Experts: Economic effects of wildfire smoke may last years
The damage caused by wildfires can be devastating, gutting structures and driving out people who live and work nearby. And researchers say the smoke from the annually recurring blazes also delivers economic damage to areas that were never touched by the flames.
Beyond the toll wildfire smoke can have on the health of those in affected areas, there are infrastructure and business costs, experts said.
Expenses paid by homeowners to improve or increase measures to protect their properties and the impact of smoke on livelihoods and budgets can be significant.
Wildfires that burned thousands of square miles throughout the West last year knocked out power, destroyed homes and buildings and forced evacuations. Oregon and Colorado fires damaged or destroyed more than 10,000 buildings. Five of the six largest wildfires in California’s history occurred in 2020.
Accompanying the fires was smoke that left Western communities immersed in gray and orange haze that blotted the sky and caused normally hot midday temperatures to remain at cool nighttime levels in some areas.
Wildfire smoke plumes — and their economic impact — can travel far beyond the blazes, said Eric Zou, assistant professor of economics at the University of Oregon.
“When we think about health and labor market effects of wildfire, it is important to think beyond the areas in the immediate vicinity of the fires,” Zou said.
The European Union’s Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service reported in September that smoke from western U.S. wildfires traveled nearly 5,000 miles to Britain and other parts of
northern Europe.
Benjamin Jones, assistant professor of economics at the University of New Mexico, said researchers are only beginning to understand the extent to which wildfire smoke impacts local economies.
“It is certainly possible, perhaps even likely, that the economic effects of wildfire smoke exposure may persist for months or even years after a large smoke event,” he said.
Jones said smoke exposure damaging the health of workers can “affect job performance, labor market productivity and perhaps even wage earnings and retirement savings,” Jones said.
Two of the most visible industries impacted by wildfire smoke are tourism and outdoor recreation. Jones cited U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis calculations that found the outdoor recreation economy accounted for $459.8 billion in 2019, or 2.1% of the national gross domestic product, which is the sum of all goods and services produced within a country’s
borders.
“People tend to avoid national and state parks when wildfire smoke is present, which can depress local accommodation, hospitality and outdoor recreation industries, especially in rural areas in the American West,” Jones said.
A study released last October by the Urban Land Institute, a global organization of real estate and land use experts, found that real estate development is increasing in areas already prone to wildfires, with the results for urban centers including displaced populations and smoke damage.
The research found developers, urban planners and public leaders “increasingly are coordinating site, district, and regional scale resilience efforts,” Elizabeth Foster, manager of the institute’s Urban Resilience program, said in an email.
Developers face particular economic risks including electricity outages causing business interruptions and construction delays, hazardous air quality and added costs such as advanced air filtration technology.