{"id":579168,"date":"2023-06-07T21:05:25","date_gmt":"2023-06-07T18:05:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/how-the-wildfires-are-already-affecting-our-health\/"},"modified":"2023-06-07T21:05:25","modified_gmt":"2023-06-07T18:05:25","slug":"how-the-wildfires-are-already-affecting-our-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/how-the-wildfires-are-already-affecting-our-health\/","title":{"rendered":"#How the wildfires are already affecting our health"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n \u201cWe\u2019re designed to fight bacteria and viruses. We can\u2019t do smoke.\u201d\n <\/div>\n
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\u201cWe can clearly see the negative effects of wildfire smoke on the lungs, but there was some hope that it wouldn\u2019t be as severe as the impact of urban air pollution.\u201d (Photograph by iStock.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Looking at pictures of wildfires wreaking havoc across Canada is enough to make the average person feel a bit sick: the haze; the blood-orange sun; the gargantuan plumes of smoke. For those who do venture outdoors, there\u2019s a<\/span> general<\/a> sense of unease, provoked by a faint, unsettlingly sweet smell in the air. The reason behind it all is an unusually early and out-of-control start to fire season, which many experts expect could be the country\u2019s most devastating to date. Environment Canada has already issued \u201chigh risk\u201d air quality warnings from coast to coast, a<\/span>nd <\/span>Canadians from B.C. to Halifax are breathing it all in.<\/span><\/p>\n

Even if we can intuitively understand that all this smoke is bad for our health, it\u2019s too early to tell just how bad the long-term effects will be. Michael Brauer, a researcher with the University of British Columbia\u2019s School of Population and Public Health, has been studying the health impact of environmental phenomena for more than 25 years. And though the data on wildfires is sparse, it\u2019s growing\u2014and the prognosis is not good. For Canadians with pre-existing conditions, he says, living alongside frequent fires could be its own catastrophe. Here, Brauer explains what, exactly, everyone\u2019s inhaling, how it\u2019s affecting Canadians (physically and mentally) and how to stay healthy in a burning world.
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You\u2019ve been studying wildfires for a long time. How has the uptick in frequency changed the scope of your work in the last few years? <\/b>
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<\/b>I was studying wildfires in Southeast Asia 25 years ago. At that time, wildfires weren\u2019t really affecting any of our major cities in North America. It wasn\u2019t until the early aughts that we started seeing bigger fires outside of rural areas in Canada, and in B.C. at least, we started seeing their health consequences on local communities. Now, most of Canada\u2019s major cities are hit with the impacts of fire once or twice a year, if not multiple times. Even when things are relatively good fire-wise in B.C. and Alberta, we\u2019d still be getting hit with smoke from California or Oregon. It\u2019s just everywhere. <\/span>
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<\/span>Another concerning issue is that Canada\u2019s fire season has lengthened. Out west, it used to be July and August. But last year, there were fires in April. Vancouver now has smoke lingering in October, which is unprecedented. All of this means that the average person is experiencing greater levels of smoke exposure. And you don\u2019t even need to be that close to a fire for that to happ<\/a>en; smoke can affect people thousands of kilometres away. I was talking to someone today from New York City, and the air was polluted there from a fire up here.<\/span>
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<\/span>So it\u2019s a good time for research, but a bad time in every other respect?<\/b>
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<\/span>We don\u2019t have a lot of data for how wildfire smoke affects us yet. When I started researching fires, we used to have to chase the smoke. Recently, it\u2019s become relatively easy to study it.<\/span>
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<\/b>What<\/b> do<\/i><\/b> we know about what happens inside the human body when someone inhales wildfire smoke?<\/b>
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<\/b>Our bodies try to fight these airborne particles by mounting an inflammatory response, where our lungs call in all sorts of cells to try to digest these foreign materials. We\u2019re evolutionarily\u00a0designed to fight bacteria and viruses. We can\u2019t do smoke particles. Our immune systems just keep working overtime, which can start to affect other organs, like the heart, brain and kidneys. It\u2019s similar to gum disease, that long-term level of inflammation. The same thing happens when we\u2019re exposed to this smoke. <\/span>
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<\/span>So what you\u2019re saying is that our bodies have evolved to respond to our environment\u2014just not this level of environmental ruin. <\/b>
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<\/b>It\u2019s one thing to stand near a campfire every so often and get smoke in your eyes, which is very irritating. We can walk away from that; we can\u2019t walk away from these fires. It\u2019s getting to the point where you\u2019re only going to be able to avoid them if you move somewhere else. <\/span>
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<\/b>Is inhaling wildfire smoke somehow worse for the body than breathing in garden-variety summer smog?<\/b>
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<\/span>It\u2019s not clear that it\u2019s worse than smog, but it\u2019s just as bad. <\/span>One of the main things I study is the impact of air quality on the body, and wildfire smoke is the main issue contributing to levels of air pollution in Canada right now. We can clearly see the negative effects of wildfire smoke on the lungs, but there was some hope that it wouldn\u2019t be as severe as the impact of urban air pollution. More and more, the evidence is showing that it\u2019s just as hazardous as pollution from traffic or industrial sources.\u00a0 <\/span>
