Wildfire Smoke - Gets In Your Lungs

Medical Author: Benjamin C. Wedro, MD, FAAEM
Medical Editors: Melissa Conrad Stöppler, MD

The fires raging in California are the lead story on every news outlet in the country. The number of people evacuated and the number of homes destroyed are hard to comprehend. But as the fires die down, the television cameras will move to the next story, and the stories from Southern California will be replaced by the next catastrophe.

In the medical world, the fallout from the fires may be exactly that…fallout. Ash and soot are covering thousands of square miles of land, and my expectation is that those people with asthma and emphysema will soon be affected. While California has been the leader in this country in trying to limit secondhand smoke exposure, Mother Nature hasn't read the laws. Smoking is illegal in public buildings, but just going outside may be too dangerous for many.