Author: Laurel Hamers / Source: Science News for Students
The 2018 Carr fire in northern California, seen here outside Redding, threw pollutants into the air for weeks, beginning July 23. The state reported that air quality was “unhealthy” throughout the region affected by this intense fire.
One of the biggest in state history, this fire eventually burned more than 175,000 acres and destroyed more than 1,077 homes.The northwestern United States has become an air pollution hot spot — literally. And scientists are blaming the problem on bigger and more frequent wildfires. These disasters spew plumes of fine particles that pollute the sky.
In states from Nevada to Montana, days with the most extreme air pollution are worse now than they were 30 years ago. That’s what researchers reported July 16 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Over the same period of time, smog and haze has tended to decrease across the rest of the country. Laws such as the Clean Air Act, which set rules to limit pollution, have helped. So have laws that limit allowable levels of pollution from vehicles and factories, says Daniel Jaffe. He is an atmospheric scientist at the University of Washington in Bothell. He also is one of the new study’s authors.
Climate change has led to a drying of western forests. This has upped the number of local wildfires. That recent increase in large western wildfires has thrown more lung-clogging pollution into the region’s air. The problem is so great now that wildfire pollution has begun overcoming the benefits of air-pollution laws in parts of the affected states, Jaffe says.
Wildfire smoke is filled with fine particles. These nanopollutants are less than 2.5 micrometers wide. (That’s about 3 one-hundredths the width of a human hair.) Such super-tiny solids and droplets can be inhaled deeply into the lungs. That can aggravate breathing problems. Children, the elderly and people with asthma face the biggest risks. But temporarily levels of pollutants in communities near wildfires can get so…
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