Wildfires can lead to issues like changes in the water treatment process or the pollution of water due to sediments, smoke and soot. That’s according to Siyu Pan, an economics assistant professor at NAU.
Her research came out of a partnership with the U.S. Forest Service. One of her studies found that communities with lower education and household income are more open to wildfire exposure.
“So my role as an economist in this whole study initiative would be trying to understand more specifically the monetary aspect of wildfires' impact on people's drinking water pollution," she said.
Pan says she is taking a closer look at what she calls environmental economics.
“There is the social cost of carbon, which is carbon emission. There's the social cost of air pollution. There's the social cost of, you know, natural disasters of various sorts," she said.
Pan says wildfires have become more frequent in recent years.
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Arizona Public Service has nearly 40 active AI smoke-detection cameras and plans to have 71 by summer's end, and the state’s fire agency has deployed seven of its own. -
Smoke from the fire near Buckeye has blown into the rest of the Valley since it started burning Saturday. -
Kathleen Muldoon is a professor at an Arizona medical school who lives in north Peoria not too far from where the Hazen wildfire is burning. And she has Valley fever. -
The fire is generating a lot of fine particulate matter which could worsen health outcomes for people with respiratory issues. -
The Hazen Fire is burning about a mile south of Buckeye residential areas and is bordering State Route 85. As of Tuesday afternoon it stood at 1049 acres and reached 10% containment overnight.
