Wildfire worsens population exposure to PM2.5 pollution in the Continental United States

As wildfires become more frequent and intense, fire smoke has significantly worsened ambient air quality, posing greater health risks. To better understand the impact of wildfire smoke on air quality, we developed a modeling system to estimate daily PM(2.5) concentrations attributed to both fire smoke and non-smoke sources across the Continental U.S. We found that wildfire smoke has the most significant impact on air quality in the West Coast, followed by the Southeastern U.S. Between 2007 and 2018, fire smoke affected daily PM(2.5) concentrations at 40% of all regulatory air monitors in EPA’s Air Quality System (AQS) for more than one month each year. People residing outside the vicinity of an EPA AQS monitor were subject to 36% more smoke impact days compared to those residing nearby. Lowering the national ambient air quality standard (NAAQS) for annual mean PM(2.5) concentrations to between 9 and 10 μg/m(3) would result in approximately 29% to 40% of the AQS monitors falling in nonattainment areas without taking into account the contribution from fire smoke. When fire smoke impact is considered, this percentage would rise to 35% to 49%, demonstrating the significant negative impact of wildfires on air quality.