{"id":16279,"date":"2025-06-12T14:59:17","date_gmt":"2025-06-12T14:59:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/?p=16279"},"modified":"2025-06-12T14:59:18","modified_gmt":"2025-06-12T14:59:18","slug":"are-any-of-us-really-ready-for-fire-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/2025\/06\/12\/are-any-of-us-really-ready-for-fire-season\/","title":{"rendered":"Are Any of Us Really Ready for Fire Season?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"By Ben Jealous<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Guest Column<\/em><\/p>\n

The smoke has already arrived. This past week, thick plumes from wildfires in Manitoba and Saskatchewan have drifted into the US, triggering air quality alerts across the Midwest. Cities like Milwaukee, Madison, and Chicago are experiencing\u00a0hazy skies and dangerous air conditions<\/a>, with the Air Quality Index reaching levels unhealthy for sensitive groups.<\/p>\n

Fire has always helped shape our forests, especially in the West. But those forests have evolved around natural frequencies and intensities of fires. What we are seeing now is new. This early-season smoke is a stark reminder that fire season is no longer confined to the West or wild areas, and\u00a0more intense and longer-lasting<\/a>\u00a0fire seasons are the new normal.<\/p>\n

Megan Paxman says she lives “in a state of constant anxiety every wildfire season.” A mother to a son with asthma in Alberta, Canada, she wrote on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s website\u00a0about her experience<\/a>\u00a0on Mother’s Day 2023.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy four-year-old son has been sleepy and unwilling to eat all morning. I notice that the skin between his ribs and at the base of his throat is pulling in between every inhale.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Paxman called the local general health information service, a nurse told her, \u201cget him to the hospital now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe second I get a whiff of that telltale smell, I go into super-watchful mode,\u201d Paxman says. \u201cI’m obsessively checking the local air quality levels and his breathing while watching for haze on the horizon or an orange tint to the light.\u201d<\/p>\n

That haze and orange tint are becoming more familiar for Americans from California to the Great Lakes to the East Coast.<\/p>\n

As of May 30, the US had recorded\u00a0over 27,700 wildfires this year<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 33 percent more than the 10-year average for this time of year. The devastating fires in Southern California this past January reminded us that the areas threatened directly by wildfires are increasing, with major cities no longer safe. The conditions that gave rise to those fires \u2013 including the Palisades and Eaton fire which destroyed more than 18,000 structures and claimed\u00a0at least 30 lives<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 were\u00a0exacerbated by climate change<\/a>. That\u2019s how it is around the world as well, where the global area considered \u201cfire-prone\u201d is\u00a0projected to grow<\/a>\u00a0by 29 percent by the end of the century.<\/p>\n

Aside from fires\u2019 destructive impacts, the health impacts of wildfire smoke are profound. Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) from these fires can penetrate deep into the lungs, leading to respiratory issues, heart problems, and other serious health concerns. Children, the elderly, and individuals with pre-existing conditions are particularly vulnerable. In some areas affected by the recent Canadian wildfires, residents have been advised to stay indoors and limit outdoor activities.<\/p>\n

Rising temperatures, prolonged droughts, high winds, and certain extreme weather events create the perfect conditions for wildfires to ignite and spread rapidly. But despite the growing risks, recent decisions by the Trump administration have undermined our ability to respond effectively.<\/p>\n

Staff and budget cuts to key agencies responsible for forest management and wildfire prevention threaten to leave us even more vulnerable and less prepared. Additionally, harmful legislation like the\u00a0Fix Our Forests Act<\/a>\u00a0threatens to weaken environmental protections and prioritize logging over sustainable forest management that could actually help address forest fires.<\/p>\n

We need a comprehensive approach to address this crisis. This includes investing in forest restoration, supporting fire-resistant \u2013 and resilient \u2013 infrastructure, and policies that drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Public education campaigns can also play a crucial role in promoting fire safety and preparedness.<\/p>\n

There is no safe level of exposure to wildfire smoke. It is\u00a010 times more toxic<\/a>\u00a0to our health than standard air pollution from the burning of fossil fuels, and there’s no safe level of exposure, According to a multinational studies reported in the science journal\u00a0Nature<\/em>, wildfire-specific PM2.5\u00a0increased the risk of hospitalization<\/a>\u00a0for a range of respiratory illnesses from asthma to the flu. That\u2019s especially true for people under age 19 or older than 60. Compared to PM2.5 from other sources, wildfire-specific PM2.5 led to a greater risk of hospitalization for all respiratory diseases.<\/p>\n

Do a quick search online about the impact of wildfire smoke and you\u2019ll see countless articles from public health experts, pediatricians, and other doctors about ways to avoid PM2.5 exposure or the signs that indicate you should see medical care. But isn\u2019t it a better solution to address the actual cause of more, bigger, stronger wildfires, and the deadly pollution they bring? To make it so the air is not so toxic that kids with asthma essentially have to shelter in place deep in their homes during the very months they should be playing outside?<\/p>\n

Communities across the country must come together to demand action. We must hold our leaders accountable and push for policies that prioritize public health and environmental sustainability. The challenges are immense, but with collective effort and determination, we can build a more resilient future.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, preparedness is key.<\/p>\n

Stay informed about local air quality conditions and have an evacuation plan in place. But let\u2019s not forget to support initiatives aimed at eliminating fossil fuels and mitigating the impacts of climate change. Our health, our homes, and our planet depend on it.<\/p>\n

Ben Jealous is the Executive Director of the Sierra Club, former president and CEO of the NAACP and a Professor of Practice at the University of Pennsylvania.<\/em><\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Ben Jealous Guest Column The smoke has already arrived. This past week, thick plumes from wildfires in Manitoba and Saskatchewan have drifted into the US, triggering air quality alerts across the Midwest. Cities like Milwaukee, Madison, and Chicago are experiencing\u00a0hazy skies and dangerous air conditions, with the Air Quality Index reaching levels unhealthy for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55,5,252],"tags":[],"wf_post_folders":[297],"class_list":["post-16279","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-editorial-opinion","category-health","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16279","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16279"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16279\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16280,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16279\/revisions\/16280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16279"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.thetruthtoledo.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=16279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}