There’s Something Living in Wildfire Smoke

- [Narrator] Wildfire smoke is loaded with harmful particles like charred plant matter, incinerated materials, and noxious gases.

But it's also carrying stuff that's alive, thousands of teeny-tiny microorganisms like bacteria and fungi.

But why doesn't the heat from a wildfire kill all these microorganisms?

Well, not all parts of a wildfire are hot.

- When we look at fire on the scale of a microorganism, there are likely pockets of cold air, areas that are not being burned at all.

- [Narrator] In those tiny pockets of cooler air, microorganisms can catch rides on bits of carbon, or water vapor, rise high into the atmosphere and travel long distances.

And some could potentially infect humans.

Some health experts are already noticing a concerning relationship between wildfire smoke exposure and rates of infection.

One study in California found an uptick in fungal infections after wildfires within a 200-mile radius of hospitals.

And climate change is making wildfires more intense and more impactful.

Compared to the yearly average in the 1970s, the average wildfire season in the US is now 105 days longer, burns six times the number of acres and has three times as many large fires.

- Fires are affected by dry conditions and warmer conditions.

Climate change is causing more of those extremes.

More extreme conditions, more extreme wildfires.

They go together, hand by hand.

- [Narrator] Though there are still many unknowns, risk is growing for more people.

- We would expect that we're all just gonna become exposed on a regular basis.

We'd have to look out for that in places that we wouldn't normally be on the lookout.

(gentle music)