California Air Resources Board

Principal Investigator/Author(s):  Jun Wu

Contractor: University of California, Irvine

Sub-contractors:  Communities for a New California Education Fund, Central California Asthma Collaborative

Contract Number: 21RD003

Project Status: Active

Relevant CARB Programs: Wildfires

Topic areas: Environmental Justice, Air Pollution Exposure, People at Risk, Exposure Impacts, Health Analysis, Health Effects of Air Pollution, Health & Air Pollution, Community Health, Short-term Exposures and Health, Wildfire Smoke & Health, Health Risk Assessment,Particulate Matter (PM), PM2.5, Wildfires, Smoke, Wildfire Emission Estimates, Toxic Air Contaminants, Climate Change, Natural and Working Lands

Research Summary:

Given the hotter and drier weather in California and the impacts of climate change, longer term and larger wildfires are expected to continue and a project that updates the estimates of health impacts of exposure to wildfires in California is needed. The University of California, Irvine (UCI) has assembled a multi-disciplinary team with expertise in community air quality modeling, remote sensing and air pollution exposure assessment, air pollution epidemiology, biostatistics, and risk communication to expand the understanding of wildfire-induced health impacts. This study will link detailed health and covariates data with high spatiotemporal resolution wildfire smoke exposure obtained from sophisticated air quality modeling to examine the impacts of wildfire on a number of health outcomes, including cardiovascular, respiratory, birth, and mental health impacts throughout the state. In addition, this study will address concerns for disadvantaged communities (DAC) through collaborative and informative outreaches with designated community members in California. The results of this project will better inform CARB's analysis of the health burdens from extreme events like wildfires by providing a dose-response assessment of wildfire smoke. CARB has been developing programs and policies to reduce and provide solutions to worsening climate change impacts, including those in natural and working lands, and the results of this study will help CARB in the analysis of the potential health benefits of policies that help to reduce the risk of wildfire. Moreover, this project would inform messaging and outreach efforts designed to help the public better understand the impacts of smoke and how to protect themselves from it, specifically in DAC that are most vulnerable to climate change impacts.

Keywords:  wildfires, wildfire smoke, communities, public health, environmental justice, criteria pollutants, health assessment, short-term exposure, air quality, particulate matter (PM), PM2.5, modeling, air toxics, climate change, epidemiology, health burdens, extreme events, disadvantaged communities, dose-response, natural and working lands, health outcome, cardiovascular, respiratory, birth outcome, mental health