Smoke from Canada's wildfires killed nine-year-old Carter Vigh and 82,000 others around the world

"Amber Vigh had taken the usual precautions when bringing her nine-year-old son, Carter, to summer camp in July 2023. There were no fires near their home in British Columbia, Canada. Her air quality app showed low levels of pollution. She could not smell any smoke. Carter, a music-loving Lego enthusiast who had asthma, brought along his smiling shark tooth-patterned emergency kit that held an inhaler, allergy pill and EpiPen."

"When smoke did roll in from the north, Vigh took him indoors. But at home that evening, Carter began to cough uncontrollably. Vigh and her husband, James, followed the doctors' checklist emergency inhaler, drink of water, steroid inhaler and gave him a bath to cool down. Then, all of a sudden, he started coughing again like crazy, said Vigh. A resident sprays water on hotspots near a house during a wildfire in Celista, British Columbia, Canada, on 19 August 2023. Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images Alarmed, she drove Carter to the local hospital and called ahead so medics would be waiting."

"Carter died in hospital that day from what the coroner called an asthma attack aggravated by wildfire smoke. And though most people in his family's shoes will not know it, his death was far from the only one made more likely by the fumes. Tiny toxic particles spewed by Canadian wildfires killed 82,000 people in 2023, according to a study published in Nature on Wednesday. The long tendrils of smoke choked towns not just in Canada and the US, but also across the Atlantic."

Amber Vigh brought her nine-year-old son Carter, who had asthma, to summer camp with an emergency kit and took him indoors when smoke arrived. Despite following emergency measures and seeking hospital care, Carter died from an asthma attack aggravated by wildfire smoke. Tiny toxic particles from Canadian wildfires contributed to an estimated 82,000 deaths worldwide in 2023, including about 22,000 premature deaths in Europe. Smoke traveled across North America and across the Atlantic, degrading air quality far from the fires. Children with asthma and other vulnerable groups face especially high risks during smoke events.

Read at www.theguardian.com