Friday morning in Durango, I checked the Air Quality Index out of habit – only to find it at 108. That’s “unhealthy for sensitive groups,” according to EPA standards. But the truth is, at that level, the air isn’t truly safe for anyone.
The haze blanketing this once-crisp mountain town isn’t fog. It’s wildfire smoke – an increasingly common byproduct of a warming planet. And it poses a far more dangerous, insidious threat than most people realize.
A Toxic Byproduct of Climate Change
Wildfires are no longer seasonal anomalies. They are climate-fueled events, growing in size, frequency, and intensity due to a convergence of ecological stressors: hotter temperatures, extended droughts, earlier snowmelt, and poor forest management. The Western U.S. has seen a nearly ninefold increase in burned area since the 1980s, with fire season now stretching across most of the year.
The smoke these fires produce is rich in PM2.5 – fine particulate matter less than 2.5 micrometers wide. Too small to be filtered by your nose or throat, these particles travel deep into the lungs and even cross into the bloodstream, contributing to a cascade of inflammatory and oxidative stress responses. PM2.5 exposure is linked to respiratory diseases, cardiovascular events, neuroinflammation, and premature death.
Emerging evidence suggests that wildfire-derived PM2.5 may be more harmful than other pollution sources, given the complex and variable mix of organic compounds, plastics, heavy metals, and other burned material it contains.
The Hidden Risk of Outdoor Exercise
Physical activity is usually synonymous with health. But when wildfire smoke pollutes the air, exercising outdoors can magnify your exposure, sometimes by up to tenfold.
Running, biking, or hiking while the AQI is elevated increases your respiratory rate and volume, pulling more pollutants into the lungs at a faster rate. The deeper the breath, the deeper the deposition of these particles in sensitive alveolar tissue.
If you're exercising in smoky conditions – even when AQI readings fall in the “moderate” range (51–100) – you’re not just working out. You may be accelerating lung injury and inflammation.
A Public Health Crisis in Slow Motion
The risks are not equally distributed. Outdoor workers, low-income populations, children, older adults, and people with asthma or heart conditions suffer the most. Many don’t have the luxury of indoor air filtration, time off work, or even the information needed to make protective decisions.
This is where climate justice meets public health. Air pollution isn’t just an environmental issue – it’s an equity issue.
And yet, federal and local responses lag behind the scale of the threat. Most public health messaging focuses on heat or evacuation during active fires. But long before the flames reach town, the air carries invisible risks that deserve our attention and action.
What You Can Do – And Why It’s Not Enough
– Check AQI daily at AirNow.gov or via PurpleAir.
– Move exercise indoors if AQI exceeds 50, and especially if it’s over 100.
– Use HEPA filters in your home or office. Seal leaks and close windows during smoky days.
– Advocate for stronger climate adaptation measures and clean energy transitions at the local and state level.
Personal precautions matter – but they are not a substitute for systemic change. The drivers of these fires are not going away on their own. We need robust, sustained investment in forest management, renewable energy, public health infrastructure, and climate resilience strategies that prioritize front line communities.
The Smoke Is a Signal
Air quality alerts used to feel rare – something unusual or dramatic. But in 2024 and beyond, they are increasingly part of life. We cannot normalize breathing toxic air. We cannot wait for worse fire seasons to prove the point. We must respond now.
Because when the air isn’t safe to breathe, nothing else is safe either.
Natalie Youssef, MPH, is a health and wellness coach with a background in environmental and behavioral health. Find more of her writing on Substack at Thrive With You. Connect with her on LinkedIn at Thrive With You, LLC. She lives in and writes from Denver.
