As the Summer draws to a close, we look back at the wildfire season in the northern hemisphere.
- By AirScape
- September 26, 2022
As the Summer draws to a close, we look back at the wildfire season in the northern hemisphere.
Wildfires are dangerous, and an example of regional air pollution. Extreme heat and drought conditions have made it even worse in Europe and North America. You can see their extent on this map from NASA which shows the actively burning fires around the world.
Wildfire smoke can rise into the atmosphere in a plume and descend half a continent away, blanketing the area with choking toxic air pollution. People may not even be aware they are breathing in the fumes from a faraway forest fire, and that it’s affecting their health.
Through surveying the primary peer-reviewed research literature over the last few years, we can share with you our main findings:
- Consistent evidence documents associations between wildfire smoke exposure and general respiratory health effects. Exacerbations of asthma, cardiovascular disease, chronic lung diseases such as emphysema, obstructive pulmonary disease and increased risk of respiratory infections are regularly reported.
- During a wildfire in Spain, PM2.5 values were 75x higher than the WHO standard.
- Other wildfire emissions like VOCs may cause skin and eye irritation, drowsiness, coughing and wheezing. Others like benzene may be carcinogenic.
- A 5% increase in non-accidental mortality at a lag of 1 day was observed on days of high air pollution from bushfire smoke in Sydney.
- Climate change is likely to increase the threat of wildfires.
- In the US, daily pollution levels during or after wildfire in most studies exceeded U.S. EPA regulations.
- Levels of PM10, the most frequently studied pollutant in the US and Australia, were 1.2 to 10 times higher due to wildfire smoke compared to non-fire periods and/or locations.
- Children, the elderly, and those with underlying chronic diseases appear to be susceptible.
- Ten years after the 1997 Indonesian fires, young males suffered decreases in lung function.
- The economic valuation of the health impacts of wildfire emissions from across North America (from May-Sept between 2013 and 2015 and 2017-2018) was estimated per year at $410M–$1.8B for acute health impacts and $4.3B–$19B for chronic health impacts.
- Wildfire particulate matter may be more toxic than equal doses of ambient PM2.5 – up to 10 times more harmful.
- Recent evidence suggests that long-term exposure to PM2.5 may make the coronavirus more deadly.
- Hospital admissions for respiratory problems, like asthma and pneumonia, rose by 10% during periods when Southern California was covered by wildfire smoke.
- 1-in-7 US residents on the West Coast experienced at least one day of unhealthy air conditions in 2020. The smoke drifted east creating hazy skies and an oddly vibrant sun on the East Coast.
- Particles released from burning vegetation in forest fires become more toxic over time – up to four times more toxic a day down the road.
While world leaders tackle the increasing number of fires and climate change, it’s important to make everyone aware of air pollution caused by wildfires and their effects on human health.
This study published by Stanford last week said that “Smoke pollution is particularly challenging to measure, both because it’s difficult to know which portion of PM is from smoke and because we only have pollution monitors at a limited number of locations in the US”.
This is true the world over.
At AirScape, we have the technology to show regional and street-level air quality data in real time. By making the invisible visible we can empower a generation to make informed quality-of-life decisions with reliable air quality data.
If you would like to be part of our air quality revolution to extend airscape.ai to 200 cities across the world, get in touch now.