What is the effectiveness of public health interventions, and their unintended consequences, to reduce the health impacts of exposure to wildfires, wildfire smoke and combined heat-wildfire smoke events?

Review Type

Rapid Review

Review Status

Completed

Date Completed

2023-10-31

Date of Last Search

2023-07-27

Organization

National Collaborating Centre for Methods and Tools

Contact Name

Dr. Maureen Dobbins

Contact Email

nccmt@mcmaster.ca

Keywords

Adolescents, Adults, Environmental Health, Grade School Aged, Infants, Older Adults, Preschool Aged

Key Message

There is limited evidence evaluating the effectiveness of public health interventions on reducing impacts of exposure to wildfires and their smoke: air cleaning systems likely improve indoor air quality during wildfire events, but there is some evidence of harmful impacts of executing evacuation orders and staying indoors.

Citation

National Collaborating Centre for Methods and Tools & National Collaborating Centre for Environmental Health. (2023, October 31). Rapid Review: What is the effectiveness of public health interventions on reducing the direct and indirect health impacts of wildfires? https://nccmt.ca/pdfs/res/wildfires.

Scope of synthesis

Population: Public health units, Policy makers (all levels), Decision makers (all levels), Communities

Intervention: Interventions to mitigate the effects of wildfires, wildfire smoke, and combined heat-wildfire smoke events on the community Interventions include both policies for mitigating effects and provision of protective items, including, but not limited to

Comparison: N/A

Outcome: Direct (e.g., respiratory, cardiovascular, burns, mental health, etc.) or indirect (e.g., environmental, economic, etc.) health impacts