WEBVTT

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JOHN YANG: Last month,
even before summer began,

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smoke from Canadian wildfires
triggered air quality
alerts in the upper Midwest

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and Great Plains and at the same
time, fires in Mexico affected
air quality along the Gulf

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Coast from Texas to Florida.
It all brought back memories
of last year's record setting

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fires in Canada that set a
haze of smoke drifting over
the Midwest and east coast.

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Smoke from wildfires hundreds
of miles away is still ahead
threat. A recent National

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Bureau of Economic Research
analysis says it contributes
to nearly 16,000 deaths a year.

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Laura Kate Bender leads the
Healthy Air Campaign for the

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American Lung Association. Laura
Kate what is in wildfire smoke
that makes it so hazardous?

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LAURA KATE BENDER, American
Lung Association: One
of the main components
of wildfire smoke that's

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so dangerous is fine
particle pollution. These
tiny bits of stuff can
get deep into your lungs,

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and if they're small
enough, they can even
get into your bloodstream
when they cause a host

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of health harms. There's a
bunch of other harmful chemicals
and wildfire smoke too,

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particularly if it's burning
houses, cars and other
things from built structures.

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JOHN YANG: Is it just as
dangerous if the fire is
hundreds of miles away,

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or if the fire is
down the street?

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LAURA KATE BENDER: Neither
is safe. It can change
the composition. It can
change the mix. But the

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fact remains that people,
whether close to the
fire or far away, should
both take precautions.

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JOHN YANG: What are the
health threats? What
can wildfire, inhaling
wildfire smoke bring on?

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LAURA KATE BENDER: What
people might experience
during the smoke event is
they might have burning

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eyes, a burning throat, coughing
or wheezing. If you have asthma,
COPD or another lung disease,

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you could actually have
an exacerbation. People
can have heart attacks
and strokes, and it goes

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all the way up to premature
death. So there can
be some really serious
health consequences.

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JOHN YANG: Premature death from
illness brought on by the smoker

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from the trauma breathing
in the smoke at the moment?

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LAURA KATE BENDER: We know
that particle pollution

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itself can cause premature
death from both short term
and long term exposures,

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and we know that wildfire smoke
can exacerbate existing lung
and heart disease and cause some

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of those health impacts that
can send you to the hospital
or even cause premature death.

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JOHN YANG: What should people
do to protect themselves?

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LAURA KATE BENDER: People
can take steps before, during
and after a wildfire. Before,

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you should get in the habit
of checking your air quality.
Airnow.gov is a great place to

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do it. It's also on weather
reports. People can also prepare
now, for example, if they

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think they're going to get smoke
this summer again, they might
want to buy an air cleaner,

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a device that they can use
that doesn't add pollution to
the air, that just filters it.

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And then, in the event
of a fire, people should
stay out of the smoke.
If you're in your home,

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you can run that air
cleaner in a closed off
room to create as much of
a clean space as possible.

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You can make sure your air
conditioner, if you have
central AC, is recirculating,

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not pulling air in from the
outside. You can readjust your
plans. If you have exercise

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outdoors plans that day, for
example, that would be a good
day to move that indoors.

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JOHN YANG: Even if you
live hundreds of miles
away from where wildfires

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are likely to take place.
These are precautions
you should be taking?

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LAURA KATE BENDER:
Absolutely if smoke is in
the forecast. You know, I
think myself and many others

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experienced after thinking
of wildfires as more of
a West Coast problem.
Here in the DC area,

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we had days with hazardous
levels of air pollution, and
I, as someone with asthma,

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absolutely changed my
routine to make sure
that I wasn't exercising
outdoors on those days.

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JOHN YANG: Mentioned people
with asthma. Are there

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other any other populations who
need to be particularly careful?

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LAURA KATE BENDER:
Wildfire smoke can impact
health for anyone. But if
you are an older adult,

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if you are a child, if you're
pregnant, if you spend a lot of
time outdoors, either working

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or exercising, or if you have
an underlying condition like
a lung or a heart disease,

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those are some of the
things that can put you at
greater risk of health harm.

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JOHN YANG: It can affect
anybody. But is there
evidence that any groups

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are disproportionately affected?

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LAURA KATE BENDER:
Unfortunately, we
know, as with so many
air pollution issues,

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that communities of color
and low income communities
tend to be at greater risk.

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JOHN YANG: Why is that?

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LAURA KATE BENDER:
Unfortunately, histories
of redlining, other
practices that have left

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people with polluting
sources close to their
neighborhoods that creates a lot

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of overlapping risk factors. We
also know that people might be
more likely to work outdoors,

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be less likely to have
central air conditioning
or a car that they can

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keep the windows closed and
the AC on. And so there's a
lot of factors that could put

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people at greater risk of not
just exposure, but also health
harms from those exposures.

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JOHN YANG: And I know the
American Lung Association

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has ideas or suggestions
about what can be done
to mitigate these dangers

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and the fires themselves.
What would the Lung
Association like to see done?

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LAURA KATE BENDER: For
individuals, everybody
can and should take steps

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to protect themselves.
We have resources at
lung.org/wildfire.
Folks can also

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use the website I mentioned
earlier, airnow.gov to
look up their air quality.

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Policy makers at every
level also have a role
to play. Number one,

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we know that climate
change is making wildfire
risk worse, so continued
action on climate change,

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implementing the policies
we have to clean up our
cars and our power plants

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and doing more will help
make this problem less likely
to get worse in the future.

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One more policy recommendation
is the use of prescribed
fire. It's a tough trade off,

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but we know that prescribed fire
under the right circumstances,

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can help make catastrophic
wildfires less likely.

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JOHN YANG: Controlled fires sort
of burning away the underbrush.

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LAURA KATE BENDER: Yes,
and there's steps that
we can take to make that

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less risky for lung health.
It's an unfortunate trade off,

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but it can help make lung
health better over the long term
under the right circumstances.

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JOHN YANG: Laura Kate
Bender of the American
Lung Association,
thank you very much.

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LAURA KATE BENDER:
Thanks for having me.