Description

[from the text] Wildfires are a growing threat to public health in the United States and around the world, as evidenced by the recent catastrophic fires in California, the Pacific Northwest, and Greece. Due to climate change, hotter and drier weather in the western United States and other areas of the globe is likely to accelerate this trend (1). Greater frequency, intensity, and duration of wildland fires have combined with an expanding wildland–urban interface to cause widespread impacts on air quality and public health, as well as devastating local losses of life, health, and property (2) (Figure 1). Rapidly increasing and shifting concentrations of wildfire smoke causing unhealthy levels of air pollution downwind of wildfires demand effective responses at the individual, family, community, and population levels (3).