Climate

Smoke from wildfires killed nearly 50,000 Californians in a decade

A recent report found that more than 50,000 individuals in California have died prematurely within the last decade due to their exposure to hazardous particles present in wildfire smoke.

 

PM2.5 is a type of smoke that comes from wildfires. It contains tiny particles about the width of a human hair that can get deep into the lungs and the bloodstream.

The particles have been linked to several illnesses and deaths.

 

Scientists have already found that the smoke from wildfires puts millions of people in the US at risk of breathing in a dangerous substance.

 

This week, a study in Science Advances used a new statistical model to examine the effects of exposure to PM2.5 from wildfires between 2008 and 2018.

The study found that at least 52,480 early deaths were linked to breathing in particulate matter from wildfires, and the exposure cost healthcare systems at least $432 billion.

 

Rachel Connolly, one of the study's authors, said that the study has important implications for California because it is the first to measure the long-term effects of long-term exposure to PM2.5 from wildfires, not other sources.

The findings show that flames kill more people and hurt the economy more than earlier studies have suggested.

"These results make us want to take action to protect forests and slow climate change," said Connolly, who is in charge of the project at the UCLA Luskin Centre for Innovation and works in the Fielding School of Public Health.

 

PM2.5 pollution has effects on human health that are still being studied, but the particles can make it harder for the lungs to work and worsen health problems, such as heart disease and breathing problems.

 

The study found that particulate matter from wildfires can be worse for people's health than pollution from other sources. It is linked to lung diseases and more hospitalisations.

Some research has found that being around smoke from wildfires can make you more likely to have a heart attack or give birth early.

 

Many terrible fires have hit California in the past few years. In 2020, a season that will go down in history, 31 people died, and the skies across the western United States turned an eerie orange, putting 25 million people at risk of breathing in toxic air from the fires.

 

Scientists and experts say that years of lousy fire control policies, inadequate forest management, and a landscape getting hotter and dryer because of the climate crisis are all to blame for the worsening.

Dozens of people have died, towns have been ruined, and millions of people have been exposed to smoke from wildfires.

 

Connolly said that people should take steps to protect themselves from wildfire smoke.

Still, this study's results show that society needs to invest more money in managing forests, wild-lands, and cities and preventing climate change to reap significant health benefits.

 

"Managing wildfires will become even more important in the next few decades as acidification gets worse due to climate change and more areas become vulnerable to fires," the authors write.