This is what frustrates me the most about air pollution indexes. They all treat PM2.5 equally regardless of the source. Smoke from a wildfire in an industrial area is NOT the same as smoke from a wildfire in a woodland. Hell, even some pollen fragments can be PM2.5. Formaldehyde and benzene particulate matter should not be treated equally to pollen fragments
Formaldehyde and benzene are not particulates, they are VOC’s - a very different kind pollutant.
Lumping all PM2.5 together is kind of like counting calories without considering whether they come from broccoli or corn syrup
OK, but wood smoke is really bad for you even if the wood is completely natural.
Pollen fragments are really bad for some of us....
They don't seem to have considered fungus spores as PM2.5 either. Seems like a single spore could cause more damage than many carbon particles.