wildfires

American Lung Association Urges People Living Near Wildfires to Protect Themselves Against Staggering Levels of Unhealthy Air Pollution

WASHINGTON, July 3 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Dangerous air pollution resulting from wildfires poses lethal health hazards to people living and working in the surrounding areas. Residents with respiratory problems such as asthma, emphysema, and bronchitis and also those with chronic heart dise...

California Wildfires - The Hidden Dangers & Actions You Can Take

SANTA ROSA, Calif., Oct. 25 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Toxic substances, such as asbestos, lead, and PCBs, can become airborne particulates when structures containing the substances burn. Particulates in the smoke plumes from the California Wildfires can harm the health and property of people...

California Wildfires Could Cost Insurers Over $1.5BN, Says RMS

NEWARK, Calif., Oct. 25 /PRNewswire/ -- The wildfires ravaging large swathes of Southern California are likely to cost insurers between $900 million and $1.6 billion, making them among the most expensive in the region's history, according to analysis by Risk Management Solutions (RMS), the wor...

Aetna Reminds Members Affected by California Wildfires Where to Call for Help

Company taking steps to help members get the care they need HARTFORD, Conn., Oct. 24 /PRNewswire/ -- Aetna (NYSE: AET ) is making it easier for members impacted by the fast-moving wildfires in Southern California to refill prescriptions and access employee assistance and behavior health...

San Diego Wildfires Mental Health Fund

Mental Health America Establishes Fund to Help Support the Long Term Mental Health Needs of Those Affected by the San Diego County Wildfires SAN DIEGO, Oct. 24 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- As the hundreds of thousands San Diegans flee the flames; they're trying to make sense of what happened an...

California Wildfires - Psychological Effects; Children ... Psychologist Is Available to Discuss Trauma

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Children are the most dependent on others and the ones the least mentally prepared when a disaster strikes, according to a trauma expert. "Why do children exhibit psychological trauma? There are two sources of security for a child: the security of their pa...

Southern California Wildfires Continue to Threaten Residential Areas

American Red Cross encourages evacuees to register on Safe and Well Website WASHINGTON, Oct. 22 /PRNewswire/ -- Wildfires continue to rage across Southern California, forcing thousands to evacuate the area. During this ongoing crisis, the Red Cross offers help for those who may feel confused and...

MTF, Largest Tissue Bank, Provides Skin for Victims of Santa Barbara Wildfires

SHERMAN OAKS, Calif., May 14 /PRNewswire/ -- Ventura County firefighters who were overtaken by flames and seriously injured while battling brushfires in Santa Barbara are being treated at the Grossman Burn Center with skin donated by the largest non-profit tissue bank in the country, the Musculosk...

MTF, Largest Tissue Bank, Provides Skin for Victims of Australian Wildfires

COSTA MESA, Calif., March 2 /PRNewswire/ -- The deadliest wildfires in the history of Australia have now killed over 200 people and injured many more. Local medical institutions are filled with those who have escaped the blazes, many with severe burns. The United States' largest tissue bank, the M...

Hospital visits for respiratory illnesses spiked during Southern California wildfires

Irvine, Calif., Nov. 18, 2008 Raging wildfires that engulfed Southern California earlier this decade not only destroyed neighborhoods laying in their path, they also caused significant health problems for many who lived outside the fires' reach. An analysis of hospital and emergency departmen...

wildfires in Biological News

When it comes to forest soil, wildfires pack 1-2 punch

For decades, scientists and resource managers have known that wildfires affect forest soils, evidenced, in part, by the erosion that often occurs after a fire kills vegetation and disrupts soil structure. But, the lack of detailed knowledge of forest soils before they are burned by wildfire has ha...

Plants could override climate change effects on wildfires

The increase in warmer and drier climates predicted to occur under climate change scenarios has led many scientists to also predict a global increase in the number of wildfires. But a new study in the May issue of Ecological Monographs shows that in some cases, changes in the types of plants gro...

MU researchers create drought conditions to unearth solutions

...n most of the world, droughts are the leading cause of crop failure. Droughts increase consumer costs, kill livestock, reduce crop yields, and trigger wildfires and dust storms, which lead to malnutrition and famine, social unrest and political instability. Now, researchers at the University of Missouri Colleg...

Large trees declining in Yosemite

...o fire-intolerant white fir and incense cedar. In burned areas, however, pines remained dominant. "We should be aware that more frequent and severe wildfires are possible in Yosemite because of the recent shift to fire-intolerant trees in unburned areas and warmer climates bring drier conditions," said van ...

Wildfires set to increase 50 percent by 2050

... The area of forest burnt by wildfires in the United States is set to increase by over 50...esearch , scientists also say that the increase in wildfires will lead to significant deterioration of the air ...uthor of the research. "Our research shows that wildfires are strongly influenced by temperature. Hotter tem...

In the warming West, climate most significant factor in fanning wildfires' flames

... The recent increase in area burned by wildfires in the Western United States is a product not of higher temperatures or lon...Applications . "We found that what matters most in accounting for large wildfires in the Western United States is how climate influences the build upor produ...

NASA study says climate adds fuel to Asian wildfire emissions

...eries of estimates of carbon dioxide (CO2) emitted from these fires -- both wildfires and fires started by people -- in Malaysia, Indonesia, Borneo, and Papua Ne...or months." Besides emitting carbon, the agricultural fires and related wildfires also ravage delicate ecosystems in conservation hotspots like the western P...

Potentially harmful chemicals found in forest fire smoke

...human health and ecosystems in smoke from forest fires. The results from the new study also suggest that smoldering fires may produce more toxins than wildfires - a reason to keep human exposures to a minimum during controlled burns. Finding these toxins -- known as alkaloids -- helps researchers understan...

Fire is important part of global climate change, report scientists

...opology, and climatology. Increasing numbers of wildfires are influencing climate as well, the authors repor... Australia, emphasize the ubiquity of recent large wildfires and potentially changing fire regimes that are con... During extreme droughts, such as in 97-98, Amazon wildfires burned through 39,000 square kilometers of forest....

New aerosol observing technique turns gray skies to blue

...d a series of field campaigns. In 2003, researchers mounted an RSP instrument on a Cessna 310 airplane and flew the instrument above smoke plumes from wildfires in California's Simi Valley. In 2005, a J31 research aircraft flew RSP over dust plumes in Oklahoma. In both cases, the airborne data corresponded...

wildfires in Biological Technology

IT wildfires

The heat of technological innovation sometimes starts out-of-control wildfires of politics, process collapses or budget challenges that rage through your IT shop. If youre lucky, youve got some folks who are good in a crisis and can be rapidly shifted from their regular duties to handle the situati...

New York Strengthens Emergency Preparedness with Cardinal Health Ventilators

...d 2,400 ventilators to California for its emergency preparedness initiatives and assisted the Governor's Office of Emergency Services in responding to wildfires in southern California. Today, more than 5,500 LTVs are in state emergency care programs. The LTV 1200 Series ventilator is a portable, light-weight...

Biodiversity threatened as forests become 'islands' of green, UW professor says

...xperience. Housing in and around forests not only affects biodiversity, it impacts hydrology cycles and accelerates the spread of invasive species. wildfires and animal-human conflicts are added risks. "It is possible that the national forests may not suffice for some endangered species," says Radeloff. ...