"Climate change, wildfires and air pollution is a vicious circle," says Clean Air Fund CEO Jane Burston – and toxic particles can travel thousands of kilometres.
A national emergency declared in Spain, thousands forced to flee in France, and thousands of hectares scorched in Italy: wildfires are burning more often, and more intensely, as the climate changes.
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And their danger does not end when the flames are put out. Smoke carries black carbon – tiny particles of partly burnt material – that can travel hundreds, even thousands, of kilometres from the fire itself.
"The pollution can blow quite long distances," Jane Burston, CEO of the Clean Air Fund, tells Euronews Earth. Some particles are small enough to pass through the lungs into the bloodstream, she says, triggering asthma in the short term and, over years, lung cancer, heart attacks, strokes and even dementia.
Burston pointed to Canada's record 2023 wildfire season as a stark example: an estimated 82,000 people died from the resulting toxins and pollution across Canada, the US and Europe, long after the fires themselves had stopped burning.
Wildfire smoke is an underestimated danger
Recent research backs her concerns. A study in The Lancet Planetary Health, covering 32 European countries, found that mortality linked to wildfire smoke may be underestimated by 93 per cent, because fire-related fine particles appear more harmful than pollution from other sources.
Separately, US researchers reported that global wildfire emissions of health-harming gases may run around 21 per cent higher than earlier estimates suggested.
Burston says drought combined with heatwaves, both intensified by climate change, is creating the conditions for fires to spread rapidly. "We're going to expect a longer and more intense wildfire season every year," she tells Euronews Earth.
Breaking the 'vicious circle' of climate change, wildfires and air pollution
Burston describes air pollution, climate change and wildfires as a self-reinforcing loop: pollutants released alongside greenhouse gases when humans burn fossil fuels raise temperatures, fuelling more wildfires, which in turn produce more pollution.
"We really need to tackle other causes of air pollution as well as the wildfires," she says, adding that cutting pollution also saves money for health systems and boosts productivity.
She calls for stronger early warning systems, noting that some regions in Latin America already use air quality monitors to detect fires before they are spotted visually.
Governments, she says, need to pair forecasting with clear guidance on when people should stay indoors, use air purifiers, or evacuate.
