Researchers Warn of Damaging Effects of Smoke From California Fires
Bioengineering Associate Professors Chiara Bellini and Jessica Oakes highlight the dangerous health effects of inhaling wildfire smoke. Their research provides insight into the risks the California wildfires pose for people’s respiratory and cardiovascular systems.
This article originally appeared on Northeastern Global News. It was published by Tanner Stening. Main photo: Pedestrians help a firefighter stretch a hose as an apartment building burns, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025, in the Altadena section of Pasadena, Calif. (AP Photo/Chris Pizzello, File)
As California wildfires continue to rage, smoke researchers warn of negative short- and long-term health effects
More than a week after a series of wildfires broke out in and around Los Angeles, winds are starting to let up, giving firefighting crews the upper hand in containment efforts.
But the dangers are far from over. The longer the fires burn, the more people are exposed to the harmful chemicals in the air that can trigger acute health problems, according to Northeastern University researchers who study the effects of smoke inhalation.
Chiara Bellini, associate professor of bioengineering. Photo by Ruby Wallau/Northeastern University.
“Based on the literature we have now, exposure and inhalation of fire smoke is positively associated with the number of hospital admissions or visits for different types of cardiovascular disease,” says Chiara Bellini, an associate professor of bioengineering at Northeastern. “Most of these visits occur within the first few days after the fire begins.”
Jessica Oakes, associate professor of bioengineering. Photo by Alyssa Stone/Northeastern University.
The smoke created from wildfires contains toxic chemicals and particulate matter that can harm both firefighters and civilians in the area. The smoke can exacerbate pre-existing conditions, such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), but also lead to the development of other conditions later in life, says Jessica Oakes, a Northeastern associate professor of bioengineering.
“What’s worrisome about the L.A. fires is they include both housing materials as well as forest materials,” Oakes says. “The houses themselves have plastics, shingles and foams for the beds and the furniture, the cars have tires, and burning those materials can be very toxic to the respiratory and cardiovascular systems.”
Bellini and Oakes are studying the short-, medium- and long-term health effects of smoke inhalation on woodland firefighters—research that is funded by a $1.5 million grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
The pair have been studying how the respiratory and cardiovascular systems in mice respond to smoke exposure over time. Specifically, they have focused on how the effects of smoke can accelerate aortic stiffening, a condition affecting the main artery of the heart, among other changes affecting blood vessels.
“The changes in the active and passive properties of the vasculature tell us that the continuous and repeated exposure to fire smoke carries cardiovascular risk,” Bellini says.
Read full story at Northeastern Global News