Massive wildfires burning worldwide during unprecedented heatwaves are exposing millions to toxic smoke that carries noxious gases and particulate matter. Research shows wildfire smoke is more harmful than normal air pollution, lingering for weeks and traveling thousands of miles. It contains chemicals, metals, plastics, and other synthetics from burned vehicles and buildings, causing greater inflammation and tissue damage. Studies link exposure to increased heart attacks, strokes, asthma emergencies, weakened immunity, poorer surgical outcomes, and even cancer risks. Prenatal exposure may affect placental health and raise autism risk, while cognitive impacts can persist months later. A 2023 study found smoke from fires over 2,100 miles away still triggered heart and lung illnesses.
Massive wildfires are raging around the world during unprecedented heatwaves, blanketing millions of people under pungent haze caused by smoke carrying noxious gases and particulate matter that pose serious health risks.
More toxic than normal air pollution, wildfire smoke can linger in the air for weeks and travel thousands of miles. Wildfires can burn not only vegetation but also vehicles and buildings as well as their contents. Along with particles of soil and biological materials, wildfire smoke often contains traces of chemicals, metals, plastics and other synthetic materials.
In laboratory experiments, wildfire smoke causes more inflammation and tissue damage than air pollution, said Kent Pinkerton, co-director of the Center for Health and the Environment at the University of California, Davis. Studies have linked wildfire smoke with higher rates of heart attacks, strokes, and cardiac arrests, increases in emergency room visits for asthma, weakened immune defenses and poorer survival rates after surgery.
A 2023 identified a spike in heart and lung illnesses that was associated with wildfire smoke originating up to 2,100 miles away.found a link between wildfire exposure and cellular damage in first- and second-trimester placentas. A separate study found that wildfire smoke exposure during the third trimester may raise the risk of an autism diagnosis.
The Statue of Liberty is photographed from the Staten Island Ferry as smoke from wildfires blankets the sky, Thursday, July 16, 2026, in New York.linked wildfire smoke exposure with elevated risks for lung, colorectal, breast, bladder and blood cancer, with the risks increasing along with the level of pollution from the fires. Exposure to the 2018 Camp Fire in California was linked to changes in cognition and brain activity six to 12 months later, also show an increase in fungal infections in the months following wildfire smoke exposure, likely due to spores in the smoke.
A view of the Manhattan skyline as wildfire smoke from Canada causes hazy conditions on July 16, 2026 in New York.
“The bad news is, there’s no safe level” of inhaled particles from wildfire smoke, said Doug Brugge, who chairs the Department of Public Health Sciences at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine. “The higher the exposure, the worse the risks, but even at levels below the national safety standards, these particles can make people sick. ” Any amount of inhaled particles will trigger inflammatory responses in the body. Children, the elderly and people with chronic illnesses are most vulnerable.
Even in healthy adults, some effects of exposure – such as sore throats, excessive phlegm, coughing, headaches and brain fog – can appear immediately and persist long after the smoke plume is gone, said Keith Bein of the Air Quality Research Center at the University of California, Davis. Experts advise wearing N95 masks when wildfire smoke is present and limiting outdoor activities, especially strenuous sports.
The longer you are outside and the harder you breathe, the more pollution you inhale, said Dr. Jasvinder Singh, a lung medicine specialist at Medstar Franklin Square Medical Center in Baltimore. Experts also recommend the use of indoor air purifiers that can trap particles smaller than 2.5 microns. A girl reacts as the New York City skyline and the Empire State Building are seen from the Edge observation deck, obscured by wildfire smoke, on July 16, 2026.
On average, the concentration of wildfire pollutants indoors is about half of what it is outdoors, Singh said. If a building is poorly sealed, the concentration may be up to 70% of what it is outside, he said. Old buildings may expose people to greater amounts of pollution through drafty windows and doors.
The EPA advises that during wildfire smoke events, people avoid indoor activities that put more fine particles into the air, such as smoking cigarettes, frying or broiling food, burning candles or incense, and vacuuming without a HEPA filter. Bein compared indoor wildfire smoke exposure to second-hand tobacco smoke exposure.
“The particles … end up everywhere – on your clothes, on your walls, on surfaces, and they’re still outgassing” – being released into the air – “after the smoke plume is gone,” he said. More frequent wildfires likely linked to climate change mean people will be exposed more often. The health effects over multiple seasons are not yet clear.
“It is hard to make predictions because it is hard to say how many fires people will be exposed to, how long the fires will burn, or what the smoke will contain,” Bein said. Researchers are looking into the long-term effects of smoke particles in water supplies, on crops or ingested by livestock; of urban wildfire smoke; of wildfire exposure in utero; and whether wildfire smoke amplifies the adverse effects of extremely hot weather.
Nutrients carried in wildfire smoke may contribute to downwind algal blooms, which has implications for drinking water reservoirs and lake ecology, The Statue of Liberty is photographed from the Staten Island Ferry as smoke from wildfires blankets the sky, Thursday, July 16, 2026, in New York. A view of the Manhattan skyline as wildfire smoke from Canada causes hazy conditions on July 16, 2026 in New York.
A girl reacts as the New York City skyline and the Empire State Building are seen from the Edge observation deck, obscured by wildfire smoke, on July 16, 2026.
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