Environmental Particulate Matter Levels during 2017 Large Forest Fires and Megafires in the Center Region of Portugal: A Public Health Concern?

This work characterizes the dimension and the exceptionality of 2017 large- and mega-fires that occurred in the center region of Portugal through the assessment of their impact on the ambient levels of particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5), retrieved from local monitoring stations, and the associated public health risks. PM10 and PM2.5 concentrations were increased during the occurrence of large fires and megafires, with daily concentrations exceeding the European/national guidelines in 7–14 and 1–12 days of 2017 (up to 704 µg/m3 for PM10 and 46 µg/m3 for PM2.5), respectively. PM10 concentrations were correlated with total burned area (0.500 0.05) and with monthly total burned area/distance2 (0.500 0.05). The forest fires of 2017 took the life of 112 citizens. A total of 474 cases of hospital admissions due to cardiovascular diseases and 3524 cases of asthma incidence symptoms per 100,000 individuals at risk were assessed due to exposure to 2017 forest fires. Real-time and in situ PM methodologies should be combined with protection action plans to reduce public health risks. Portuguese rural stations should monitor other health-relevant pollutants (e.g., carbon monoxide and volatile organic compounds) released from wildfires to allow performing more robust and comprehensive measurements that will allow a better assessment of the potential health risks for the exposed populations.This work was financially supported by European Union (FEDER funds through COMPETE) and National Funds (Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia) [projects UIDB/50006/2020, UID/EQU/00511/2013-LEPABE], by the FCT/MEC with national funds and cofounded by FEDER in the scope of the P2020 Partnership Agreement. This study was also supported by the project “PCIF/SSO/0017/2018- A panel of (bio)markers for the surveillance of firefighter’s health and safety”, funded by Portuguese National Funds through FCT—Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia. M. Oliveira thanks to FCT/MCTES for the CEEC-Individual 2017 Program Contract [CEECIND/03666/2017].info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Evidence on the use of indoor air filtration as an intervention for wildfire smoke pollutant exposure : a summary for health departments

Over the last few decades, the United States has experienced an increase in frequency of intense wildfires. Climate change has likely impacted these events through increased summer and spring temperatures, drier vegetation, decreased precipitation in some areas, and an increased probability of lightning storms.8,14,19 Wildfires have caused billions of dollars in property damage and contributed to an estimated 339,000 premature deaths per year globally.7,30 Wildfires are also associated with negative health outcomes. The smoke from wildfires contains gaseous pollutants and particulate matter which are associated with multiple respiratory and cardiovascular illnesses.24 There is evidence that certain populations are more vulnerable to the wildfire smoke exposure than others, including older adults and infants, pregnant women, people with pre- existing medical conditions, and people of lower socio-economic status.23 Interventions that effectively decrease wildfire smoke exposures can protect these vulnerable populations as well as the health of the general public.This technical document summarizes the available peer-reviewed literature aboutthe effectiveness of air filtration as an intervention to decrease exposure to wildfire smoke and protect health when sheltering indoors. It describes the different types of air filtering technology and metrics for measuring air quality and summarizes the literature on their effectiveness in protecting against the harmful air pollutants in wildfire smoke. Relevant federal and state resources for local health professionals are listed.This review illustrates that proper air filtration is an effective method of reducing certain wildfire smoke pollutants indoors and potentially limiting the risk of negative health impacts associated with exposure to wildfire smoke.CS320255-AWildfire-Air-Filtration-508.pdf20201002

Investigating the Association of Wildfire Specific Fine Particulate Matter Air Pollution Exposure on Respiratory Health Risk

Introduction: Wildfires, intensified by climate change, emit diverse pollutants, including PM2.5, fine particulate matter, which are implicated in respiratory health effects. The pollutant, fine particulate matter, refers to particles with an aerodynamic diameter of 2.5 micrometers or less (PM2.5). PM2.5 particles from wildfires can deeply penetrate the respiratory system and bloodstream, presenting substantial health hazards. Current regulatory frameworks often fail to differentiate between wildfire specific and ambient PM2.5, despite evidence indicating elevated health risks from wildfires. The concept of "smoke waves," representing periods of varying durations and heightened PM2.5 concentrations resulting from wildfires, offers a novel approach to characterizing exposure. This study seeks to examine the association between wildfire specific PM2.5 exposure and respiratory health outcomes.Methods: A time series analysis was conducted to assess the association of wildfire- specific PM2.5 exposure with respiratory health risk by examining respiratory-related hospitalizations and emergency department visits across various zip codes in the years 2017, 2018, and 2020. Daily concentrations of PM2.5 were analyzed alongside daily 6 hospitalization and emergency visit data. The Generalized Estimating Equations (GEE) model with Poisson regression was employed, with the primary exposure variable being wildfire specific PM2.5 exposure and the outcome variable being respiratory health risk. An autoregressive covariance structure (AR (1)) was included, and an offset term was incorporated by taking the logarithm of the total population. Demographic, temporal, and meteorological covariates were accounted for in the main analysis. All statistical analyses were conducted using SAS 9.4 (SAS Institute Inc.). Results: In the primary investigation, a notable positive association was observed between overall respiratory diseases and the presence of wildfire specific PM2.5 particulate matter. This association persisted across various lag periods with relative risk estimates ranging from 1.022 to 1.048 across various lag times. Upon disaggregating the data to examine disease-specific outcomes like asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a consistent positive relationship emerged with wildfire-specific PM2.5 levels for emergency department visits and hospitalizations across all lag periods with relative risk estimates ranging from 1.025 to 1.048 across various lag times. Conclusion: We observed a strong association between wildfire specific PM2.5 exposure and respiratory health outcomes, showing a consistent positive association across different lag periods. Elevated risks were observed for overall respiratory disease, including asthma and COPD. It was also found that personal behaviors may assist in mitigating risk during smoke waves with increased intensity and similar duration. These results support discerning wildfire PM2.5 from ambient levels and highlight the need to further understand this association and its potential consequences

