Longer wildfire seasons means more bad air days

Each year in Utah and most other western states in America, the period from July through October is considered wildfire season because it typically represents the peak times atmospherically for such hazardous phenomenon. Besides the danger to property, wildfires also represent a significant health concern to areas impacted by smoke from the blazes.

Metro areas along the Wasatch Front can be particularly affected by residual haze from smoke originating miles away. Recently, the local air quality has worsened due to smoke emitting from the Yellow Lake Fire in the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest. The blaze has charred more than 30,000 acres and is approximately 25% contained.

Dr. Kimberley Shoaf, professor in the U’s Division of Public Health and Associate Chief for Community Engaged Scholarship, says the people who are most vulnerable during these bad air periods can face potentially severe consequences.

“While everybody has some risk from poor air quality, some individuals are at higher risk of poor health outcomes,” she explained. “These include those at the extremes of age (the elderly and very young) as well as people who have pre-existing health conditions such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), or cardiovascular disease.”

She suggests getting in the habit of monitoring the air quality, particularly during wildfire season which has extended due to climate change. (For more health tips and information, click here.)

While the smoky air can result in picturesque sunsets in the evening, Dr. Jon Lin, professor in the Department of Atmospheric Sciences and the Associate Director of the Wilkes Center for Climate Science & Policy, says the environmental effects of the changing climate are exacerbated by longer fire seasons.

“Recent analysis that showed that the wildfire season in the western U.S. have typically been about 100 days long,” he said. “I don’t have the exact number but it I know it’s changed and gotten much longer.”

He noted that among the various ways to mitigate the fire impacts is to perform some forest management in which we could thin some fuels so that it doesn’t burn so catastrophically.

“Then the other tactic is prescribed burns and for a lot of reasons that is also not easy to do,” Lin said. “(Prescribed burns) are fires set intentionally in a controlled manner to thin out the fuels.”

He added that some researchers in atmospheric science are working on predictive fire weather technology using computer models of how the fire interacts with the atmosphere with the long-term goal of trying to prevent disasters from happening. For now, however, in the near term, we can continue to implement measures that can reduce wildfire risks year to year.

“We do have some control if we really do make a serious effort as a society to try to reduce the effects of climate change and reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” Lin said. “Anything we could do would help.”

Coincidentally, this week the University of Utah co-hosted an event called XPRIZE Wildfire, a 4-year, $11 million competition that incentivizes the development of new firefighting technologies with the mission of minimizing wildfires and the damage they cause. The competition aims to improve current wildfire management strategies through technological innovations that “accurately detect and respond to wildfires prior to before they become destructive.”