Understanding the Climate Change Impact on Wildfire and Wildfire Smoke Related Health Risks in the Northeastern U.S.
Maussi Arrunategui, Tyler Driscoll, Joseph Schnaubelt
Team Fire is working to characterize the risk of land-based fire to the Northeastern United States both now and by the end of the 21st century. This includes assessing the primary drivers and historical predictability of wildfires, as well as the associated risks posed to ecosystems and infrastructure. We plan to use high resolution climate data paired with maps of vegetation and infrastructure and a record of historic fires in the Northeastern United States to project these risks to the end of the 21st century providing useful constraints on the impact of climate change on land-fires in the Northeast. We also plan to conduct a case-only study to explore the impact of fire smoke on respiratory health issues. Our results will be shared and discussed with the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection as well as the Connecticut Department of Public Health to aid with the decisions in climate mitigation strategies.