# Wildfire Smoke | C-POLAR Source: https://cpolar.tech/contaminants/wildfire-smoke/ Explore wildfire smoke, air quality data and health effects, and the NanoFlashing™ filtration approach. This is the text of that page, in a form a machine can read. Nothing in it is paraphrased or shortened. After it come short extracts from other C-POLAR pages, each quoted word for word with the page it comes from. --- ## Wildfire Smoke Wildfire Smoke carries a charge — C-POLAR ## Wildfire smoke is spreading and deadly,and it's electrically charged Wildfire smoke reaches [nearly every American every year](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10543292/), and is linked to about [41,000 deaths](https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09611-w), projected to reach 71,000 by 2050. Much of wildfire smoke is made up of [fine and ultrafine particles](https://acp.copernicus.org/articles/10/8065/2010/), and many carry an [electric charge](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.127831). [An EPA study](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9828579/) found the filter the U.S. government recommends loses 95% of its filtration power after just 10 milligrams of smoke. Three years of Wildfire Smoke ### Smoke doesn't stay near the fire In the summer of 2025, Canadian wildfire smoke gave Minneapolis [some of the worst air in the world](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/8/2/canadian-wildfire-smoke-triggers-air-quality-alerts-in-us) and put much of the Midwest under alerts. Most years, it reaches [nearly every American](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10543292/). Smoke density Lighter Heavier Clean ~35 µg/m³ 75+ µg/m³ [NOAA HMS smoke · EPA AirNow](https://www.ospo.noaa.gov/products/land/hms.html) 26 October 2026 Wildfire Smoke — Health Impact ## What wildfire smoke does to you The filter quits when the smoke arrives The filter quits when the smoke arrives of its cleaning power, gone after about an hour of smoke. Federal agencies tell Americans to fight wildfire smoke with a MERV-13 filter, but that rating is measured on a clean, brand-new filter. Much of its filtering comes from a built-in electrostatic charge, and smoke strips that charge as it builds up. In an EPA study, a MERV-13 air cleaner lost about [95% of its cleaning power](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9828579/) after just 10 milligrams of smoke, about an hour's worth. [Harvard's Healthy Buildings team](https://healthybuildings.hsph.harvard.edu/protecting-your-health-from-wildfire-smoke-spotlight-on-filters/) reviewed the same data and urged households to replace the filter after a wildfire. The NanoFlashing™ Air Filter captures real wildfire smoke The NanoFlashing™ Air Filter captures real wildfire smoke down to the ultrafine particle 75.4% captured in one pass, real wildfire smoke >90% of the ultrafine 16–34 nm particles The NanoFlashing™ Air Filter has a permanent positive polarity, a fixed positive charge carried by the filter itself. Wildfire smoke is electrically charged, so the filter captures and retains it, through a physical mechanism, with no power and no chemicals. C-POLAR footer I have read and agree to the [Terms of Use](/terms/), including the US$100 liability cap, the obligations concerning certain third-party claims caused by business misuse, and the exclusive court location, and to the [Privacy Policy](/privacy/). #### Navigation - [Science](/nanoflashing/) - [Applications](/air/) - [About C-POLAR](/about/) - [Contact Us](/contact/) #### Follow us - [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/c-polar/) - [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/people/C-Polar-Technologies-Inc/61580775117789/) - [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/cpolarco?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsi=ZDNlZDc0MzIxNw==) - [Shop Now](https://shop.cpolartechnologies.com/) © 2026 C-POLAR Technologies, Inc. All rights reserved. [Privacy Policy](/privacy/)[Terms of Use](/terms/) [Back to top ↑](#) ## The evidence panels on this page Wildfire smoke is already linked to about 41,000 American deaths a year. Stanford researchers, writing in Nature, project that toll will reach 71,420 a year by 2050. - Source: [71,420 a year by 2050](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40967551/) ### Brain & Mind During the 2020 California fires, a Stanford and Harvard study in JAMA Network Open found emergency visits for depression rose about 15%, and for other mood disorders about 29%, with the biggest jumps in children. - Source: [emergency visits for depression rose about 15%](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11971671/) A Stanford study of nearly 11,700 school districts found a smoky school year measurably lowers children's test scores, hitting younger and disadvantaged students hardest. - Source: [lowers children's test scores](https://web.stanford.edu/~mburke/papers/WenBurke2022_smokelearning.pdf) ### Lungs UC San Diego study showed that wildfire smoke is up to 10 times more harmful to breathing than fine particles from other sources. - Source: [10 times more harmful](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7935892/) These fine particles are a recognized human carcinogen, the WHO's highest evidence tier, and a landmark American Cancer Society study of 500,000 adults tied long-term exposure to about 8% higher lung-cancer deaths. - Source: [human carcinogen](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4037163/) A Yale and Emory study of 466,000 surgery patients found a wildfire within three months of lung-cancer surgery raised the risk of death 43%. - Source: [risk of death 43%](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10375383/) ### Heart EPA researchers found that on dense-smoke days, heart emergencies in adults 65+ rose about 15%, and stroke-related visits about 22%. - Source: [heart emergencies in adults 65+ rose about 15%](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6015400/) EPA and Emory researchers found heavy-smoke days during California's 2015–2017 fires carried up to a 70% higher risk of cardiac arrest outside a hospital. - Source: [70% higher risk of cardiac arrest](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7428528/) An Emory study of 22 million Medicare patients found long-term smoke exposure raised the risk of new heart failure by 1.4%. - Source: [new heart failure by 1.4%](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12367337/) ### Kidneys Across 253 wildfire-hit counties, a Duke, UNC, and EPA study linked smoke to 4% more deaths the same day among dialysis patients, and 7% over the following month. - Source: [4% more deaths the same day](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7460895/) ### Reproduction A 2026 study of over 200,000 California births found that expectant mothers who breathed more than 10 days of wildfire smoke in their third trimester had a 23% higher chance of their child being diagnosed with autism. - Source: [23% higher chance of their child being diagnosed with autism](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12874521/) ### Blood & Cells A Harvard-led study found wildfire smoke altered DNA at 94 sites across 133 disease-linked genes and left toxic metals, cadmium and mercury, in immune cells. - Source: [DNA at 94 sites](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12696577/) UC Davis and UCLA researchers detected carcinogenic chromium-6 nanoparticles 6 to 9 miles downwind of the January 2025 Los Angeles fire cleanup zones. - Source: [chromium-6 nanoparticles](https://www.ucdavis.edu/news/researchers-find-carcinogenic-chromium-6-palisades-altadena-fire-cleanup-zones) --- ## Extracts from other C-POLAR pages - [NanoFlashing™ Air Filter: United States regulatory status | C-POLAR](https://cpolar.tech/reference/us-regulatory-status/) - [Validation | C-POLAR](https://cpolar.tech/validation/)