Fires that burn where human development meets wild landscapes, known as the wildland-urban interface (WUI), pose a greater threat to air quality and public health than previously understood. A new Science Advances study uses satellite fire detections and an advanced atmospheric model to assess, for the first time, the global air quality and health impacts of WUI fires. The researchers found that although WUI fires make up a small fraction of total fire emissions, they are responsible for a much larger share of smoke-related premature deaths. Because these fires burn closer to populated areas, pollutants like fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and ozone reach more people, leading to greater health risks than fires in more remote wildlands.
