Wildfire, One of America’s Deadliest disasters, Intensifies

Wildfire is one of America’s worst enemies when it comes to natural disasters. To make it even worse, it has become more frequent and intense. In fact, it is estimated that exposure to wildfire smoke alone will kill 70,000 Americans each year by 2050! What should people do about it?

Unlike other natural disasters, wildfires can impact people greatly, especially in terms of health. “The impacts are much larger than anything else that has been measured,” Dr. Burke said. Recently, researchers have conducted extensive studies, utilizing satellite and ground data, as well as death records, spanning roughly two decades to determine the extent to which wildfire smoke is harming people. “This paper is a wake-up call for people,” Kai Chen, an associate professor at the Yale School of Public Health, who was not involved in the study, had said. “It shows this is a nationwide problem, and it’s tied to climate change.”

After events, researchers have tried many solutions to maybe and try to minimize the impact of wildfires. For example, at the end of July, the Trump administration had proposed withdrawing the endangerment finding. The research scientists had gathered to measure the impact of greenhouse gases on wildfires, which has been used as the legal basis for strict limits on industrial sources of greenhouse gas emissions. Operations will also be unified, such as modernizing tools and training to better protect American citizens from threats of wildfires if they were to escalate somewhere nearer to them.

Nevertheless, listing out possible solutions does not mean it is easy to stop wildfires; it was meant to slow down the process, not to stop them, because for scientists, it is hard to find a specific pattern for wildfires. It leads to one crucial question: Where does a wildfire start? “Where fire happens is kind of a random process,” Minghao Qiu, an assistant professor of atmospheric science and public health at Stony Brook University, had stated. Therefore, , based on historical occurrences and climate conditions.

It is not guaranteed that the harms of wildfire that will harm citizens will happen; it is based on people’s choice, really. People can ignore the warning and get on with their lives, or they can stop and realize the severity of the problem. From the looks of it, everyone should try their best to protect themselves!