The Pack-A-Day Club, Reconsidered

Jim Petersen & Julia Petersen: For years, westerners reached for a blunt comparison: breathing heavy wildfire smoke felt like smoking a pack of cigarettes a day. The science has since caught up — and the reality is worse. Wildfire smoke is a complex chemical mix of PM2.5, carbon monoxide, formaldehyde, and nitrogen oxides that crosses state lines, floods cities, and fills emergency rooms. The flames may burn in remote forests, but smoke closes the distance. This is no longer the West's problem to endure quietly. It is the country's.