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1Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute2Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors3Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesWildfires can contribute to ozone pollution that is difficult to see: the flames emit chemicals that can react in the atmosphere to form ozone, sometimes downwind where smoke looks thinner. Smoke visibility alone cannot show how much ozone is at ground level or whether a particular person is exposed.
How can a fire lead to ozone pollution?
Ozone in this context is a secondary pollutant: it forms in the air rather than pouring directly from the flames. Wildfire smoke contains nitrogen oxides and organic compounds that can act as precursors. Sunlight and atmospheric conditions influence the chemistry, so ozone levels do not necessarily track how dark or dense a smoke plume looks. The EPA says ozone can be elevated downwind of fires even where smoke is less dense; the CDC also identifies nitrogen oxides and organic compounds in wildfire smoke as ozone precursors.
This is why smoke and ozone should be treated as related but distinct air-quality concerns. Smoke is a mixture that includes particles such as PM2.5; ozone is a gas produced through atmospheric reactions. A visible plume is not a reliable stand-in for a local ozone reading.
What have scientists measured and estimated?
Upper Midwest, May–June 2023
A 2024 peer-reviewed study associated Canadian wildfire smoke with surface ozone enhancements across the U.S. Upper Midwest in May and June 2023. Within the monitoring coverage available for comparison, the region’s 50th-percentile ozone concentration was higher than in any year since 1995, while its 90th-percentile concentration was the highest since 2002. Those are regional comparisons for that episode—not claims that every monitoring site, community, or wildfire season set a record. The study appeared in Geophysical Research Letters.
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U.S. trends and modeled impacts, 2003–2024
A June 2026 Science study reports that the national ozone trend shifted from a decline of 0.65 parts per billion per year during 2003–2015 to an increase of 0.13 ppb per year during 2015–2024. The authors attribute the reversal primarily to increasing wildfire emissions. These are study-reported trend estimates for the stated periods, not a forecast for every place. The study abstract is indexed by PubMed, and NASA summarizes its findings.
The same study estimates that fire-sourced ozone was associated with 318 additional premature deaths per year after 2013, with estimated post-2013 mortality 46% higher than the pre-2013 average. It also estimates that wildfire emissions exposed 43 million people in the United States to ozone nonattainment conditions during 2022–2024. These figures are modeled study estimates, not a count of individually confirmed deaths or direct ozone measurements at every person’s location, and they do not predict an individual’s risk.
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What can ozone do to health, and who may be more vulnerable?
According to the EPA’s wildfire-smoke health-effects guidance, elevated ozone can reduce lung function and inflame airways, and may cause chest pain, coughing, wheezing, or shortness of breath—including in otherwise healthy people. Effects may be more serious for people with asthma or other lung disease. Children, older adults, and outdoor workers are also identified as groups of greater concern.
The EPA material describes evidence for cardiovascular effects and premature mortality from ozone as more limited than the respiratory evidence discussed there. That qualification matters: the 2026 study’s mortality estimates are specifically modeled estimates associated with fire-sourced ozone, while the broader evidence about wildfire smoke includes effects from a mixture of pollutants.
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Smoke exposure has its own health effects and risk groups. The CDC lists people with chronic conditions, pregnant people, children, and emergency responders among groups at increased risk from wildfire smoke; reported symptoms can include eye and throat irritation, headache, fatigue, chest pain, and fast heartbeat, as well as breathing problems. These are smoke-related concerns, not proof that a person has been exposed to ozone specifically. CDC wildfire risk-factor guidance explains these risks.
Why smoke-day health statistics are not ozone statistics
In a 2023 U.S. surveillance analysis, asthma-associated emergency-department visits were 17% higher than expected during 19 wildfire-smoke days in the April 30–August 4 observation period. That finding concerns smoke days and asthma visits; it does not isolate ozone as the cause. The CDC report describes the surveillance analysis.
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Likewise, evidence about short-term PM2.5 exposure—including respiratory and cardiovascular illness and premature mortality—addresses particles, not ozone gas. Smoke-focused research has found especially consistent respiratory effects. Ozone can rise during some smoke episodes, but that does not make every smoke-related health result an ozone effect.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How should people interpret local air quality during a fire?
- Check current local air-quality information that reports ozone as well as particle pollution; smoke appearance alone cannot establish the ozone concentration.
- Keep the pollutant distinction in mind: particle-focused alerts and evidence concern a different pollutant from ozone, even when both occur during the same fire episode.
- People with asthma or other lung disease, children, older adults, and people spending time working outdoors should take elevated ozone information seriously and follow current public-health guidance for their area.
A particle respirator or particle-filtering air cleaner should not be treated as protection against ozone gas. The evidence summarized here supports attention to ozone as a distinct risk, not assuming that measures aimed at particles remove ozone.
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