wildfire smoke In Canada, it has engulfed the east coast, blanketing cities in a faint smog and putting some 100 million people on air quality alert. More than 400 wildfires have broken out in British Columbia, Alberta, Quebec and Ontario, half of which are out of control. New York City’s air quality is among the worst in the world. The city of Philadelphia has also issued an emergency alert, advising people to stay indoors, and the volcanic plumes may continue to flood the area for the next few days, reaching through Washington, D.C., to Atlanta, Georgia. .
In the United States, supercharged wildfires once seemed a West Coast-specific problem, like the 2018 campfire that wiped out the town of Paradise, California. A number of factors contributed to this massive blaze, including the accumulation of dead bushes from the region’s legacy of firefighting. Climate change will cause hot, dry conditions and devastating fires. It is now a problem in Canada as well. While the number of fires has only increased slightly above average this time of year, “the size and intensity of fires has increased significantly,” says Mike Flanigan, a wildfire professor at Thompson Rivers University in British Columbia. says Mr. .
In other words, East Coast, welcome to what fire historian Steven Pyne calls the “Bright Age,” or the “Age of Fire.” A combination of climate change and human intervention in the landscape has caused the fires to grow larger and more intense, large enough to send clouds of toxic smoke from Canada not only to the East Coast, but across the continent. . “Climate change is playing a role in improving performance. It’s making our natural rhythms worse,” says Pyne. “There is no reason to think that these trends will suddenly stop.”
“It’s a global problem now,” says Mary Purnicki, director of air pollution and health research at the Sean N. Parker Center for Allergy Research at Stanford University. The immediate health effects of exposure to wildfire smoke can be devastating for vulnerable people, but less is known about the long-term effects of short-term exposure. “This kind of large-scale exposure of a previously unexposed group is relatively new,” she says.
Wildfire smoke is a complex mix of materials, including burnt vegetation and man-made materials such as plastic in the case of building fires. It’s the toxic particles called PM 2.5 and 10 that make the smoke visible. This means particles smaller than 2.5 microns and 10 microns. But there are also many invisible nasties such as benzene, formaldehyde, carbon gas, and even fungal pathogens. Smoke can actually form as it travels through the atmosphere. new Chemical hazards develop over time, such as ozone, which exacerbates asthma. “The biggest health impact is definitely from particulate matter,” says Rebecca Hornbrook, an atmospheric chemist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research. She has flown an airplane through wildfire smoke to study its ingredients. “But there are many things that are omitted from the EPA’s list of dangerous chemicals.”
Wildfire smoke can cause immediate health effects such as heart attack, stroke and bronchitis, especially in more vulnerable people with respiratory problems, and is also a threat to pregnant women. It may become. “Such a one-time exposure can have very serious consequences for people with pre-existing medical conditions,” said Shahir Masuri, an air pollution scientist at the University of California, Irvine.
Exposure to this type of contamination can also weaken the immune system. A 2021 study found that COVID-19 cases and deaths in California, Oregon, and Washington in the previous year were exacerbated by increased particulate air pollution from wildfire smoke. “Whether it’s COVID-19 or any other virus, now’s the time to not only avoid exposure to fine particles outdoors, but get serious about not getting sick,” says Harvard Biostatistics, Demographics. , says data science professor Francesca Dominici. TH Chan School of Public Health who worked on this study. “We are losing our ability to fight the virus.”
Canada’s fire season this year is “unprecedented” and could break records, Flanigan said. Hundreds of fires have broken out in Canada, some lasting days to weeks. Usually initiated by human activity or lightning strikes, then flared up by dry vegetation, and exacerbated by hot, dry, windy weather. As the warm air above land rises, its smoke rises to heights of 5,000 to 20,000 feet, where the haze is rapidly carried south and east by strong winds.
