Bridging Public Health and Wildfire Response

The increasing frequency and severity of wildland fires in the Southwest has created a new set of challenges for communities that are directly exposed to them. Within those communities, public health professionals have a wide range of experiences dealing with wildland fire. This project is focused on two under examined areas where public health and wildland fire intersect. First, the team sought to move beyond the well established association between wildland fire smoke and respiratory illness to exploring potential links to cardiovascular diseases. Second, the team has begun to work across Arizona and New Mexico with public health professionals to understand how they are engaged in wildland fire preparation and response. The overarching goals of the project are to provide public health professionals information about emerging risks from fire and to help build connections between researchers and health experts so that these groups can work together to prepare for and respond to wildland fires.