{"id":17061,"date":"2013-10-28T14:39:29","date_gmt":"2013-10-28T19:39:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/?p=17061"},"modified":"2013-10-28T14:43:59","modified_gmt":"2013-10-28T19:43:59","slug":"millions-of-oklahomans-exposed-to-smoke-from-wildfires-in-other-states-study-shows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2013\/10\/28\/millions-of-oklahomans-exposed-to-smoke-from-wildfires-in-other-states-study-shows\/","title":{"rendered":"Millions of Oklahomans Exposed to Smoke from Wildfires in Other States, Study Shows"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"More<\/p>\n

National Resource Defense Council<\/p>\n

More than 3.7 million people in Oklahoma \u2014 almost the entire state population \u2014 were exposed to a week or more of wildfire smoke in 2011, according a report by the National Resource Defense Council.<\/p>\n<\/div>

Wildfires are a well-known hazard in Oklahoma. In 2012 alone, summer fire storms<\/a> destroyed more than 600 homes and 114,000 acres across the state<\/a>.<\/p>

The danger posed by localized fires is easy to understand, but Oklahomans are also exposed to smoke from wildfires in other states, a report by a national environmental group shows.<\/p>

Oklahoma was the No. 9 most \u201csmoke-affected\u201d state in 2011, according to the\u00a0study by the National Resource Defense Council<\/a>, an environmental group. Despite having comparatively few fires in 2011, Oklahoma was downwind of almost all the states ravaged by fire that year.<\/p>\n

Top 10 Smoke-Affected States<\/h3>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
RANK<\/th>\nSTATE<\/th>\nPOP. IN WILDFIRE AREAS<\/th>\nPOP. EXPOSED TO WEEK OR MORE OF SMOKE<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n
1<\/td>\nTexas<\/td>\n422,149<\/td>\n25,137,743<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2<\/td>\nIllinois<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n11,954,199<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
3<\/td>\nFlorida<\/td>\n55,374<\/td>\n11,247,799<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
4<\/td>\nMissouri<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n5,988,927<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
5<\/td>\nGeorgia<\/td>\n100,920<\/td>\n5,704,123<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
6<\/td>\nLouisiana<\/td>\n3,259<\/td>\n4,533,372<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
7<\/td>\nMichigan<\/td>\n217<\/td>\n3,932,436<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
8<\/td>\nAlabama<\/td>\n179<\/td>\n3,929,239<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
9<\/strong><\/td>\nOklahoma<\/strong><\/td>\n3,765<\/strong><\/td>\n3,751,351<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
10<\/td>\nIowa<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n3,010,969<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>

Source: National Resource Defense Council, “Where There’s Fire, There’s Smoke”<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Click<\/a><\/p>\n

National Resource Defense Council<\/p>\n

Click here to read a .pdf of the NRDC's report on wildfire smoke exposure.<\/p>\n<\/div>

More than 3.7 million people \u2014 almost the entire state population \u2014 were exposed smoke conditions for one week or more in 2011, NRDC\u2019s study shows. Most of Oklahoma\u2019s exposed population experienced the \u201chigh range\u201d of 12 to 47 days of smoke conditions, according to the study.<\/p>

The numbers are striking when you compare them to the number of people in Oklahoma who actually lived in areas with wildfires that year: 3,765, according to the NRDC.<\/p>

Wildfire smoke contains tiny particles that can cause health problems. The impact ranges from minor nuisances, like itchy eyes and sore throat, to triggering serious problems, like asthma and pneumonia. Wildfire smoke can also worse can worsen chronic heart and lung diseases.<\/p>

Oklahoma has entered its third year of drought<\/a>, and dry conditions have fueled wildfires here <\/a>and around the country.<\/p>

\u201cThe clear takeaway is that wildfires, smoke, and the conditions that increase fire risk are national health concerns that spread well beyond the borders of local fire perimeters,\u201d the report\u2019s author\u2019s wrote \u2014<\/p>

Those ideal wildfire conditions are likely to worsen because of the effects of climate change, the NRDC writes. The environmental group also advocates for more air pollution monitoring stations \u2014 the yellow dots on the above map. Oklahoma has nine, according to the NRDC report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wildfires are a well-known hazard in Oklahoma. In 2012 alone, summer fire storms destroyed more than 600 homes and 114,000 acres across the state.The danger posed by localized fires is easy to understand, but Oklahomans are also exposed to smoke from wildfires in other states, a report by a national environmental group shows.Oklahoma was the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":17063,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[491],"tags":[438,553,549,540],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17061"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17061"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17061\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17066,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17061\/revisions\/17066"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17061"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17061"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17061"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}