Breathing Space

What to do about the haze. Plain, practical, and one screen long.

The smoke will come back every year. Here is what actually helps, and what does not. Nothing on this page costs much. Most of it costs nothing.

1. Check your own air, not the news

The Air Pollutant Index is measured at monitoring stations around the country — 68 of them as at August 2026 — and updated every hour. It is free and you do not need to register. Find the station nearest you at eqms.doe.gov.my/APIMS/main, or use the MyJAS EQMS app on your phone.

Look at the number, not the sky. Haze looks worse in the morning and better in the afternoon while the reading stays the same.

Table of API bands and what each means for health. — What the numbers mean. Source: Department of Environment.

0–50 Good · 51–100 Moderate · 101–200 Unhealthy · 201–300 Very unhealthy · 301–500 Hazardous · Above 500 Emergency — at which point non-essential government services stop and ports close.

Above 100 is the number to act on. That is the level at which the Sarawak Education Department stopped outdoor school activities in August 2026, and at which the state disaster committee told the public to cut outdoor activity — naming children, the elderly, pregnant women and anyone with heart or lung disease.

2. Indoors beats masks

This is the part people get wrong. A mask helps when you must go out. Staying in helps more.

Close windows and doors.
Run the air-conditioner on recirculate, not fresh air intake. Same for the car.
Do not add smoke indoors: no cigarettes, no incense, no frying with the windows shut, no mosquito coils.
When the air improves — even for an hour — open up and air the house.

If you can afford an air purifier with a HEPA filter, use it in the bedroom, because that is where you spend eight unbroken hours. If you cannot, a box fan with a furnace filter taped to the back of it works, costs a fraction as much, and has been tested properly by the US Environmental Protection Agency. It is not a gimmick.

3. If you must go out

Only an N95 or better does anything. Surgical masks, cloth masks, bandanas and single-strap dust masks do not filter fine smoke particles. They are not a partial solution. They are close to no solution.

Fit matters more than the label. A good mask with a gap beside the nose leaks more air than it filters. Two straps, one above the ears and one below, moulded over the nose bridge with both hands, sealed under the chin. Check the seal the way the packet tells you to, and feel for air escaping past your nose when you breathe out.

Beards break the seal. There is no way round this.
Adult small sizes fit most children over seven. Below that, sizes are not made — keep young children indoors instead.
No mask filters the gases in smoke, only the particles. (Washington State Department of Health covers all three, with a fitting video.)
If you feel dizzy or breathless wearing one, get to cleaner air and take it off.

The illustrated fitting instructions are here, and there is a one-page printable version here.

4. Who in your house is actually at risk

Smoke is worse for some people than others. If anyone in your household is on this list, plan for them before the air gets bad, not after.

Asthma or COPD. Make sure the reliever inhaler is not empty and not expired. If you have a written action plan, find it now. If you have been meaning to see the doctor about worsening control, go before the haze peaks, not during.
Heart disease. This is the group most often forgotten. Fine smoke particles are small enough to cross from the lungs into the bloodstream, and the American Heart Association links them to heart attack, stroke, abnormal heart rhythms and worsening heart failure — within hours to days of exposure in people already at risk. Haze is a heart problem as much as a lung one.
Children under five, and adults over 65.
Pregnancy.
Anyone who works outdoors — construction, delivery, security, farming, market traders. This is the group with the least choice and the most exposure.

5. Two things that surprise people

The effects arrive late. A bad chest three or four days after the smoke clears is not a coincidence and not a separate illness. Two Malaysian studies find the same pattern — one in Selangor and one in the Klang Valley — with hospital admissions rising up to three days after the exposure, not during it. Do not assume you got away with it because you felt fine at the time.

Feeling better does not mean the air is better. After a few days people stop noticing the smell and start judging by how they feel. The reading is the one thing that does not get used to it. Check the number.

6. When to stop managing it at home

Go and be seen if any of these apply:

Breathlessness that is new, or worse than your usual
A reliever inhaler that is not lasting four hours, or is being used far more than normal
Chest pain or tightness, or a racing or irregular heartbeat
Wheeze in a child, or a child who is off feeds, unusually quiet, or working hard to breathe
Confusion or drowsiness in an elderly person
Coughing blood

Do not wait for the haze to clear before going. That is the wrong way round: the haze is the reason you are unwell, and it may go on for weeks.

If you want the longer version

This page is the practical summary. The full account — where the smoke comes from, what the research shows, what governments have and have not done about it — is in HAZE-OC II, and the standing resource page with all the monitoring links is at Vads Corner: Haze.

Content current as at 28 August 2026. Links last checked 28 August 2026.

Print this page and put it on the wall if it is useful. No permission needed.