Wildfire smoke may cause 3,000 premature deaths due to ravaged historic wildfires in California throughout August and September, as per the new research from Stanford University academics.

According to Daily Mail, there have been more than 8,100 wildfires that burned well over 3.7 million acres this year in California.since August 15. There have been over 7,000 destroyed structures and 26 fatalities when California's fire activity increased.

CA Wildfire Smoke Could Cause Premature Deaths, New Research Says
(Photo : David McNew)
Creek Fire Grows Rapidly Near Shaver Lake, California SHAVER LAKE, CA - SEPTEMBER 8: Embers fall around a photographer as the Creek Fire rapidly expands on September 8, 2020 near Shaver Lake, California. California Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency in five California counties late yesterday as record heatwave temperatures fueled numerous wildfires over the Labor Day weekend. The state of emergency applies to Fresno, Madera and Mariposa, San Bernardino and San Diego counties. The Creek Fire has burned across more than 135,523 acres and is zero percent contained.

On Sunday, the 17,000 firefighters are still at work to fight 25 wildfires in the state. From August 1 to September 10, the wildfires were responsible for at least 1,200 deaths in California that would increase over the next month and reach a total of 3,000 deaths, academics concluded. The researchers calculated and added that the fires were also responsible for the 4,800 ER visits. 

Most of the fatalities were among people aged 65 and older. Besides, most of them live with pre-existing medical conditions, including diabetes, heart disease, and respiratory ailments. 

Marshall Burke, an associate professor of earth system science at Stanford who calculated the impacts, said, 'Clean air is much more important than we realize.'

Burke added that you could see that clean breathing air has vast public health benefits, and dirty breathing air has harmful consequences when looking at a population level. He also described that fatalities due to wildfire smoke are 'hidden deaths.'

"These are people who were probably already sick, but for whom air pollution made them even sicker," Burke said.

Scientists know for decades that soot, technically termed PM2.5 which is among the dangerous types of air pollution. Diesel trucks, fireplaces, power plants, and other sources generate PM2.5. The small particles can travel into the lungs that could even enter the bloodstream when people breathe them. Therefore, wildfire smoke could be hazardous for people who will breathe them in at high concentrations. 

Wildfire smoke causes itchy eyes, coughing, sore throats, and a tight feeling in the chest, for mild levels. The more severe incidents can trigger asthma attacks, heart attacks, respiratory failure, or stroke, specifically in infants, older people, and people with lung and heart problems. 

Smoke levels have broken California's records and even broke federal health standards in the Bay area for 19 days. In the Sacramento Valley, Sierra, and parts of Southern California, air quality was even worse, reaching ten to fifteen times the federal health standard.

On September 9, across Northern California, wildfire smoke turned the skies a strange and sinister orange color. Scientists wrote, "Recent wildfire activity has led to a massive increase in PM2.5 above normal levels."

Scientists reiterated that air quality has been terrible, and the monitoring data bear it out, as anyone who lives in California or has watched the news knows.

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