Wildfires and Your Health

By Nikki Walls, MSN, APRN, FNP-C

 

We have all seen the devastating impact the most recent wildfires have had on our surrounding communities, but we also must remember the negative health effects that can come with exposure to the environmental pollutants that come from the wildfire smoke.  Changes in temperature and precipitation patterns from climate change are increasing wildfire prevalence and severity resulting in longer fire seasons leading to increased health risks. Wildfire smoke contains many pollutants of concern for public health such as particulate matter, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, ozone and many other volatile organic compounds and depending on what materials outside of vegetation are burned, there may be exposure to heavy metals like mercury and lead. Wildfire smoke has also been documented to contain toxic carcinogens

While the long-term effects of chronic exposure to wildfire smoke is still being studied, the acute known health effects of exposure to the smoke include increased respiratory infections, worsening asthma and other chronic obstructive diseases and even death. It’s important for everyone to reduce their exposure to smoke. Wildfire smoke irritates your eyes, nose, throat, and lungs. It can make it hard to breathe and make you cough or wheeze. Children and people with asthma, COPD, heart disease, diabetes, chronic kidney disease, or who are pregnant need to be especially careful about breathing wildfire smoke.

It’s important that everyone takes steps to decrease their risk from wildfires and the resulting pollutants. This can be done by:

• Checking your local air quality reports: listen or watch for news or health warnings about smoke and pay attention to any public health messages about taking safety measures. You can view the Air Quality Reports at airnow.gov. Typically, the higher the air quality level, the greater the pollution and the greater the health concern.
• Skip the outdoor activities: the easiest way to avoid health effects of wildfire smoke is to limit your exposure. Stay inside as much as possible and avoid vigorous physical activity when outdoors.
• Keep indoor air as clean as possible: keep windows and doors closed, run an air conditioner if you have one but ensure that you keep the fresh-air intake closed and the filter clean to prevent outdoor smoke from getting inside.
• Avoid increasing indoor pollution by not burning candles, using fireplaces and gas stoves and not smoking. Vacuuming can stir up particles already inside your home contributing to indoor pollution
• If you must go outside, you can reduce your risk of exposure by wearing an approved respiratory mask. The CDC recommends against using cloth or surgical face masks. They may be enough to filter out viral illness like COVID19, they will not block the tiny particles present in smoke.
• Follow the advice of your provider about medicines and your respiratory health management plan if you have asthma or other chronic lung conditions. Consider evacuating the area if you are having troubles breathing.

Wildfires are unpredictable and exposure to wildfires smoke can occur even when fires are miles away. One can be prepared by paying attention to their local weather forecast and air quality levels, always following instructions given by local emergency management officials, evacuate safely and pay close attention to health symptoms and seek medical help with any worsening symptoms.