Why It Matters

A recent CRS report published August 13 details the health and regulatory challenges posed by wildland fire smoke, laying out a complex landscape where federal air quality rules may struggle to keep pace with worsening smoke seasons.

The report, titled "Wildland Fire Smoke, Air Quality, and Health," examines how fine particles from wildland fires penetrate deeply into the lungs and can trigger eye irritation, sore throat, coughing, and breathing difficulties. Research links smoke exposure to respiratory and cardiovascular complications, potential pregnancy impacts, reduced lung function in subsequent years, and increased influenza risk across age groups.

Children, elderly individuals, pregnant women, and people with chronic conditions face disproportionate risk from smoke exposure. The stakes extend beyond individual health outcomes to federal compliance obligations. Under the Clean Air Act, the EPA has set national ambient air quality standards for six criteria air pollutants, some of which appear in wildland fire smoke. When smoke causes pollution levels to exceed those standards, states hold primary compliance responsibility, creating pressure on them to manage smoke even when fires originate outside their borders.

Cross-border smoke transport has intensified the problem. Canadian wildfire smoke was transported hundreds of miles into the United States during both 2023 and 2026, driving responses from the public and some Members of Congress.

The Big Picture

The Clean Air Act allows the EPA to exclude air quality data from regulatory decisions if pollution is demonstrably influenced by exceptional events such as wildland fires. The EPA issued a policy memo in 2025 providing guidance that air quality data from strategic prescribed fires used for wildfire mitigation does not need to be counted against states' compliance with national ambient air quality standards. To exclude prescribed burn-impacted air quality data from regulatory decisions, individuals and agencies that conduct prescribed burns must adhere to the exceptional events rule by demonstrating appropriate smoke management procedures.

Federal agencies have begun adapting to the challenge. The Forest Service operates the Interagency Wildland Fire Air Quality Response Program, which deployed more than 70 Air Resource Advisors in 2026 to monitor and forecast local air quality conditions and help develop smoke management strategies. The EPA operates the AirNow platform with a color-coded Air Quality Index and AirNow regularly receives air quality monitoring data from state, local, and federal agencies. The agency also lends supplemental air quality monitors and collaborates with building design standards organizations to reduce smoke impacts.

Yet significant gaps remain. Less is known about cumulative and long-term exposure effects of wildland fire smoke, particularly for firefighters. Research gaps persist regarding long-term cumulative health effects of repeated smoke exposure seasons. The U.S. Wildland Fire Service updated policies in 2026 to reduce smoke exposure for fire personnel, but the science underlying those protections remains incomplete.

The Bottom Line

The Clean Air Act allows EPA to exclude air quality data from regulatory decisions if air quality is demonstratively influenced by exceptional events such as wildland fires. As smoke seasons intensify and cross-border transport continues, Congress faces pressure to decide whether the Clean Air Act's exceptional events framework adequately addresses the problem or whether new legislation, such as the FIRE Act amendments, should reshape how federal air quality standards apply to fire-influenced pollution. The answer will determine whether states bear the compliance burden for smoke originating far beyond their borders.

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