How long does wildfire smoke last and is it dangerous?
New ScientistDec 27, 2022
The Facts
As hundreds of wildfires rip across Canada, tens of millions of people in North America were met with ensuing smoke, with both Toronto and New York briefly ranking among the metro areas with the worst air quality in the world between Tuesday and Wednesday.
As of Tuesday afternoon, 228 of Canada’s 415 active fires were deemed out of control. Over 2.2K fires have burned more than 3.3M hectares (~8.1M acres) of land. This is an increase in the 10-year average of roughly 1.6K fires burning around 254K hectares.
The Spin
Narrative A
If millions of acres of land burning to the ground and thousands of people being forced to evacuate weren't evidence enough, maybe the fact that millions of people across North America are inhaling smoke right now will show how dangerous climate change is. As the warming atmosphere dries out our land and ignites more and more wildfires, air quality will only deteriorate and people's physical health will follow suit.
Narrative B
While climate change is likely a factor in these wildfires, the best way to deal with this is to design preventative measures to shrink their scope as much as possible. One potential solution is to turn dead trees into biomass energy before they ignite. Governments should invest in turning these trees into woodchips, which, besides preventing future fires, can also be burned and used to produce heat and electricity.
