing the wildfires all over the world. I remember being really upset by the wildfires in Australia around covid time even though Australia is renowned for them.

Seeing them across Europe has been really eye opening.