Page 28 - ARUBA TODAY

A28 SCIENCE
Wednesday 26 June 2019

Health impact from smoke rises with more intense wildfires

By MATTHEW BROWN inside.” The direct damage
Associated Press from conflagrations that
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — regularly erupt in the West
Climate change in the is stark. In California alone,
Western U.S. means more wildfires over the past two
intense and frequent wild- years torched more than
fires churning out waves of 33,000 houses, outbuildings
smoke that scientists say and other structures and
will sweep across the con- killed 146 people.
tinent to affect tens of mil- Harder to grasp are health
lions of people and cause a impacts from microscopic
spike in premature deaths. particles in the smoke that
That emerging reality is can trigger heart attacks,
prompting people in cities breathing problems and
and rural areas alike to pre- other maladies. The par-
pare for another summer of ticles, about 1/30th of the
sooty skies along the West diameter of a human hair,
Coast and in the Rocky penetrate deeply into the
Mountains — the regions lungs to cause coughing,
widely expected to suffer chest pain and asthma at-
most from blazes tied to tacks. Children, the elderly
dryer, warmer conditions. and people with lung dis-
“There’s so little we can In this Nov. 16, 2018, file photo, the Golden Gate Bridge is obscured by smoke and haze from eases or heart trouble are
do. We have air purifiers wildfires in this view from Fort Baker near Sausalito, Calif. most at risk.
and masks — otherwise Associated Press Over the past decade as
we’re just like ‘Please don’t Scientists from NASA and rushed to buy face masks creased particle levels and many as 2,500 people an-
burn,’” said Sarah Rochelle universities are refining sat- and indoor air purifiers. increased ozone from the nually died prematurely
Montoya of San Francisco, ellite imagery to predict The city’s famous open fires for weeks and weeks,” in the U.S. from short-term
who fled her home with her where smoke will travel air cable cars shut down. Crooks said. wildfire smoke exposure,
husband and children last and how intense it will be. Schools kept children in- One such place is Ashland, according to Environmen-
fall to escape thick smoke Local authorities are using side or canceled classes, Oregon, a city of about tal Protection Agency sci-
enveloping the city from those forecasts to send out and a church soup kitchen 21,000 known for its sum- entists.
a disastrous fire roughly real-time alerts encourag- sheltered homeless people mer-long Oregon Shake- The long-term effects have
150 miles (241 kilometers) ing people to stay indoors from the smoke. speare Festival. only recently come into
away. when conditions turn un- Montoya’s three children During each of the past focus, with estimates that
Other sources of air pollu- healthy. have respiratory problems two summers, Ashland had chronic smoke exposure
tion are in decline in the U.S. The scope of the problem that their doctor says is like- about 40 days of smoke- causes about 20,000 pre-
as coal-fired power plants is immense: Over the next ly a precursor to asthma, filled air, said Chris Cham- mature deaths per year,
close and fewer older cars three decades, more than she said. That would put bers, wildfire division chief said Jeff Pierce, an asso-
roll down highways. But 300 counties in the West them among those most for the fire department. Last ciate professor of atmo-
those air quality gains are will see more severe smoke at-risk from being harmed year, that forced cancella- spheric science at Colora-
being erased in some ar- waves from wildfires, some- by wildfire smoke, but the tion of more than two-doz- do State University.
eas by the ill effects of mas- times lasting weeks longer family was unable to find en outdoor performances. That figure could double
sive clouds of smoke that than in years past, ac- child-sized face masks or Family physician Justin Ad- by the end of this century
can spread hundreds and cording to atmospheric an adequate air filter. Both ams said the smoke was due to hotter, drier condi-
even thousands of miles on researchers led by a team were sold out everywhere hardest on his patients with tions and much longer fire
cross-country winds, ac- from Yale and Harvard. they looked. asthma and other breath- seasons, said Pierce. His
cording to researchers. For almost two weeks last In desperation, her fam- ing problems and he ex- research team compared
With the 2019 fire season year during the Camp Fire , ily ended up fleeing to a pects some to see long- known health impacts from
already heating up with which killed 85 people and relative’s vacation home term health effects. air pollution against future
fires from Southern Califor- destroyed 14,000 homes in in Lake Tahoe. The children “It was essentially like climate scenarios to derive
nia to Canada, authorities Paradise, California, smoke were delighted that they they’d started smoking its projections.
are scrambling to better from the blaze inundated could go outside again. again for two months,” he Even among wildfire ex-
protect the public before the San Francisco neigh- “We really needed our kids said. perts, understanding of
smoke again blankets cities borhood where Montoya to be able to breathe,” Voters in 2018 approved health impacts from smoke
and towns. Officials in Se- lives with her husband, Montoya said. a bond measure that in- was elusive until recently.
attle recently announced Trevor McNeil, and their Smoke from wildfires was cludes money to retro- But attitudes shifted as
plans to retrofit five pub- three children. once considered a fleet- fit Ashland schools with growing awareness of cli-
lic buildings as smoke-free Lines formed outside hard- ing nuisance except for “scrubbers” to filter smoke. mate change ushered
shelters. ware stores as people the most vulnerable popu- Other public buildings and in research examining
lations. But it’s now seen in businesses already have wildfire’s potential conse-
some regions as a recur- them. A community alert quences.
ring and increasing public system allows 6,500 people Residents of Northern Cali-
health threat, said James to receive emails and text fornia, western Oregon,
Crooks, a health investi- messages when the Na- Washington state and the
gator at National Jewish tional Weather Service is- Northern Rockies are pro-
Health, a Denver medical sues smoke alerts. jected to suffer the worst
center that specializes in “We really feel like we’ve increases in smoke expo-
respiratory ailments. made a conscious effort to sure, according to Loretta
“There are so many fires, adapt to climate change,” Mickley, a senior climate
so many places upwind of Chambers said. “But you research fellow at Harvard
you that you’re getting in- can’t just live your whole life University.q