Decadal Lessons Learned: The Story of Wildfires, Air Quality, and Environmental Justice

Speaker:  Joseph Wilkins, Assistant Professor, Atmospheric Science, Howard University 

Wildfire risk and severity have recently grown substantially due to climate change and other anthropogenic factors such as increasing development at the wildland-urban interface. Existing research has characterized substantial adverse health impacts from exposure to wildfire-associated smoke. Few existing studies have quantified long-term health impacts from wildfires, and none have used a wildfire-specific long-term dose-response coefficient for mortality, which we have now developed. These findings are critical for guiding societal investments for wildfire prevention and suppression.