In Seeley Lake, Montana, residents endured 49 consecutive days of smoke due to a wildfire, prompting researchers led by Christopher Migliaccio to investigate the long-term health impacts. Over two years, they found that lung function did not deteriorate immediately; instead, it worsened over time, with 46% displaying abnormal function after one year and many continuing to do so at the two-year mark. This study highlights the growing public health concern posed by increasingly frequent and intense wildfires affecting air quality in the U.S.
For 49 straight days, everyone in Seeley Lake was breathing smoke. A wildfire had ignited outside the small rural community in Montana, and the plume of smoke had parked itself over the houses.
The researchers followed up with residents for two years after the fires, checking on their lung function... people's lung function seemed to deteriorate later.
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