HEALTH & FITNESS
B2 — THE OBSERVER & BAKER CITY HERALD
SATURDAY, JULY 24, 2021
Wildfi re smoke: Who’s most at risk?
Smoke from western wildfires has spread across much of the country
By MATTHEW BROWN
The Associated Press
BILLINGS, Montana —
Smoke from wildfi res in the
western U.S. and Canada is blan-
keting much of the continent,
including thousands of miles
away on the East Coast. And
experts say the phenomenon
is becoming more common as
human-caused global warming
stokes bigger and more intense
blazes.
Pollution from smoke reached
unhealthy levels this week in
communities from Washington
state to Washington, D.C.
Get used to it, researchers say.
“These fi res are going to be
burning all summer,” said Uni-
versity of Washington wild-
fi re smoke expert Dan Jaff e. “In
terms of bad air quality, every-
where in the country is to going
to be worse than average this
year.”
Growing scientifi c research
points to potential long-term
health damage from breathing in
microscopic particles of smoke.
Authorities have scrambled to
better protect people from the
harmful eff ects but face chal-
lenges in communicating risk
to vulnerable communities and
people who live very far away
from burning forests.
Why so much smoke and
how dangerous is it?
Decades of aggressive fi re
fi ghting allowed dead trees and
other fuels to build up in forests.
Now climate change is drying
the landscape, making it easier
for fi res to ignite and spread
even as more people move into
fi re-prone areas.
The number of unhealthy air
quality days recorded in 2021
by pollution monitors nation-
wide is more than double the
number to date in each of the
last two years, according to fi g-
ures provided to the Associated
Press by the Environmental Pro-
Paul Kuroda-Zuma Press/TNS
The Lava Fire, near Mount Shasta and Lake Shastina in Siskiyou County, California.
tection Agency. Wildfi res likely
are driving much of the increase,
offi cials said.
The amount of smoke wild-
fi res spew stems directly from
how much land burns — more
than 4,100 square miles in the
U.S. and 4,800 square miles in
Canada so far in 2021. That’s
behind the 10-year average for
this time of year for both nations,
but forecasters warn conditions
could worsen as a severe drought
affl icting 85% of the West
intensifi es.
Wildfi re smoke contains hun-
dreds of chemical compounds,
and many can be harmful in
large doses. Health offi cials use
the concentration of smoke par-
ticles in the air to gauge the
severity of danger to the public.
In bad fi re years over the past
decade, infernos across the West
emitted more than a million
tons of the particles annually,
according to U.S. Forest Service
research.
Scientists link smoke expo-
sure with long-term health prob-
lems including decreased lung
function, weakened immune sys-
tems and higher rates of fl u. In
the short term, vulnerable people
can be hospitalized and some-
times die from excessive smoke,
according to physicians and
public health offi cials.
When communities burn, the
smoke can be especially haz-
ardous. The 2018 fi re in Par-
adise, California that killed
85 people and torched 14,000
houses also generated a thick
plume blanketing portions of
Northern California for weeks.
Smoke from burning houses and
buildings contains more toxic
plastics and other manufactured
materials as well as chemicals
stored in garages.
Where are the fi res that are
aff ecting us?
Almost 80 large wildfi res are
now burning across the U.S.,
including 19 in Montana. The
largest — Southern Oregon’s
Bootleg Fire — has grown to 618
square miles. That’s half the size
of Rhode Island, yet fewer than
200 houses and other structures
have been confi rmed as lost
because the fi re is burning in a
sparsely populated area.
More than 200 fi res are
burning in Manitoba and
Ontario, according to Canadian
offi cials.
Weather patterns and fi re
intensity determine who gets hit
by smoke. Huge fi res generate so
much heat that they can produce
their own clouds that funnel
smoke high into the atmosphere.
“It just carries across the
country and slowly spreads out,
forming sort of this haze layer
in the sky,” said meteorologist
Miles Bliss with the National
Weather Service in Medford.
The combined plume from
Canada and the U.S. largely
passed over parts of the Mid-
west this week before settling to
ground level across an area that
stretches from Ohio northeast
to New England and south to
the Carolinas, air pollution data
shows.
Health eff ects can occur thou-
sands of miles from the fl ames.
The smoke loses its tell-tale odor
but remains a potential hazard
even when it drifts that far, said
Jeff Pierce, an atmospheric scien-
tist at Colorado State University.
“It’s certainly unhealthy,”
Pierce said of the air along the
East Coast in recent days. “If
you have asthma or any sort of
respiratory condition, you want
to be thinking about changing
your plans if you’re going to be
outside.”
People who live close to fi res
are more likely to be prepared
and take precautions, while
those who live farther away
unwittingly remain exposed,
according to a recent study by
Colorado State University epide-
miologist Sheryl Magzamen and
Pierce.
How do I protect myself and
my health?
Listen for warnings about
smoke and, if advised, avoid out-
door activities to reduce expo-
sure. Keep doors and windows
closed, and run an air fi lter to
clean inside air. Face masks
can protect against breathing in
smoke. As with COVID-19, most
eff ective are N95 masks because
they are designed to block the
smallest particles.
An online, interactive smoke
map launched by the EPA and
the U.S. Forest Service last year
on a pilot basis has drawn mil-
lions of viewers. To reach people
more quickly, offi cials are con-
sidering using mobile phone
push notifi cations that would
alert users when heavy smoke
could inundate their communi-
ties, according to agency spokes-
woman Enesta Jones.
C lassifieds
Published by The Observer & Baker City Herald - Serving Wallowa, Union and Baker Counties
PLACING YOUR AD IS EASY...Union, Wallowa, and Baker Counties
Phone La
Grande - 541-963-3161 • Baker City - 541-523-3673
On-Line:
www.lagrandeobserver.com
www.bakercityherald.com
SATURDAY, JULY 24, 2021
Email:
Classifieds@lagrandeobserver.com
Classifieds@bakercityherald.com
110 Announcements
110 Announcements
DEADLINES:
LINE ADS:
Tuesday: 8:30am Monday
Thursday: 8:30 am Wednesday
Saturday: 8:30 am Friday
DISPLAY ADS:
2 Days Prior to
Publication Date
110 Announcements
To Place a Classified Ad
Please email your contact information and
the content to be included in the ad to:
classifieds@bakercityherald.com
If you are unable to email please call:
THE DEADLINE
for placing a
CLASSIFIED AD
is 4:00 P.M.
TWO BUSINESS DAYS
BEFORE PUBLICATION
Publication Days:
Tuesday,Thursday,Saturday
(541) 523-3673
Deadlines for Classified Ads
4:00 PM two days prior to publication
Tuesday Publication..........Friday by 4 PM
Thursday Publication.....Tuesday by 4 PM
Saturday Publication....Thursday by 4 PM
O
PULL TABS
ACCEPTED
AT THE FOLLOWING
BAKER CITY LOCATIONS
ut of Work?
No worr
ies.
We’ve got our eye out for you
in the classifieds.
o in
er
out and z
b.
Check us
ew jo
on a n
541-523-2673 Baker City | 541-963-3161 La Grande
∙
∙
∙
∙
∙
∙
∙
∙
∙
∙
∙
∙
∙
Baker City Herald
Dollar Tree
Black’s Distributing
Ryder Bros
VFW
Baker Elk’s Lodge
Main Event
Lefty’s Tap House
Little Bagel Shop
Baker City Fire Dept.
Haines Sell-Rite
Idle Hour
Salvation Army