The health effects of wildfire smoke

Worker approaches a blazing wildfire in a forest.

DEOHS wildfire experts are investigating how smoke affects our health and strategies to reduce its impacts

 

DEOHS wildfire smoke experts were featured in a recent webinar hosted by the UW School of Public Health

Wildfires are natural and inevitable in our forestlands. Climate change is making our wildfire seasons longer, hotter and more dangerous.

The UW Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences (DEOHS) has a long history of leading research into the impacts of wildfires on human health.

Through our research and outreach activities, DEOHS faculty and students are building our understanding of how wildfire smoke can damage our health and the best ways to protect people and communities from harm.

Learn about our impact, research and expertise below.

Our impact

Wildfire smoke with mountains in the background and evergreens in the foreground.

Facing wildfire smoke amid COVID-19

Communities need connection to weather wildfire smoke and climate change, but the pandemic is making it harder to come together

LEARN MORE
Portrait of Nicole Errett

Master of disaster

DEOHS Lecturer Nicole Errett is this year’s Outstanding Faculty Mentor

LEARN MORE
A woman in a purple shirt smiles against an outdoor backdrop of trees and mountains.

Landing her dream job

2020 Outstanding Master’s student Kaitlyn Kelly credits her mentors with helping launch her career in environmental health

LEARN MORE
Portrait of Alexa Yadama with trees in the background

Finding beauty in the details

This scholar and ultimate frisbee star is using science to protect people’s health

LEARN MORE
A woman in a bike helmet looks out over a lake toward wildfire smoke in the distance

The odds of death from wildfire smoke

New UW study finds increase in risk of dying in the days after exposure to wildfire smoke

LEARN MORE
Building debris scattered across a neighborhood after Hurricane Dorian

On the ground in disaster's wake

DEOHS researcher Nicole Errett says disasters offer lessons on how to prepare, respond and recover from future extreme events—if you move fast

LEARN MORE

In the news

Fuel to the fire: How climate change makes wildfire season worse
June 18, 2024 | MinnPost | Featured: Alison Cullen View

California wildfire smoke impacts Indigenous communities nearly 2x more than expected
March 1, 2024 | EcoWatch | Featured: Joan Casey View

Risk of wildfire smoke in long-term care facilities is worse than you'd think
January 22, 2024 | CBS News | Featured: Savannah D'Evelyn View

How wildfires can spread cancer-causing chemicals
December 12, 2023 | Washington Post | Featured: Joel D. Kaufman View

Study: Western U.S. wildfires undo 2 decades of air quality progress
December 4, 2023 | Axios | Featured: Jeremy J Hess View