The fires were bad, but AQ was much worse and over more days in the Fort Collins/Longmont/Loveland areas, not to mention California this year.
A little further south in the Denver area we had maybe a half a dozen days with part of the day in unhealthy category, but at least half or more were moderate to unhealthy for sensitive groups.
In my 10 years in Alaska we had about half the years with weeks or months of off and on extremely poor air quality, some years going into air quality alerts for several days a time.
I generally heeded the warning, but definitely went outside some days when it was in the unhealthy category. And even inside, you could see and taste the smoke indoors.
As far as long-term impacts for this n of 1, I have had lifelong asthma (moderate to occasionally severe while growing up) to mostly mild, sometimes moderate as an adult. Now if I have effects, it's exercised-induced, often in the cold. Had one ER trip about 10 years ago after doing V02 intervals at 0 degree temps (without a proper warm up).
Didn't experience much forest fire smoke until the Yellowstone fires in the late 1980s (living in Nevada at the time), and then off and on a number of years since about 2000 (maybe 7 or 8 of 20). I find it an irritant, and do modify training (trying to get out when smoke is less, staying in when it gets to unhealthy levels), and it will affect me for a few days. But long-term my upper-respiratory issues are no better or no worse than say, 30 or 35 years ago. Some people get it worse. And the fires this year were no joke. Hope for better global and local/regional environmental management in the future (addressing both climate change and forest management, it's not an either or as you will see on the main message board here and elsewhere).