The summer of 2025 has been marked not only by extreme heat waves, but also by numerous high range fires, fires that were charged At least eight lives. The fires not only kill with their flames, some of the people died as a result of accidents related to their extinction. However, large fires can also have a range that goes much further, and that was the case of Canada’s fires of 2023.
Transoceanic risk. A new study has pointed out That the impacts on the health of the population of forest fires that ravaged Canada in the summer of 2023 not only reached vast areas of North America, also to other continents, including Europe.
The fires of 2023. Canada suffered in 2023 the worst fire season that is remembered in the country. They occurred More than 6,000 fires that razed with about 150,000 km², a larger area than we would obtain by together Castilla y León, Extremadura and the Community of Madrid.
The fires were of such intensity that the smoke The sky stained orange from New York City. However, the winds moved the smoke and volatile particles that toured thousands of kilometers to reach our continent.
Exposed to pollution. According to the team responsible for the study, Canada’s fires caused important Picos in concentration of particulate matter 2.5 or PM2.5, small volatile particles of a diameter less than 2.5 microns. This resulted in a worsening in air quality. According to estimates, at the global level the concentration in the air of this type of particles grew by 0.17 micrograms per cubic meter of air.
The same estimates indicate that about 354 million people in Europe and North America were exposed to PM2.5 levels above the limits established as insurance by the World Health Organization (WHO).
Premature deaths. The study estimated that, adding these factors, the flames caused between 3,400 and 7,400 deaths acute in the American continent. However, the impact was beyond, and they point out that the number of chronic deaths was even greater: between 37,800 and 90,900 taking into account both North America and Europe.
The details of the study have been published In an article In the magazine Nature.
A growing problem. The fire scale in Canada can be unthinkable in Europe, but the study serves as a reminder that the risks involved in forest fires go far beyond the reach of the flames. Especially at the close of A season that has been primed with our environment and whose consequences are probably not only noticed in our forests, but also in our health.
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Image | NASA Earth Observatory, Lauren Dauphin
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