February 2025 Newsletter
For those who have attended our EMA IMPACT Summits, you know that Dr. Jay Lemery, co-director of the Climate & Health Program, is at the forefront of connecting climate change with public health. So it's no surprise he was one of the first people we contacted regarding the devastating wildfires in our hometown of Los Angeles.
We spoke with Dr. Jay to learn about wildfires' immediate and long-term effects on public health.
How do climate disasters like the wildfires in Los Angeles contribute to or exacerbate public health issues?
There's a lot to unpack, but the first thing to note is that wildfires are now occurring more frequently, with longer seasons and more intense fires. Climate change is worsening this.
For example, the wildfires in the Palisades have caused significant destruction, including the loss of homes and infrastructure.
Such events lead to physical trauma, but even more concerning is the mental health impact. The displacement and uncertainty people face are major health issues. The trauma of forced migration and the stress it causes can be just as significant as physical injuries.
Additionally, people displaced by these fires often struggle to find stable housing, impacting their finances, health, and overall well-being. A critical factor here is the disruption of access to healthcare. When weather events force people to leave their homes, they lose access to local pharmacies, doctors, and hospitals, which disrupts the management of chronic health conditions. While this is harder to quantify, it's essential to the overall health impact.
Finally, there's the direct loss of life. In the Palisades fire, for instance, there were fatalities. The destruction leads to both morbidity and mortality, further exacerbating public health concerns.
Wildfires release a variety of airborne pollutants, including particulate matter and chemicals. What are the long-term health risks of inhaling these pollutants, especially for vulnerable groups like children, older people, and those with pre-existing respiratory conditions?
What we also see with wildfires is air quality degradation, which happens over swaths the size of a state or several states. Think about the wildfires in Quebec affecting the whole New York City region. In Denver, we were often in the summer, and the air quality was horrible because of wildfires in adjacent states, and that was hundreds, maybe even thousands of miles away.
That's a lot of impact from wildfires. As I'm sure you know, wildfires release much pollution, particulate matter, and chemicals. What are the long-term health risks of inhaling these pollutants, especially for vulnerable groups like children, older people, and those with pre-existing respiratory conditions?
The health risks include reactive airway disease. If you're oxygen-dependent, that can throw you into crisis. I was in India for two weeks, and people who are on oxygen often come into the emergency room complaining of chest pain, shortness of breath, or even diabetic complications. We don't always attribute that to inhaling poor air quality for a long time.
So, when we think about this, we see it as a disease of vulnerability, particularly for the elderly, the physiologically vulnerable, or those with comorbidities. We also see it affecting people with socio-economic vulnerability because they're the ones who live next to highways and intersections, constantly exposed to exhaust from automobile and truck traffic.
How can cities like Los Angeles better prepare for and mitigate the public health risks of increasing wildfire (and climate disaster) frequency due to climate change?
Wildfires are a thorny issue. A lot of the problem is forest management. We know that warmer temperatures are creating drier forests. This gets a little dodgy, but forest management is integral to that. Ensuring the forest isn't full of dry kindling and doing controlled burns are key.
Of course, there's zoning and housing. We like to live where we want to live. It's considered the American dream and freedom, but the truth is, we have to reimagine how we live in these areas. People won't do it unless forced to, and it will ultimately come from insurance companies saying they won't insure your house. So much of it is smart zoning, legislation, and understanding the communal costs of living next to wildland fire areas.
From an environmental standpoint, how do wildfires impact local ecosystems, and can the toxins left behind in the soil and air contribute to environmental health risks that indirectly affect human populations over time?
From an environmental standpoint, how do wildfires impact local ecosystems? In this case, the local ecosystem was wildfire-prone, and therein lies the risk.
It's about where people live, thinking about the fuel that will fuel the fires. The more significant issue is the world's warming. How do we continue to address the source, which is more carbon and greenhouse gases, and a warmer world?
