# 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 here is paraphrased, shortened or added to. Last reviewed: 2026-09-13 --- ## Wildfire smoke is spreading and deadly,and it's electrically charged Wildfire smoke reaches nearly every American every year, and is linked to about 41,000 deaths, projected to reach 71,000 by 2050. Much of wildfire smoke is made up of fine and ultrafine particles, and many carry an electric charge. An EPA study found the filter the U.S. government recommends loses 95% of its filtration power after just 10 milligrams of smoke. 30 to 50 nm A Human Hair: 70,000 nm - Source: [nearly every American every year](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10543292/) - Source: [41,000 deaths](https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09611-w) - Source: [fine and ultrafine particles](https://acp.copernicus.org/articles/10/8065/2010/) - Source: [electric charge](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2021.127831) - Source: [An EPA study](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9828579/) --- ## 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 and put much of the Midwest under alerts. Most years, it reaches nearly every American. Smoke density Lighter Heavier Clean ~35 µg/m³ 75+ µg/m³ NOAA HMS smoke · EPA AirNow 14 September 2026 2024 2025 2026 - Source: [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) - Source: [nearly every American](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10543292/) - Source: [NOAA HMS smoke · EPA AirNow](https://www.ospo.noaa.gov/products/land/hms.html) --- ### What wildfire smoke does to you Ultrafine particles can cross from the lungs into the bloodstream and reach organs throughout the body. 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/) ### What wildfire smoke does to your brain & mind 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. 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: [emergency visits for depression rose about 15%](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11971671/) - Source: [lowers children's test scores](https://web.stanford.edu/~mburke/papers/WenBurke2022_smokelearning.pdf) ### What wildfire smoke does to your lungs Lungs UC San Diego study showed that wildfire smoke is up to 10 times more harmful to breathing than fine particles from other sources. 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. 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: [10 times more harmful](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7935892/) - Source: [human carcinogen](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4037163/) - Source: [risk of death 43%](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10375383/) ### What wildfire smoke does to your heart Heart EPA researchers found that on dense-smoke days, heart emergencies in adults 65+ rose about 15%, and stroke-related visits about 22%. 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. An Emory study of 22 million Medicare patients found long-term smoke exposure raised the risk of new heart failure by 1.4%. - Source: [heart emergencies in adults 65+ rose about 15%](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6015400/) - Source: [70% higher risk of cardiac arrest](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7428528/) - Source: [new heart failure by 1.4%](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12367337/) ### What wildfire smoke does to your kidneys 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/) ### What wildfire smoke does to your reproduction 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/) ### What wildfire smoke does to your blood & cells 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. 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: [DNA at 94 sites](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12696577/) - Source: [chromium-6 nanoparticles](https://www.ucdavis.edu/news/researchers-find-carcinogenic-chromium-6-palisades-altadena-fire-cleanup-zones) --- ## The filter quits when the smoke arrives ~95% 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 after just 10 milligrams of smoke, about an hour's worth. Harvard's Healthy Buildings team reviewed the same data and urged households to replace the filter after a wildfire. - Source: [95% of its cleaning power](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9828579/) - Source: [Harvard's Healthy Buildings team](https://healthybuildings.hsph.harvard.edu/protecting-your-health-from-wildfire-smoke-spotlight-on-filters/) --- ## 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. Both Filters after Smoke Wildfire smoke 40 nm Hexavalent chromium 56 nm Virus 100 nm HEPA rated size 0.3 µm Bacteria 400 nm Conventional filter data source - Source: [Conventional filter data source](https://doi.org/10.1016/0360-1323(94)90033-7)