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

Wildfire Smoke Rule

A study of the Washington state Wildfire Smoke Rule to protect outdoor worker health funded by the UW Harry Bridges Center for Labor Studies

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Three-part image including photos of a woman holding an air pollution monitor outside, two people in masks and face shields in a lab holding water samples, and firefighters fighting a wildfire.

Our most-read stories of 2021

Collaboration, community health and clean air: counting down our top 10 blog posts of 2021

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Two kids bike and one kid walks through flood water with a yellow shuttered building in the background.

Climate change sounds ‘code red’ for health

Climate crisis gravely threatens human health, according to new Lancet Countdown report coauthored by DEOHS researchers

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Two-photo collage. Left-hand photo shows Joanne Medina in Army uniform with her husband and their three children standing in front of a cake. Right-hand photo shows Medina seated in a University of Washington t-shirt.

Serving her country through public health

DEOHS MPH student Joanne Medina has spent nearly 10 years promoting environmental health in the US Army

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Man with a University of Washington baseball cap on looking out the window of a train.

Tracking air pollution from space

DEOHS postdoctoral fellow Jianzhao Bi honored by International Society of Exposure Science for remote sensing of air pollution

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picture of wildfire smoke with the words 'special feature' over it

“The risk is real”

Breathing wildfire smoke isn’t just unhealthy—it can be deadly. DEOHS works with partners across the Northwest to get the word out to those most at risk.

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In the news

What wildfire smoke means for your health
January 9, 2025 | Washington Post | Featured: Joel D. Kaufman View

Exposure to wildfire smoke is linked with higher risk of dementia, UW study shows
January 3, 2025 | Oregon Public Broadcasting | Featured: Joan Casey View

Study links wildfire smoke and dementia risk. What does it mean for the North?
December 19, 2024 | Yukon News | Featured: Joan Casey View

Breathing wildfire smoke may greatly increase the risk of dementia
December 11, 2024 | Consumer Affairs | Featured: Joan Casey View

Wildfire smoke exposure and dementia risk
December 10, 2024 | National Institutes of Health | Featured: Joan Casey View