Should people worry about breathing in too much ash?

By Chris Choi

Orange Lutheran High School

Currently, in the western part of the United States, treacherous fires have broken out and have already burned 4.7 million acres of land. Right now, there might be 560 fires burning throughout the western states. Due to all the fires, people living in the West Coast are constantly involved in dangerous situations. Because of these current disasters affecting several areas on the West Coast, there was a great amount of injuries that were caused and people needed to evacuate from their neighborhoods too. Also, because of the 4.7 million acres of land, which includes forests and towns, burning due to the fire, ash has started to mix with the air polluting it and creating another reason why everyone should wear a mask, the first reason being the coronavirus.

Ash from the fire that travels eastwards can cause severe problems and cause more possible injuries from the unhealthy air quality. Joshua Song, who is currently attending Valencia High School as a senior, explained how ashes traveling have the potential to affect a greater variety and amount of people. Additionally, Erin Choi, who is currently attending Orange Lutheran High School as a junior, stressed the importance of wearing a mask due to the fact that ashes can possibly cause problems to your body from breathing them in. In fact, studies show that breathing ash particles is liable to cause cancerous lung diseases because it contains the component called the crystalline silica inside of it. Crystalline silica is the basic component of soil, sand, granite, and many other minerals and quartz is the most common form of it. Because Crystalline silica exists inside of ashes, breathing in the most common form of crystalline silica which is quartz can be very dangerous as it may cause lung diseases and cancers. Therefore, people living in the West Coast and the East Coast should be alarmed that the ashes are traveling by riding the wind eastwards. Due to the fire, not only are the people in the West in danger, but the people in the East may be as well.

I personally think that it is very dangerous to breathe in the quantity of air created from the ash and fires because of the studies discussed above that state a link between it and the possible creation of health problems. People should wear masks to go out every day not just because of the coronavirus, but also to protect themselves from the dangerous ash particles in the air that people may breathe in otherwise.