Unmasking the Complicated Chemistry of Wildfire Smoke: How far have Scientists Come?

Each time Lisa Patel stepped out of her apartment, a burning sensation stung her eyes and nose. The thick, toxic air made it difficult to breathe, tightening her chest as she moved through the streets of New Delhi. With asthma, every breath felt like a struggle. Amid the constant buzz of traffic during her four-month detail in India in 2006, Patel watched rickshaw drivers and motorcyclists ride past, their faces shielded by bandanas. A layer of grayish dust and grime coated everything—buildings, plants, railings, even the cars and streets—along her path, reminding her constantly of the city’s severe air pollution.

Now, over twenty years later, Patel is a pediatrician at Stanford Medicine Children’s Health hospital in San Francisco, California, specializing in care for premature infants and children with wheezing and asthma. She’s also the Executive Director for the Medical Society Consortium on Climate and Health, working to protect future generations from the very threats that once left her feeling helpless.

In 2015, Patel experienced her first wildfire in California, and it felt apocalyptic.

“I was no stranger to air pollution from my time in India, but I never expected to breathe air like that in San Francisco,” Patel said.

Desperate for protection, she rushed to a hardware store for an N95 mask, only to find a line stretching out the door. Supplies were rationed, just two masks per person. She stretched the use of hers as long as possible, wearing it until the strap finally snapped. Panic set in. The suffocating air triggered memories of her time in New Delhi, where pollution had left her gasping for breath, battling pneumonia and bronchitis. “It’s the worst feeling in the world. You just feel like you constantly can’t breathe, you can’t walk, you can’t do anything.”

read more at climate.gov.