8 Ways Wildfire Smoke Affects Your Health

Here are a few ways wildfire smoke can negatively affect your health:

1. It can make breathing difficult

Shortly after inhalation, you may notice symptoms of irritation, such as a runny nose, persistent cough or sore throat. If you have heart or lung disease, smoke can lower your oxygen levels, make breathing difficult, cause chest tightness, trigger asthma attacks or raise blood pressure, MacMurdo says. Smoke can make it harder to remove viruses and bacteria from your lungs, triggering infections.

If you have lung issues, ask your doctor when it’s best to take rescue medications (like an inhaler) before smoke exposure so symptoms don’t become serious. “The longer you leave it [breathing problems], the harder it is to get things back under control,” MacMurdo adds.

In 2023, wildfire smoke from Canada that reached the U.S. led to a spike in emergency room visits for people with asthma, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Emergency room visits were 17 percent higher on average than normal on days when wildfire smoke pushed the air quality index (AQI) above 101 — an unhealthy level.

A second report found an increase in asthma-associated emergency visits across New York. On the worst AQI day, visits went up 82 percent statewide, excluding New York City.

2. It can hurt your eyes

Eye irritation can be common from wildfire smoke exposure, especially for those with dry eye syndrome — a condition that impairs the quality of life for up to 30 percent of adults over the age of 50.

In addition to other smoke exposure prevention strategies, putting a cold washcloth on closed eyelids (or wearing goggles or sunglasses) may lower exposure or provide relief. If things don’t improve in a few days or your vision gets blurry, see your eye doctor.

3. It can hurt your heart

Wildfire smoke can increase the risk of stroke, heart attack and heart failure. Research has tied smoke exposure to an increased risk of sudden cardiac arrest and a higher volume of visits to local emergency rooms for other cardiovascular disease–related causes. A study in Circulation found that the risk of dying from a heart attack nearly doubled during extreme heat waves and high levels of fine particle pollution. The risks were even greater for women and older people.

4. It can affect your brain

The small particles in wildfire smoke can get into the bloodstream and affect the brain, says Dr. Laura Myers, a research scientist and pulmonary intensivist with the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research.

Smoke can reduce cognitive function within hours or days after exposure. Some research has linked smoke to an increased risk of dementia, although scientists are just starting to understand the consequences and mechanisms. Smoke can also cause headaches, likely because it irritates the airways and sinuses, reduces oxygen levels and increases stress.

Fires and smoke can affect your mental health, too, as it can interfere with sleep and provoke feelings of hopelessness. If a wildfire is close to your home, seeing your community destroyed, having to evacuate or being forced to stay at home can add to the anguish, Benmarhnia says. This is especially true for older adults, he adds.

5. It can trigger skin itching and inflammation

Wildfire smoke can cause eczema or psoriasis flare-ups. Researchers say smoke-induced oxidative stress and inflammation can set off a cascade of effects. Even if you don’t have those conditions, your skin may become itchy from wildfire smoke exposure, according to a study in JAMA Dermatology. Bathing and moisturizing may ease the irritation.

6. It could weaken your bones

Some research indicates smoke could affect bone health. This could affect bone mass and density, which naturally decline as you grow older.

Inflammation interrupts bone tissue metabolism — an essential function to maintain bone density, says Dr. Diddier Prada, author of one report and an assistant professor of population health science and policy and environmental medicine at New York City’s Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

His study, released this year in Frontiers in Public Health, found that air pollution, which includes many of the same components in wildfire smoke, caused greater bone loss in women over 50 who lived in lower-socioeconomic neighborhoods, compared with wealthier people. It wasn’t the first report to show the link, as the authors of a 2024 study say PM2.5 causes too many cells to break down bone tissue while decreasing the cells that form new bones. 

The disparities disproportionately affect low-income older adults because they may not have air-conditioning, air purifiers or access to healthier foods, all of which could offset the damage, Prada explains.

7. It can rev up diabetes-related issues

A single wildfire smoke exposure may not cause diabetes-related complications but can make existing ones worse, Benmarhnia says. For example, a report in Environmental Health Perspectives showed that the odds of people with diabetes having complications went up within 48 hours after being exposed to wildfire smoke.

8. It can be fatal

Smoke contributes to diseases that increase the risk of early death — and this risk rises if you’re repeatedly exposed to air pollutants. A 2024 study published in Science Advances estimated that long-term exposure to wildfire smoke contributed to more than 52,000 premature deaths in California between 2008 and 2018, which highlights the health risks that residents face every year.

Staying safe from smoke

A few tips to stay safe if you’re exposed to wildfire smoke:

• Be prepared for a power outage, especially if you use medical equipment
• Get an air purifier if possible
• Keep face masks handy
• Download emergency apps that can connect you to resources
• Plan your day around the AQI, which can mean going out when the air is better. Go with what you see and smell, especially in rural areas where an AQI monitor may not be close by
• Avoid exertion, especially outdoors
• Stay hydrated
• Check for local clean air centers l (these are similar to cooling centers in hot weather)
• Vacuum your home if you know a fire may be approaching, not during exposure, which can kick up contaminants that interact with smoke and create secondary pollutants in your space
• Create a “go” bag with medications and important documents in case you need to evacuate