More than 50,000 people died prematurely in California more than a decade due to exposure to toxic particles in wildfire smoke, according to a new study.
Wildfires create smoke that contains PM2.5, tiny particles about one-thirtieth the size of a human hair that can embed themselves deep in the lungs and enter the bloodstream. The particles have been linked to numerous health conditions and premature death. Previous research found that wildfire smoke exposes millions of people in the US to the harmful pollutant.
In a study published this week in Science Advances, researchers used a new epidemiological model to examine the impact of wildfire PM2.5 exposure between 2008-2018: a period that was some of the state’s most destructive and deadly. include fire seasons. There were at least 52,480 premature deaths attributed to exposure to the respirable particles from wildfires, and at least $432 billion in health expenditures associated with the exposure, according to the study.
The research is the first to quantify the long-term impacts of chronic exposure to PM2.5 specifically from wildfires, rather than other sources, and has important implications for California, said Rachel Connolly, an author of the study. The results suggest that wildfires are responsible for more deaths and greater economic impact than previous studies have indicated.
“The findings are really a call to action for forest management and climate change mitigation,” said Connolly, who is the project director at the UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation and also works at the Fielding School of Public Health.
Researchers are only now beginning the impact of PM2.5 exposure on human healthbut the particles can reduce lung function and worsen existing health conditions, including breathing problems and heart disease.
Particulate matter from wildfires may be more harmful to human health than from other sources, the study reports, and is associated with respiratory illnesses and increased hospitalizations. Other studies have connected exposure to wildfire smoke to increased risks of heart attacks and premature births.
California has seen numerous devastating fires in recent years, including a historic one brutal season in 2020 during which 31 people died and skies across the American West turned an ominous orange, exposing 25 million people to toxic air from fires.
Experts and scientists have attributed the increasing intensity of wildfires to years of misguided fire suppression policies, forest management practices and a landscape that has become hotter and drier amid the climate crisis. The disasters killed dozens of people, destroyed communities and exposed millions to wildfire smoke.
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People need to take action to protect themselves from wildfire smoke, Connolly said, but the findings of this study suggest that society needs to invest in forest management, wildland management of urban interfaces and climate change mitigation to deliver significant public health benefits.
“The importance of wildfire management will only increase in the coming decades as drying intensifies with climate change and more regions become susceptible to fires,” the authors write in the study.
