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. 2017 Jun 20;51(12):6674-6682.
doi: 10.1021/acs.est.6b06200. Epub 2017 Jun 2.

Community Vulnerability to Health Impacts of Wildland Fire Smoke Exposure

Ana G Rappold  1 , Jeanette Reyes  1 , George Pouliot  2 , Wayne E Cascio  1 , David Diaz-Sanchez  1
Affiliations

Community Vulnerability to Health Impacts of Wildland Fire Smoke Exposure

Ana G Rappold et al. Environ Sci Technol. .

Abstract

Identifying communities vulnerable to adverse health effects from exposure to wildfire smoke may help prepare responses, increase the resilience to smoke and improve public health outcomes during smoke days. We developed a Community Health-Vulnerability Index (CHVI) based on factors known to increase the risks of health effects from air pollution and wildfire smoke exposures. These factors included county prevalence rates for asthma in children and adults, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, hypertension, diabetes, obesity, percent of population 65 years of age and older, and indicators of socioeconomic status including poverty, education, income and unemployment. Using air quality simulated for the period between 2008 and 2012 over the continental U.S. we also characterized the population size at risk with respect to the level and duration of exposure to fire-originated fine particulate matter (fire-PM2.5) and CHVI. We estimate that 10% of the population (30.5 million) lived in the areas where the contribution of fire-PM2.5 to annual average ambient PM2.5 was high (>1.5 μg/m3) and that 10.3 million individuals experienced unhealthy air quality levels for more than 10 days due to smoke. Using CHVI we identified the most vulnerable counties and determined that these communities experience more smoke exposures in comparison to less vulnerable communities.

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Figures

Figure 1a.
Figure 1a.
Annual average daily fire-PM2.5 footprint for counties of continental US with perimeters of area burned by large fires in black (GeoMAC). b) Number of days with fire-PM2.5 above 35 μg/m3 between 2008 and 2012.
Figure 1a.
Figure 1a.
Annual average daily fire-PM2.5 footprint for counties of continental US with perimeters of area burned by large fires in black (GeoMAC). b) Number of days with fire-PM2.5 above 35 μg/m3 between 2008 and 2012.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
National map of the Community Vulnerability Index (CVI). The break points 15, 17, 19, and 20 correspond to the 50th, 75th, 90th, and 95th percentile of CVI scores respectively.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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