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<\/b>The difference between the types of smoke exists at the particle level. If we burn coal, it has a certain chemical signature. With wildfire smoke, the particles contain much more organic material, which is due to all the vegetation that\u2019s being burned. The chemical makeup then reacts with the atmosphere, so the smoke composition changes the further it is from the fire source. When fires are smouldering, we actually tend to see more particles than if it\u2019s burning very, very hot. It\u2019s hard to generalize, but the real problem seems to be the <\/span>intensity<\/span><\/i> of the fires. In a typical polluted city, air quality doesn\u2019t vary that much from one day to the next. In the case of wildfires, we get this sudden massive amount of smoke, with levels 50 or 100 times higher than what we\u2019re used to.\u00a0 <\/span>
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<\/span>Can you give me a real-life example of how this quick-onset intensity can be dangerous?<\/b>
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<\/span>We know that air pollution can have effects on pregnancy, like lower birth weight and a greater likelihood of premature births. If a pregnant person is living in a city, they\u2019re exposed to that every day. Now imagine that they\u2019re living in a city that experiences a massive smoke episode because of a wildfire. If the smoke coincides with a critical window in that fetus\u2019s development, that could be devastating. <\/span>
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<\/span>Who else is especially vulnerable to a sudden smoke episode?<\/b>
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<\/b>People with pre-existing conditions. A smoke episode can be a tipping point for people with a baseline level of sensitivity. For people with asthma, it can trigger an attack. Smoke can worsen the severity of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and can set off heart attacks and strokes. It can throw the bodies of diabetes patients out of whack. It can also worsen ear infections and cases of COVID and the flu. We know that generic forms of air pollution can lead to the development of these diseases, but we never used to worry about fires, which used to be a one-week event once a year. It\u2019s\u00a0not clear yet whether someone who lives in a place where they\u2019re exposed to wildfire smoke every single year will have their life shortened.<\/span>
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<\/span>I\u2019d imagine that, as these fires approach major cities, there will be an issue with human-made structures burning\u2014and the chemicals that they give off. Is that accurate? <\/b>
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<\/b>At this point, it\u2019s not a huge concern. By the time houses are burning, there are usually no people around to inhale that smoke. When it <\/span>does<\/span><\/i> become a concern is when people re-enter affected communities. Materials from burnt structures leave deposits in the ground. A few years ago, when the fire went through Fort McMurray, there was a lot of attention given to the soil\u2014specifically, the heavy metals and plastics and electronics that were deposited in it. In these cases, it\u2019s standard to do a lot of testing and remove about a foot of soil off the top as a precaution.<\/span>
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<\/b>Aside from the physical effects, I\u2019m sure all the scary visuals we\u2019re seeing outside and on the news<\/a>\u2014the hazy skies, blurred sun\u2014and general disaster-movie feel of things can\u2019t be having a positive effect on Canadians\u2019 mental and emotional wellbeing, right?<\/b>
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<\/b>So far, the immediate effects of the fire are hurting a small number of people, but evacuations are a growing concern, especially among Indigenous communities. Evacuations can be very disruptive and cause long-standing mental-health issues\u2014that upending of social<\/a> structures, and having to stay stuck in a motel in Winnipeg for two months while homes are rebuilt. This is just anecdotal, but when we have major smoke events in Vancouver, you hear people talking about the apocalyptic feeling: of the orange clouds, of not being able to see the sun. It\u2019s certainly not something that makes people happy, and I don\u2019t want to say they\u2019re complacent, but there\u2019s less of a mental-health hit as people get used to the new reality\u2014which is a sad thing. That said, there\u2019s definitely a new uptick in climate anxiety, where people are not having children for fear of what kind of world they\u2019d be bringing them into. We\u2019ve also seen an increase in anxiety and exhaustion in health care workers because of fire events. <\/span>
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<\/span>Even if we won\u2019t understand the true damage of these smoke episodes on our bodies for a long time, what do you expect the toll will be on the health care system in the interim? <\/b>
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<\/span>We\u2019re already seeing that. During a smoke event, we experience increases in visits to ERs and family doctors, more hospitalizations and more prescriptions being filled. We\u2019ve seen pharmacies in smaller communities run out of medications during smoke events. One of the things public-health organizations are really trying to communicate is how much of that is avoidable if people with pre-existing conditions manage their diseases in advance. Every spring, before fire season, we put out public service announcements that say things like, \u201cMake sure you have enough medication on hand!\u201d A lot still needs to be done in terms of just increasing public education so that people are prepared. But individuals can also take precautions in their own homes. <\/span>
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<\/span>So it\u2019s not a matter of learning to live with it\u2014people can actually make moves to protect themselves?<\/b>
<\/b>
<\/b>Yes. We strongly recommend that people who have pre-existing conditions, are pregnant or have kids (and can afford it) get an air cleaner or better filtration system for their homes. If they can\u2019t afford it, many cities have clean air shelters, which are usually community spaces where people can go to experience better air quality. These are mostly located out west, but I think people are going to become more aware of them in eastern parts of Canada soon. <\/span>
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<\/span>That just goes to show that you really can\u2019t escape the effects of a fire, even if you\u2019re inside.<\/b>
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<\/span>Being indoors helps, but closing up your windows without air conditioning, in a fire zone, can obviously be really hot.<\/span>
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<\/span>This interview has been edited for length and clarity.<\/span><\/i>
<\/span><\/p><\/div>\n