Wildfire Smoke: A Wild West Public Health Issue Goes Nationwide

APHL Webinar Description: The Clean Air Act has been a public health success story, decreasing key air pollutant emissions by 50% since 1990 and annually preventing hundreds of thousands of cases of serious health effects. However, since at least 2016, wildfire smoke contributions to air quality trends have stalled or begun to reverse these benefits. Wildfire smoke is becoming one of the most widely felt climate change health impacts throughout the US. Many communities that previously may not have needed to make wildfire smoke decisions are now in need of data, tools and resources to support action and public communication. Join this webinar to learn about the growing risk and shifting burden of wildfire smoke air pollutants, how state and local laboratories work with partners to conduct testing, and how those data can be used to create and communicate public health guidance.  Speaker Line-up: Moderator: Lori Pillsbury, MS, administrator, Laboratory & Environmental Assessment Division, Oregon Department of Environmental Quality Speaker: James Markwiese, PhD, chief, Ecology Effects Branch, Office of Research and Development, US Environmental Protection Agency Speaker: Ann Hobbs, public information/smoke management coordinator, Placer County, California (recently retired)

Impact/Purpose

Webinar Description: The Clean Air Act has been a public health success story, decreasing key air pollutant emissions by 50% since 1990 and annually preventing hundreds of thousands of cases of serious health effects. However, since at least 2016, wildfire smoke contributions to air quality trends have stalled or begun to reverse these benefits. Wildfire smoke is becoming one of the most widely felt climate change health impacts throughout the US. Many communities that previously may not have needed to make wildfire smoke decisions are now in need of data, tools and resources to support action and public communication. Join this webinar to learn about the growing risk and shifting burden of wildfire smoke air pollutants, how state and local laboratories work with partners to conduct testing, and how those data can be used to create and communicate public health guidance.

Citation

Markwiese, J. Wildfire Smoke: A Wild West Public Health Issue Goes Nationwide. Association for Public Health Laboratories Wildfire Smoke Webinar, Corvallis, OR, June 24, 2024.