Forest fire smoke is even more dangerous than anyone thought
This story originally appeared on High Country News and is part of Climate desk cooperation.
The more researchers learn about wildfire smoke, the more alarming the picture becomes. Smoke contains microscopic particles known as PM 2.5 because PM (particulate matter) is 2.5 microns or less – small enough to easily enter our lungs and then into our blood. Researchers have already linked particulate matter in wildfire smoke to higher risk of strokes, heart disease, respiratory disease, lung cancer and other serious conditions.
And the harmful effects don’t stop there. 2024 It’s been a landmark year for research on wildfire smoke and its effects on health, from brain function to fertility. Although there is still much to learn, wildfire smoke is thought to be particularly insidious in comparison to other sources of air pollution; the smaller particle size, periodic spikes and higher concentration of inflammatory compounds make it more so dangerous.
This year’s new findings are troubling. But the more we learn about smoke, the better we can protect ourselves from it, whether we live hundreds of miles from a fire or face it head-on, as wildland firefighters do. Research highlights the need for some changes, including better air filtration systems in our homes, hospitals, schoolsand nursing homesand clean air centers for people who have nowhere else to breathe healthy air. Meanwhile, respirators for wildland firefighters are currently being tested by the federal government. We also need to reduce smoke pollution at source by taking measures to reduce the risk and intensity of wildfires, such as prescribed burning.
Here are some of the biggest advances in scientists’ understanding of wildfire smoke in 2024:
New estimates predict 125 million Americans will face unhealthy air from wildfires by 2054.
The smoke from a forest fire has deleted air quality has improved in recent years, a trend that is expected to continue. Millions more people will be exposed to unhealthy air in the coming years, according to models issued by the First Street Foundation in February. It is estimated that by 2054 over 125 million Americans each year will be exposed to “red” air quality, considered to be unhealthy level from the Environmental Protection Agency – a 50 percent increase from 2024. California’s Central Valley will experience the worst, with Fresno and Tulare County likely to face three months of the year of unhealthy air, according to the study.
Smoke can interfere with fertility treatments
Wildfires that started over Labor Day weekend 2020 blanketed Oregon with some of the worst air quality in the world at that time. Those 10 or so days of smoky air affected everyone, especially patients undergoing in vitro fertilization or IVF. Researchers at Oregon Health & Science University studied 69 patients who received ovarian stimulation and IVF treatment in the six weeks following the wildfires. Their study, published in the journal Fertility and sterility in may found that patients exposed to wildfire smoke produced fewer blastocysts—clusters of cells that can develop into embryos—than those who were not exposed. Most of the patients did get pregnant, but the study’s lead author said he was concerned about how the smoke might affect infertility treatments. She told the Idaho Capital Sun that as an added precaution, fertility providers may want to delay IVF or embryo transfer for higher-risk patients during times of poor air quality.
Forest fire smoke kills people prematurely
Thousands more have died due to wildfire smoke than previously thought, according to a study by the University of California, Los Angeles. New research published in the journal Science Advances in June found that fine particulate matter in smoke caused 52,500 to 55,700 premature deaths from 2008 to 2018. in California. According to its authors, this is the first long-term study to assess deaths caused by years of increased exposure to wildfire smoke in a country that, like other Western nations, is seeing more frequent and more severe wildfires.
Smoke exposure is bad for adolescent mental health
Researchers from University of Colorado Boulder found that wildfire smoke increases the risk of mental health problems in adolescents. The studypublished in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives in September, analyzed data from 10,000 children who participated in the largest long-term study of brain development and child health in the United States, according to the university. Every additional day that children were exposed to “hazardous” air quality readings in 2016 increased the likelihood that they would experience symptoms of depression and anxiety — even up to a year later.
Years of fighting fires can lead to neurodegenerative diseases
Lab rats aren’t people, of course. But in a controlled environment, they can offer useful insight into human health implications. Researchers who exposed mice to an amount of smoke equivalent to what a wildland firefighter would breathe over a 15- to 30-year career found that they were more likely to develop brain disease than mice that had not been exposed. The animals’ gene profiles fit a pattern that suggests long-term damage similar to the effects of Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Huntington’s and other neurodegenerative diseases. While researchers can’t prove that smoke is the direct cause of the increased risk of disease, lead author Adam Shuler said Boise State Public Radio that wildland firefighters need to be aware of the impact that a long career in firefighting can have on the human brain.
Forest fire smoke linked to dementia
Breathing in particulate matter in polluted air is already linked to an increased risk of dementia. Now, researchers say, wildfire smoke may pose an even greater risk than other sources of pollution. Analysis of more than 1.2 million people in Southern California found that exposure to wildfire smoke over a long period—three years, in this study—was associated with a higher risk of a dementia diagnosis. According to the study, published in the journal JAMA Neurology, the odds of a dementia diagnosis rose by 18 percent for every microgram per cubic meter increase in wildfire pollution over three years, a relatively small amount. For comparisonaverage PM 2.5 exposure for a census tract near Camp Fire in 2018. in California it was 1.2 micrograms per cubic meter between 2006 and 2020, reaching an exposure of 310 micrograms per cubic meter during the actual fire.
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