wildfire smoke

A coalition of environmental groups is suing the Environmental Protection Agency, alleging the agency missed a key deadline tied to a stricter national standard for soot pollution. The case could affect air quality protections across the Mountain West.

When wildland firefighters are on prescribed fires, they’re breathing the same smoke and facing many of the same hazards found on wildfires, but they don’t get the same hazard pay. That could soon change.

Using new data, a team of scientists has assembled one of the first comprehensive analyses of emissions from homes burned in wildfires. What they found is that such pollution is serious, and in some cases can exceed emissions from all other human sources.

The Desert Research Institute and NASA to learn more about harmful effects to help communities stay healthy as wildfires are becoming more frequent and severe

The study, published in the journal, Respiratory Research, suggests that wildfire smoke does more than irritate your lungs — it can also affect your mood and mental well‑being.

The Honoring Our Fallen Heroes Act was introduced by Democratic Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar in January, but has received substantial bipartisan support.

The Healthy Lungs for Heroes Act was introduced by Democratic California Senator Adam Schiff and Republican Utah Senator John Curtis. If passed, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and other federal officials would have one year to develop a plan to make “commercially available appropriate respiratory personal protective equipment for wildland firefighters and supporting staff in settings in which smoke exposure surpasses covered permissible exposure limits.”

The tragic Los Angeles fires were a historically destructive disaster, but they also presented a unique opportunity to study the toxic exposures faced by firefighters. New findings point to a heightened risk for serious diseases like lupus.

New research shows that wildfires are a major contributor to ozone pollution, and can significantly exceed the impacts of human-generated emissions.

In recent months, concern about the health risks wildland firefighters face has been growing. Now a major conference exploring that issue has started in Colorado.