wildfire smoke

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Introduction

A type-of or component of air pollution derived from wildfires

incomplete combustion of cellulose, lignin, resins, waxes, sugars, & inorganic salts found in wood, grasses, shrubs & other plant matter

heterogeneous mixture of gaseous & particulate components
- NO2, NO, CO, ozone (O3 from sunlight), PM2.5
if wildfires move into communities, additional components from plastics & other man made materials become part of the smoke

↑ Hadley MB, Henderson SB, Brauer M, Vedanthan R. Protecting Cardiovascular Health From Wildfire Smoke. Circulation. 2022;146(10):788-801 PMID: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36067276 https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.121.058058
↑ Xu R, Yu P, Abramson MK et al N Engl J Med. 2020. Nov 26;383(22):2173-2181 Wildfires, Global Climate Change, and Human Health PMID: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33034960 https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMsr2028985
↑ Schneider SR, Lee K, Santos G, Abbatt JPD. Air Quality Data Approach for Defining Wildfire Influence: Impacts on PM2.5, NO2, CO, and O3 in Western Canadian Cities. Environ Sci Technol. 2021 Oct 19;55(20):13709-13717. PMID: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34609856 https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.1c04042
↑ Lei Y, Lei TH, Lu C et al Wildfire Smoke: Health Effects, Mechanisms, and Mitigation. Environ. Sci. Technol. 2024, 58, 48, 21097-21119 https://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/acs.est.4c06653
↑ PYE HOT, Xu L, Henderson BH et al Evolution of Reactive Organic Compounds and Their Potential Health Risk in Wildfire Smoke. Environ. Sci. Technol. 2024, 58, 44, 19785-19796 https://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/acs.est.4c06187
↑ Meyer M, Meyers L Where There's Fire, There's Smoke. Wildfire smoke has become a public health crisis. MedPage Today. Feb 18, 2025 https://www.medpagetoday.com/opinion/calamities/114257