HTAP3 fires: towards a multi-model, multi-pollutant study of fire impacts

Open biomass burning has major impacts globally and regionally on atmospheric composition. Fire emissions include particulate matter, tropospheric ozone precursors, greenhouse gases, as well as persistent organic pollutants, mercury and other metals. Fire frequency, intensity, duration, and location are changing as the climate warms, and modelling these fires and their impacts is becoming more and more critical to inform climate adaptation and mitigation, as well as land management. Indeed, the air pollution from fires can reverse the progress made by emission controls on industry and transportation. At the same time, nearly all aspects of fire modelling – such as emissions, plume injection height, long-range transport, and plume chemistry – are highly uncertain. This paper outlines a multi-model, multi-pollutant, multi-regional study to improve the understanding of the uncertainties and variability in fire atmospheric science, models, and fires’ impacts, in addition to providing quantitative estimates of the air pollution and radiative impacts of biomass burning. Coordinated under the auspices of the Task Force on Hemispheric Transport of Air Pollution, the international atmospheric modelling and fire science communities are working towards the common goal of improving global fire modelling and using this multi-model experiment to provide estimates of fire pollution for impact studies. This paper outlines the research needs, opportunities, and options for the fire-focused multi-model experiments and provides guidance for these modelling experiments, outputs, and analysis that are to be pursued over the next 3 to 5 years. It proposes a plan for delivering specific products at key points over this period to meet important milestones relevant to science and policy audiences

Short-term health effects from outdoor exposure to biomass burning emissions: A review

Biomass burning (BB) including forest, bush, prescribed fires, agricultural fires, residential wood combustion, and power generation has long been known to affect climate, air quality and human health. With this work we supply a systematic review on the health effects of BB emissions in the framework of the WHO activities on air pollution. We performed a literature search of online databases (PubMed, ISI, and Scopus) from year 1980 up to 2020. A total of 81 papers were considered as relevant for mortality and morbidity effects. High risk of bias was related with poor estimation of BB exposure and lack of adjustment for important confounders. PM10 and PM2.5 concentrations originating from BB were associated with all-cause mortality: the meta-analytical estimate was equal to 1.31% (95% CI 0.71, 1.71) and 1.92% (95% CI -1.19, 5.03) increased mortality per each 10 μg m-3 increase of PM10 and PM2.5, respectively. Regarding cardiovascular mortality 8 studies reported quantitative estimates. For smoky days and for each 10 μg m-3 increase in PM2.5 concentrations, the risk of cardiovascular mortality increased by 4.45% (95% CI 0.96, 7.95) and by 3.30% (95% CI -1.97, 8.57), respectively. Fourteen studies evaluated whether respiratory morbidity was adversely related to PM2.5 (9 studies) or PM10 (5 studies) originating from BB. All found positive associations. The pooled effect estimates were 4.10% (95% CI 2.86, 5.34) and 4.83% (95% CI 0.06, 9.60) increased risk of total respiratory admissions/emergency visits, per 10 μg m-3 increases in PM2.5 and PM10, respectively. Regarding cardiovascular morbidity, sixteen studies evaluated whether this was adversely related to PM2.5 (10 studies) or PM10 (6 studies) originating from BB. They found both positive and negative results, with summary estimates equal to 3.68% (95% CI -1.73, 9.09) and 0.93% (95% CI -0.18, 2.05) increased risk of total cardiovascular admissions/emergency visits, per 10 μg m-3 increases in PM2.5 and PM10, respectively. To conclude, a significant number of studies indicate that BB exposure is associated with all-cause and cardiovascular mortality and respiratory morbidity.The systematic review was funded by WHO as part of a Grant Agreement with Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Norway. Angeliki Karanasiou acknowledges support received through the Ramón y Cajal program (grant RYC-2014-16885) of the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities. This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (Excelencia Severo Ochoa, Project CEX2018-000794-S).Peer reviewe