Decadal Lessons Learned: The Story of Wildfires, Air Quality, and Environmental Justice

Wildfire risk and severity have recently grown substantially due to climate change and other anthropogenic factors such as increasing development at the wildland-urban interface. Existing research has characterized substantial adverse health impacts from exposure to wildfire-associated smoke. Few existing studies have quantified long-term health impacts from wildfires, and none have used a wildfire-specific long-term dose-response coefficient for mortality, which we have now developed. These findings are critical for guiding societal investments for wildfire prevention and suppression. For example, in 2018, ~2 million acres burned in California, led to ~5,000 asthma-related emergency room visits and hospitalizations and ~11,500 premature deaths equating to an economic impact of ~$100 billion, with respect to the EPA Value of a Statistical Life of $8.7 million (2015 dollars).