As the western United States enters the 2020 wildfire season with anticipated above normal significant fire potential, a new report from Physicians, Scientists, and Engineers for Healthy Energy (PSE) provides the most expansive synthesis to date on the public health dimensions of wildfire and California’s approaches to wildfire prevention and the mitigation of wildfire-related impacts.
As the western United States enters the 2020 wildfire season with anticipated above normal significant fire potential, a new report from Physicians, Scientists, and Engineers for Healthy Energy (PSE) provides the most expansive synthesis to date on the public health dimensions of wildfire and California’s approaches to wildfire prevention and the mitigation of wildfire-related impacts.
Since the beginning of 2020 California has seen more than 78,000 acres burned as a result of at least 5,200 fires across the state. To prevent wildfire and to mitigate wildfire impacts, California agencies and utility providers have adopted approaches such as prescribed burns, wood biomass utilization for energy production, chemical fire suppression, and most recently, the widespread de-energization of electrical lines through public safety power shutoffs (PSPS). While each of these approaches are important pillars of wildfire management, the near- and long-term public health implications of these strategies had not been thoroughly characterized.
In the new report, ‘The Public Health Dimensions of California Wildfire and Wildfire Prevention, Mitigation and Suppression’, researchers synthesize the public health dimensions of wildfire prevention, mitigation and suppression strategies, including a detailed review of the impacts from the 2019 California public safety power shutoffs (PSPS). “Continuity of electricity is fundamental to supporting critical health-protective services, such as indoor air filtration, air conditioning and refrigeration during wildfires and other natural disasters,” said lead researcher Lee Ann Hill, MPH, Senior Scientist at PSE. “Distributed clean energy resources can be strategically deployed to provide backup power that can support critical services during wildfires, public safety power shutoffs, and other natural disasters and grid outages.”
Read more at PSE Healthy Energy
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