As multiple wildfires consumed homes, vehicles, and expansive acreage in Southern California in recent days, thick smoke blanketed the sky, causing health concerns for many in the area. Small particles in the air—which hang around for long periods of time even after the fires are out—can cause respiratory issues and chest pain as well as burning eyes and headaches. Children, elderly people, those with respiratory or heart conditions, and people with compromised immune systems, may experience more severe effects of smoke exposure, according to a local public health advisory. Officials recommend anyone in the areas near the fires stay indoors as much as possible even when smoke and ash cannot be seen. Besides schools and businesses, Kaiser Permanente, Providence, Cedars-Sinai, Adventist Health, and UCLA Health closed several locations due to the fires, leaving some patients with few if any options for care. The Exer Urgent Care website also showed some locations were closed as the fires burned. Becker’s reported this week that Providence’s St. John’s Physician Partners clinic in the Pacific Palisades burned down, and AltaMed Health Services also lost a clinic in Pasadena. A public health emergency was declared late last week, so healthcare providers will have some temporary operational flexibility to care for Medicare and Medicaid members. According to the LA Times, fire-related hospital visits increased 16-fold across Los Angeles County this week.
Smoke and fire: The firefight is far from over, and the health effects of this tragic event will linger on. It’s difficult to quantify the impact of chronic exposure to smoke and soot that will pose health hazards in the weeks to come after the fires are out. A study examining exposure to wildfire-attributable fine particulate matter, published in June 2024 in Science Advances, concluded that between 52,480 and 55,710 people in California died prematurely between 2008-2018 from exposure to wildfire smoke. Another review in the Lancet found that Between October 2014, and May 2018, hospital admission for coccidioidomycosis increased by 20% (95% confidence interval 5–38) in the month following smoke exposure. California has a population of 40 million and is witnessing a rising trend of wildfires that burn hundreds of thousands of acres each year.
Read More
- With Maui Devastated by Fires, UC Operators Are Both Providing and in Desperate Need of Care
- Wildfires Turn Up the Heat on Efforts to Slow COVID-19 and Prevent a Severe Flu Season
- Are You Doing Enough to Prevent (and Prepare Your Team to Respond to) Fires on Site?