The Fires May be in California, but the Smoke, and its Health Effects, Travel Across the Country

https://insideclimatenews.org/news/26082020/california-fire-smoke-health-effects

By Michael Kodas
Evelyn Nieves
Aug 27, 2020

Record setting conflagrations in California and Colorado have smothered residents of the two states with choking, stinging smoke. But the impact of that smoke is also being felt hundreds, even thousands, of miles away, and the health impacts may last for years after the flames subside.

If the current fire weather trends continue, said Pete Lahm, a smoke specialist for the U.S. Forest Service, "it's gonna be a hellacious level of smoke out there for a lot of people."

Smoke from the current fires has blanketed much of the United States, spreading all the way to the East Coast, although not always falling to the ground level where people can inhale it. Colorado has four large wildfires of its own burning, including one on the verge of becoming the state's largest in history. But much of the smoke around Denver last weekend was from the fires in California, said Colorado state air quality meteorologist Scott Landes.

"I would say at minimum 50 percent of the smoke that we've had in the Denver area has come from the California wildfires," he said.

Doctors have long warned that the smoke from wildfires can damage the hearts and lungs of people who are near the flames. But they are increasingly learning that such emissions may damage livers and kidneys, hobble immune systems and even prompt genetic changes that could be passed down through generations. And with climate change continuing to drive steep increases in the amount of land burning around the planet, millions more people are expected to endure smoke-related illnesses in coming years.

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tags: extreme weather, severe weather,