‘There are no safe levels of pollution’: an interview with wildfire researcher Sam Heft-Neal

As smoke from wildfires spreads from coast to coast, scientists are looking into how best to protect vulnerable populations

As the climate crisis brings drought and dried-out landscapes, wildfires in the US west are spreading smoky air to millions of people, even those who live far from where the fires burn. The problem is becoming so pronounced that some television weather forecasters in California now include smoke casts" in their reports, displaying models that predict where smoky air from a wildfire will travel days into the future.

Wildfire smoke in recent years accounted for up to 50% of all dangerous, small particle air pollution in the western US, research shows, and the problem is growing.

This story is co-published with The New Lede, a journalism project of the Environmental Working Group.