You might think that wildfire smoke can only hurt those living right next to the flames. The truth is, you don't even have to be near the heat for it to take a toll on your health. 

Thankfully, researchers are working on a solution that could save thousands, if not millions, of lungs.

Earlier this year, wildfires in southern California destroyed more than 18,000 homes and killed 30 people. Smoke from those fires didn't stay put. It drifted for miles, blanketing nearby towns and creeping into cities far from the burn zones.

Researchers from Harvard are trying to stop that from happening again. They've built a new public tool called SMRT-Flames, and it helps communities figure out where wildfire smoke could spread next — and what to do before it gets worse.

"We want to know not just where catastrophic fires are likely to occur, but which fires will generate the most smoke, and affect the most people downwind," said Loretta Mickley, the lead researcher.

That includes people living in a wildland-urban interface — the edge of neighborhoods where homes meet undeveloped land. The research team found these folks face some of the worst exposure to smoke, even more than people in dense cities.

Smoke is more than a nuisance. It contains particulate matter like PM2.5 — a microscopic type of air pollution that's dangerous when breathed in. Mickley's team estimated 36,400 people died after the 2020 wildfire season just from complications tied to this kind of exposure.

PM2.5 can trigger asthma attacks and increase the risk of heart problems, and it hits older adults especially hard.

That's where targeted fire management comes in.

In research published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology, the Harvard team ran simulations for Northern California using a model called GEOS-Chem. 

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The tool allowed the scientists to test how smoke would move through the air under different weather and terrain conditions. From that, they found that setting prescribed burns in just 3.5% of the region's land could've reduced smoke exposure by 18% in 2020 alone.

Makoto Kelp, one of the study's co-authors, explained that much of today's fire risk "is due to a combination of factors, including climate, but also this legacy of fire suppression." 

Basically, we've stopped smaller natural fires for decades — and now, all that underbrush has piled up into a big fuel source.

Prescribed fires — controlled burns managed by experts — are one of the few ways to reduce that risk. 

"With our methodology, you can consider hypothetical scenarios and plan prescribed fires to reduce smoke exposure over an entire region," said co-lead researcher Tina Liu.

SMRT-Flames focuses on Northern California right now, but the team says it could be used anywhere in the U.S. where wildfire risk is rising. 

The goal? Fewer fires. Less smoke. Cleaner air.

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