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Department of Healthcare Access and Information webinar urges hospitals to adopt smoke readiness plans, PM2.5 monitoring and MERV-13 filtration
Summary
HCAI presenters outlined four core principles for hospital wildfire readiness — know (PM2.5 monitoring), plan (smoke readiness plans), prevent (seal and pressurize building envelope), and remove ( MERV-13 or performance-based filtration) — and recommended operational steps including frequent filter changes, stockpiling spares and infection-control coordination.
A webinar hosted by the Department of Healthcare Access and Information (HCAI) and the Hospital Building Safety Board’s education and outreach committee advised hospitals to prepare operational and design measures to protect patients and staff from prolonged wildfire smoke events.
Samantha Miller, senior architect in HCAI’s Office of Statewide Hospital Planning and Development, said the HCAI design guide for planning and preparing for disasters — published in 2024 — is intended as a best-practices resource for new facilities and major alterations. She said the guide grew out of lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent disaster events and is meant to help owners, designers and local agencies build resilience beyond code minima.
Panelists laid out four organizing principles: “know” (detect smoke with PM2.5 monitoring), “plan” (write and test a smoke readiness plan), “prevent” (reduce infiltration by sealing the envelope and managing HVAC intake), and “remove” (use appropriate filtration and air-cleaning strategies). Abdel Darwich, mechanical engineer and principal at Guttmann & Blaevoet Consulting Engineers, emphasized the health stakes: wildfire smoke contains gases, VOCs and fine particulates (PM2.5) that research links to increased doctor visits, medication dispensing and higher mortality during smoky episodes.
On specific technical measures, Darwich described two approaches: a prescriptive minimum — upgrade HVAC filtration to at least MERV-13 — and a performance method using the equation in ASHRAE Guideline 44 to set indoor PM2.5 targets. “MERV 13 will stop about 85% of PM2.5 and that’s again on one pass,” he said, and warned that filters will load quickly during severe smoke and may need replacement “as soon as two to three days” depending on exposure and wind direction.
Mikhail Fuks, mechanical engineer with Pan Pacific Mechanical and an HBSB member, emphasized operational steps to limit smoke entry: minimize outside-air intake modes during events (but not eliminate outdoor air when clinically required), prioritize positive building pressurization to the exterior and seal ducts and envelope penetrations. The panel recommended placing PM2.5 sensors on roofs, parapets or at nearby regional monitors and supplementing with sensors in hallways, ambulance bays and high-occupancy areas to track infiltration pathways.
When central HVAC cannot deliver required air quality, panelists recommended planning for and pre-procuring portable air cleaners (PACs) that do not generate ozone and whose Clean Air Delivery Rate (CADR) matches room size; Abdel noted a common sizing rule of roughly 1 CADR per square foot for residential-rated units, and advises integrating PAC deployment into the SRP and coordinating with infection-control teams so pressure relationships in ORs, NICUs and isolation rooms are not compromised.
Speakers urged hospitals to include SRP elements in owner project requirements and sequences of operation, to commission and regularly retest systems, and to maintain adequate inventories of spare filters for HVAC intakes and specialty equipment (medical-air compressors, incubators) that can clog during wildfire events.
Panelists said the HCAI design guide and ASHRAE Guideline 44 are living documents: the ASHRAE committee is working on ultrafine-particle and gas-phase considerations and may add test methods; the presenters were explicit that the HCAI guide is a best-practice resource, not currently a code requirement. Materials from the webinar will be posted on HCAI/OSHPD web pages and questions can be sent to HBSB support staff at hai.ca.gov.
The webinar closed with a Q&A covering duct smoke detectors (not recommended for wildfire detection), sensor siting, filter-change triggers and potential future gas-phase filtration requirements. The presenters said they expect continued updates to standards and guidance as new research and test methods become available.
