Public Health

This study suggests that wildland-urban interface (WUI) disasters create a distinct post-disaster exposure regime characterised by persistent internal metal mixtures associated with pulmonary impairment months after the event.

Wildfires can turn natural metals in soil into toxic, airborne particles. Stanford researchers are working to predict where these metals travel and warn people in harm’s way.

An increase in pollution from wildfires and heatwaves risks undermining international efforts to improve air quality and protect human and ecosystem health, according to a new WMO report, which traces interlinkages between air quality and climate.

The sixth WMO Air Quality and Climate Bulletin examines links between air quality and climate change, highlighting aerosol impacts, wildfire smoke, ozone pollution and atmospheric monitoring needs.

Smoke from wildfires can travel thousands of kilometres, crossing borders, oceans and continents. Understanding where it will go next has become an increasingly important scientific challenge.

As regulations have reduced prenatal exposure to harmful emissions from vehicles and industry in recent years, smoke from climate-fueled wildfires is erasing air quality gains.

Smoky summers are the new normal forcing a generation of children to grow up indoors. Repeated smoke events change children’s daily routines, limiting opportunities for outdoor play and social interaction and reshape how many families experience summer.

UCLA and UC Davis researchers found the strongest associations on very smoky days and in areas with cleaner air overall.