"The research coming out clearly shows that wildfire smoke is more toxic than air pollution from other sources," says Kristi Ebi, a climate and health expert at the University of Washington.
This year, she says, underscored the importance of understanding those risks, but also exposed gaps in current understanding. For instance, it's still not clear how heavy exposure can affect health years down the line.
The fires were likely pushed to those new extremes by human-caused climate change. The hot, dry weather that settled in over the country, increasing the risk of wildfires, was twice as likely because of climate change, according to the World Weather Attribution group.
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