Wildfire Facts
Wildfires are usually sparked by lightning or human activity, particularly during extremely dry conditions, such as a drought, and under strong winds. Though they are defined as uncontrolled fires that break out in a wilderness setting, wildfires readily spread to urbanized and agricultural areas where they may result in major losses of crops, livestock, and property. These blazes severely damage infrastructure such as transportation, communications, power and gas services, and water supplies, all of which hinder relief efforts. The toll on human lives is tremendous: between 1998 and 2017, 2,400 deaths due to suffocation, injuries, and burns worldwide were directly attributable to wildfires, with 6.2 million people affected.
What is more difficult to quantify are the numbers affected by wildfires through air quality degradation. Massive amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2), carbon monoxide (CO), and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) are released into the atmosphere along with other pollutants, which have immediate, severe, and long-term impacts on human health and local weather. Gases emitted by fires also contribute to climate change, which has the effect of increasing the severity and frequencies of wildfires.
Effects on air quality and human health
Our ability to control the spread of wildfires has always been limited, but it has become more and more of a challenge in recent years due to their increasing scale and occurrence outside of traditional “fire seasons”. Air pollution from these more frequent and widespread fires now affects a much larger geographic extent and has worsened to the point of reversing many gains achieved through legislation such as the U.S. Clean Air Act. Releases of harmful air pollutants from wildfires are only expected to worsen as the circumstances that give rise to these disasters are exacerbated by the changing climate.
Infants, young children, pregnant women, and seniors are most vulnerable to the negative effects of smoke and ash from wildfires, while those with heart and/or respiratory conditions can also be severely affected. There are several pollutants in wildfire smoke, but PM2.5 poses the greatest risk to human health. These microscopic particles penetrate deep into human lungs and have been shown to be a contributing factor in the development of lung cancers, low birth weight, cognitive disorders, Alzheimer’s disease, and even premature death. Wildfires caused record PM2.5 emissions in several countries in 2021, including Greece, Spain, Brazil, Canada, Portugal, Chile, Australia, Russia, and the United States. Millions of people were impacted in all cases, many of whom were hundreds of miles away from the wildfires.
Other harmful pollutants released by wildfires include CO, nitrogen oxides (NOX), and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). These gases are hazardous in their own right, but their interaction in the presence of sunlight serves to create another toxic gas: ground-level ozone (O3). Numerous studies have observed significant increases in O3 in wildfire plumes due to increased CO, VOCs, and NOX. Numerous health problems such as respiratory and cardiovascular issues can result from exposure to these gases, which imposes a substantial public health burden.
Economic effects
Property losses and damages are the primary economic impacts of wildfires. A 2003 study of wildfires in California reported that 3,241 homes were lost as a result of fires that burned more than 376,000 acres (1,500 km2). The largest wildfires may cause well over $1 billion USD in property losses; in 2020, wildfires in the U.S. resulted in a total of $21.9 billion USD in property damage. The costliest single wildfire in U.S. history was 2018’s Camp Fire, which resulted in losses of about $10 billion USD.
The damages wrought by wildfires are not limited to property—catastrophic wildfires have a significant economic impact on communities through destruction of businesses, reduced tourism, and even changes in the long-term structure of the local economy. Wildfires also wreak havoc on community infrastructure, with roadways, communications facilities, power lines, and water delivery systems all at risk of destruction. Restoring basic services is a top priority, and many agencies and organizations incur significant restoration costs after a fire.
Ecological effects
Wildfires have many important implications for biological diversity. Fire ecology explores the interactions between fire and the surrounding environment, including both living and nonliving things. Fire ecologists recognize that fire is a natural process that is often integral to the life history of plants and animals in the ecosystem; however, the increased severity and regularity of severe wildfires in recent years may be pushing this natural balance past its tipping point. The food, water, and shelter needed by wildlife are all affected by wildfires, which has a significant impact on the availability of suitable habitats. Wildlife frequently migrates to areas with easier access to these resources, which may result in competition with humans and adverse interactions.
The Bottom Line
Wildfires have negative effects on humanity, ecosystems, and economies that range from the local to the global scale. Given that the ripple effect of wildfire damage extends across a very large geographic area and across many industries, it can be difficult to calculate the true extent of the costs of these disasters. A recent study by University College London estimated that 2019 wildfires in California alone cost the U.S. economy a total of $148.5 billion USD, with about one-third of those losses from outside of the state. This effectively demonstrates the enormous reach of wildfire damage, and, with fires growing more intense in recent years, these numbers are likely to rise.
Below are the major effects of wildfires:
- Loss of Ecosystems and Biodiversity
- Forest Degradation
- Soil Degradation
- Air Pollution
- Economic Losses
- Impacts on Human Well-being and Health
AirSENCE FIRE-WATCH (Patent pending) – An early wildfire detecting and locating system
Wildfires are natural phenomena that cannot be fully prevented, especially considering that the root cause of about 50% of recorded wildfires is unknown. Early detection is critical to mitigate the large-scale devastation that is too often seen.
A.U.G. Signals Ltd. (AUG) is a leading technology solution provider and instrument manufacturer based in Canada. The company has developed a sensor-based low-cost air quality monitoring station called AirSENCE, which is a continuous air pollution monitoring station that provides real-time air quality data. Based on extensive air pollution monitoring experience and years of expertise in signal processing, AUG has developed AirSENCE FIRE-WATCH (Patent pending), an “early wildfire detection system” based on the proven AirSENCE platform.
AUG understands the correlation between wildfires and the resulting increases in specific air pollutants levels. The team’s scientists have developed a machine-learning based early wildfire localization algorithm that can locate wildfires at their early stages based on elevated levels of those air pollutants. Combining air pollution data with weather data such as wind speed and wind direction allows AirSENCE FIRE-WATCH (Patent pending) to precisely pinpoint the location of a burgeoning wildfire with high accuracy.
As a Sensor-based micro air monitoring system, AirSENCE FIRE-WATCH (Patent pending) continuously monitors air pollutant markers related to wildfires, including all PM fractions (PM10, PM2.5, and PM1), CO, and CO2, along with weather parameters which include temperature, humidity, wind speed, and wind direction.
AirSENCE FIRE-WATCH (Patent pending) is based on an advanced IoT platform and has a completely autonomous operation making it an innovative early wildfire detection and localization system suitable for remote, wildfire-prone locations. Features like accurate data, small footprint, low cost, GPRS based communication, cloud data storage, URL-based data access, etc. make AirSENCE FIRE-WATCH (Patent pending) the ideal choice for creating Air Quality Surveillance Networks for early wildfire detection and warning.