The toxic fumes can kill thousands more - every year

 

Forest fires
The toxic fumes can kill thousands more - every year
New study: Small particle from the forest fires is behind

Christina Nordh

Updated 16.09 | Published 15.52

The bushfires in Australia in 2019 and 2020 released a lot of dangerous particles into the air. Here a large grass fire near Bumbalong, south of the Australian capital Canberra. More than 21,500 hectares have burned after the heat from a military helicopter's landing lights started the fire. Photo: Rick Rycroft/AP

Smoke from wildfires could kill an additional 12,000 people each year, according to new research.

Global warming increases the risk for people who inhale smoke in Australia, South America, Europe and parts of Asia in particular, writes The Guardian.

The study, published in Nature climate change and led by Dr Chae Yeon Park from the Nature Institute for Environmental Studies, estimates that close to 100,000 people died each year in the 2010s after inhaling fire smoke containing the small particle PM2. 5, it can enter the lungs and bloodstream.

"Health risks underestimated"

Using four different models, the study's authors from eight countries – including the UK, US, Germany and China – saw that in all cases global warming caused an increasing number of deaths due to people inhaling PM2.5 particles from forest fires.

According to the study, the health risks of forest fires may be underestimated, particles from the fires are more toxic than those from other sources, writes The Guardian.
 

In some regions the temperature increases were the main factor in increasing fire risk, in other regions it was lower humidity that had an effect.

Millions of Australians were exposed to dangerous and long-lasting levels of air pollution during the major bushfires in the summers of 2019 and 2020, according to Professor Hilary Bambrick, director of the National center for epidemiology and population health at the Australian National University.

"Long-term health effects"

- It resulted in hundreds of deaths then and will likely have long-term health effects for many, says Bambrick, who was not involved in this particular study.

- This study highlights just one of many ways in which climate change is harmful to our health. Understanding such effects helps us plan better for the future.

According to another study, led by scientists from the UK and Belgium, global warming is increasing the risk of forest fires – especially in Australia, Siberia and on African savannas.

Visibility for fire trucks is difficult as they drive through smoke at Bumbalong in southeastern Australia on February 1, 2020. Photo: Rick Rycroft/AP