Washington could face rise in smoke deaths
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Photo illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios. Photo: Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
Wildfire smoke could cause tens of thousands more deaths annually across the U.S., including in Washington, without protective measures, a new study warns.
Why it matters: The grim findings are among the strongest evidence yet of the harmful effects of climate change, the study's authors say.
- Under the worst climate scenarios, wildfire smoke could cause more than 70,000 excess deaths per year by 2050, per the study.
- "The impacts are much larger than anything else that has been measured," Marshall Burke, an environmental economist at Stanford University who contributed to the study, told the New York Times.
What they did: The research team used 20 years' worth of death records, satellite and ground data and climate models to study the relationship between exposure to wildfire smoke and mortality.
Zoom in: Washington alone could see up to 1,443 excess deaths per year by midcentury, according to the research.
- This year's wildfire season in Washington has been mild, but Seattle is no stranger to smoke inundation.
- When the Bolt Creek fire burned in 2022, Seattle was listed as having some of the worst air quality in the world.
- An air quality alert was in effect for part of last week across much of Puget Sound as wildfire smoke drifted across the Cascades.
What they're saying: "Our research suggests that the health impacts of climate-driven wildfire smoke could be among the most important and costly consequences of a warming climate in the U.S.," the study's authors wrote.
Yes, but: There are several ways to mitigate the health impacts of wildfire smoke.
- Better forest management could help reduce the severity of wildfires.
- Air filters and protective masks can help shield people from wildfire smoke.
- Cutting climate pollution can lower the risk of large, deadly fires.
The bottom line: "These are projections. They are not what's going to happen, necessarily," Burke told the New York Times.
- "But what happens is a choice, and so these don't have to be an inevitability."