Wildfires Kill An Additional 15,000 People
Tens of thousands of people were killed by wildfires from 2002 and 2020. However, climate change added to the total number of people who perished.
15,000 of the 164,000 wildfire deaths would not have occurred without global warming. Oregon State University reports, “The researchers calculate that 15,000 lives were lost because rising temperatures and drier landscapes made fires larger or more intense. The average annual death rate came to 5.14 per 100,000 people – roughly twice the national rate from hurricanes and other tropical cyclones.”
Oregon And Washington
The most damage was done in California, Oregon, and Washington. The study looked at “…about 44,000 documented fire-smoke events dating back to 1958, then used the subset from 2006 onward to match modern satellite and ground-sensor coverage.”
Air quality has improved in the US over the last several decades, particularly in large population areas like LA. Most of the regulations passed to improve air quality were in the 1970s, and based on data, the solutions worked.
The new study shows that while city air may have improved, the air around wildfires has not. In fact, it has become more toxic.
More from ClimateCrisis 247
- Climate Change Ruins Plane Flights
- How Wildfire Smoke Becomes More Deadly
- 29,000 Buildings Sinking Into The Ground
- Trump Wants More Nuclear Power
