#Fires pacific northwest series#

And when disaster strikes – whether a fire or hurricane or recession – we must evaluate potential disruptions relative to our current assets, market and strategy, or those specific assets and markets under consideration for future investment. When investing in timber assets, we either invest in established forests with mature wood markets, or we invest in areas that require development of the forests and/or wood markets.

#Fires pacific northwest series#

They found that respiratory deaths in August increased significantly during the 2012-2018 period when fires in the Pacific Northwest - but not in Colorado - produced more emissions in August.This post is the second in a series related to the Q4 2021 Forisk Research Quarterly (FRQ ), which includes forest industry analysis, timber price forecasts, and featured research on timber supplies in the Pacific Northwest. NCAR says the team looked at respiratory death rates in Colorado for August from 2002 to 2011, compared with the same month in 2012 to 2018. 'I would expect that in these other regions that we’re seeing increases in fires as well, that their carbon monoxide would be increasing due to fires as well,' she said.Īfter running simulations on their computer models, they found that the pollutants could affect more than 130 million people, including about 34 million in the Pacific Northwest, 23 million in the Central U.S., and 72 million in the Northeast. So, she and her team started looking at the effects on human health in the Pacific Northwest and other parts of the country. 'The other thing that happens in smoke is ground-level ozone can be created, and that’s also an inflammatory atmospheric pollutant.' The smoke particles, the fine particles that can get trapped in human lungs, can cause irritation and inflammation and cardiovascular problems,' Buchholz explains. 'The worry for human health or the impact on human health really comes from these aerosols. Paul Walsh from BreezoMeter joins FOX Weather to talk about the wildfires and how it's impacting our health. And along with all of those, the carbon monoxide is kind of a tracer of all the other trace gases and pollutants that are emitted from fires that will be transported along in that smoke plume.'ĭoctors agree that the smoke can impact those who aren’t even near fires. 'And so, you get the transport of aerosols, and you also get the transport of the carbon monoxide. 'It’s like an atmospheric river of smoke,' she explained. 'Multiple lines of evidence point to the worsening wildfires in the Pacific Northwest as the cause of degraded air quality,' Buchholz said.Īnd just like the wintertime atmospheric rivers carry storms and heavy rains farther inland, the continual westerly flow off the Pacific Ocean only means worse conditions for those downwind. Wildfires have increased significantly across the U.S., and fires are a more significant factor in air pollution. 'Globally, that’s where the strongest carbon monoxide positive trend in August is happening,' she said. Once her team conclusively linked the highest emissions rates were in the Pacific Northwest, the rest of the world didn’t even compare in the late summer months. (Rebecca Smeyne/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images) The downtown skyline and Hawthorne Bridge as smoke from wildfires fills the air in Portland, Oregon, U.S., on Wednesday, Sept. It’s happening in the Pacific Northwest, and we used a little bit of detective work to link the fires to that increase in carbon monoxide in August,' she said. 'It wasn’t something being transported into North America.

'Research had shown that the aerosol increase in that region is due to the Pacific Northwest fires,' Buchholz said.īuchholz said that her team eliminated other potential emission sources from other parts of the world. They found conclusive evidence of where the smoke was originating after using a mix of satellite-based observations of atmospheric chemistry, computer modeling, and global inventories of the fires to track the wildfires. August is one of the driest months in the West, and NCAR says the trend was especially pronounced from 2012 to 2018, coinciding when the fire season became more active in the Pacific Northwest. The timespan corresponded with the peak summer burning season of the Pacific Northwest. ((Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) / Getty Images) The188,000 acre fire is 5 percent contained but continues to threaten nearly 17,000 residents of the Illinois Valley. KERBY, OR - AUGUST 3: Firefighter Jose Martinez, from Ontario, Oregon, puts out a hot spot from a controlled burn to make a fire line in the Siskiyou National Forest August 3,2002 outside of Kerby, Oregon.