Natural Disasters: Wildfires
Human Health & the Environment
Dr. Alicia M. Rich
Tue Sep 16, 2025
Human Health & the Environment
Tue Sep 16, 2025
Natural Disasters: Wildfires
Immediate/Direct Hazards
- Burn injuries & fatalities
- from flames, radiant heat, entrapment
- Trauma
- during evacuation (vehicle crashes, falls, stress-related events)
- Acute smoke exposure
- respiratory distress, asthma attacks, COPD exacerbations
- Firefighting & responder risks
- heat stress, smoke inhalation, physical injury.
Water, Soil & Food Systems
- Water contamination
- Ash and debris runoff into reservoirs, rivers, groundwater.
- Chemicals from burned infrastructure (plastics, metals).
- Soil erosion
- downstream flooding, sediment loads.
- Food insecurity
- if agricultural areas burn (loss of crops, livestock, pasture).
Infrastructure & Access to Care
- Healthcare disruption
- clinics, hospitals evacuated/damaged; staff displaced.
- Power outages
- loss of refrigeration for medications, oxygen concentrators, dialysis.
- Transportation blockages
- hinder access to emergency care.
- Shelter quality
- overcrowding, poor ventilation, increased risk of infectious disease.
Air Quality & Smoke
- Fine particulate matter (PM2.5, PM10)
- deep lung penetration, systemic inflammation.
- Gases
- carbon monoxide, ozone, nitrogen oxides, volatile organics.
- Sensitive populations
- children, older adults, pregnant individuals, people with chronic lung/heart disease
- Geographic spread
- smoke plumes travel hundreds–thousands of miles → health impacts far beyond burn zone