One byproduct of wildfires is smoke, which is often dangerous. California wildfire smoke after drifting into Montana. Canadian wildfire smoke moved south to Washington, DC, last year and as far west as Minneapolis. The air quality in NYC turned dangerous, and some city residents with pre-existing conditions had to be moved indoors.
*Smoke Damage
One notable aspect of smoke is that it is hard to assess financial damages. Much of it is to human health, and the effects may be long-term. It does not help in an analysis of local or regional cases. However, one study does give a figure worldwide. “A World Bank report estimated that the cost of the health damage caused by air pollution amounts to $8.1 trillion a year, equivalent to 6.1% of global GDP.”
Today, smoke comes from New York City, particularly fires in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park. It has moved as far north as Poughkeepsie, New York, and east as Danbury, Connecticut. In neither case is this a health emergency, but it is an example that what was once primarily a West Coast problem isn’t anymore. Climate change makes areas of the world that were once considered climate-safe not climate-safe anymore.