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Wildfire smoke kills tens of thousands of people a year. Here’s how it attacks the body – OPB

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Wildfire smoke kills tens of thousands of people a year. Here’s how it attacks the body – OPB

Smoke causes inflammation by triggering the body’s immune system to go into overtime to fight the irritant. Scientists have found it can harm the brain, the skin and men’s sperm, with almost no system of the body spared, Johnson said. People over 60 become more prone to stroke in wildfire smoke, she said.

“Wildfire smoke is the toxic product of combustion of whatever burned,” which could include houses and cars, said Dr. Courtney Howard, an emergency room physician, chair of the Global Climate and Health Alliance and president-elect of the Canadian Medical Association.

“So really it’s a big giant toxic soup of particles and gases.”

Scientists have counted at least 1,000 toxins in wildfire smoke, according to Colorado State University environmental toxicologist Luke Montrose.

“If I gave you a list, you would recognize some of these as being very bad, oftentimes associated with the burning of diesel fuel or cigarette smoke, things like formaldehyde or volatile organic compounds,” Montrose said. “So just the smoke itself can be bad.”

Bramley Mountain Fire Tower Restored and Open to Hikers

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Bramley Mountain Fire Tower Restored and Open to Hikers

The Catskills have welcomed back a historic landmark with the restoration of the Bramley Mountain Fire Tower in the Delaware County hamlet of Bloomville, which officially opened to the public on January 4. The first public visitors braved icy winds and freezing temperatures to ascend the tower, marking a triumphant return for this iconic structure after more than 50 years. Visitors included locals from Andes and Roxbury as well as adventurers from as far as Lake George and Utica. Among them were members of the Clark family, whose donation of the tower made the project possible.

The fire tower, originally constructed in 1950 by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), played a pivotal role in fire detection. For two decades, fire observers worked alongside counterparts on Mount Utsayantha and Balsam Lake Mountain to safeguard the surrounding forests and communities. Decommissioned in 1970, the tower was sold to local farmer Pete Clark and removed from its perch. Decades later, the Catskill Mountain Club seized the opportunity to restore it to its original location, recognizing its potential to enhance recreation, education, and tourism.

 

Talking About A World on Fire

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Talking About A World on Fire

Last week, well over 100 million people across the United States and Canada were forced to breathe dangerously unhealthy air, as smoke from hundreds of wildfires in Canada blanketed much of North America.

Climate change has made wildfires both more frequent and more severe, and they’re expected to continue to intensify as the world hurtles into ever-warmer global temperatures. A 2023 United Nations report projects a 14 percent global increase in the number of extreme fires within this decade, doubling by the end of the century.

Entire states like Minnesota and Wisconsin experienced their worst air quality in recorded history, as did several major cities including Chicago, Milwaukee, Columbus, and Detroit. Twenty million people in the New York City metropolitan area suffered their second-worst smoke event, a record broken only by June 2023’s Canadian wildfire smoke.
Map: Junius Pond Unique Area