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Residents near Maui wildfires show elevated metals linked to impacted lung health, study says
Metal mixtures found in the leftover smoke, ash and debris from the deadly 2023 Maui wildfires were harmful to the lung health of people living nearby long after the burning ended, a new study says.
The work shows that major wildfires, which are worsening with the planet’s warming , could have lasting effects beyond immediate exposure.
Post-wildfire air quality needs to be monitored longer term, the research suggests, and recovery efforts need to consider what might remain in contaminated soot, residue and dirt well after burning stops.
The wildfires, caused by wind spreading a brushfire spurred by downed power lines, burned on the Hawaiian island of Maui in August 2023, destroyed the town of Lahaina and killed more than 100 people. They were among the deadliest in U.S. history.
New research published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on Monday found higher metal levels, associated with respiratory harm, in nearby residents up to a year and a half after the fires.
University of Hawaii researchers studied the urine of 1,400 adults and found substantially elevated concentrations of metals such as arsenic, cadmium, copper and antimony.
These metals could be the result of burned buildings, vehicles, electronics and other materials lost in the wildfires, the researchers say. They can cause a different human impact than simply the burned vegetation that is typically studied after fires of this magnitude.
“What we’re dealing with, especially in the aftermath of what we experienced in Lahaina, is a much more complicated mixture of these chemical exposures,”said Alika Maunakea, the study’s co-author and an anatomy, biochemistry, and physiology professor at the University of Hawaii, Manoa.
The researchers found antimony nearly 40 times higher in the Maui participants than U.S. biomonitoring data. They found manganese 3.8 times higher, barium 2.3 times and arsenic 2.2 times.
Having more metals in the body was more likely to result in abnormal lung function, such as having less breathing capacity and difficulty moving air in and out of one’s lungs, during standard breathing tests, the study found.
Those lung effects aligned with the geographic distribution of smoke and ash; those nearest to Lahaina, and Wailuku and Kahului, experienced a different impact than in those near Kula.
“It’s really important to identify potential sources of these exposures and to mitigate and reduce potential risks for re-exposures that might be contributing to these effects,”Maunakea said. “What happens to the land and environment can shape what people breathe, take into their bodies, and develop over time. The consequences of that can unfold over many years.”
Wildfires are getting larger, more intense, faster-moving and more frequent in certain parts of the globe, experts say, in part due to the warming and drier weather associated with climate change. Human-caused climate change has upped the likelihood of many major fires around the world in recent years and led to fires in regions that typically do not see them as often.
The researchers did note a limitation of the study in that it cannot assess exactly how much of the impact came directly from the wildfires versus chronic or other exposures — such as Hawaii’s geology, diet, historic agricultural and industrial activity and environmental sources — given there is no comparable data from before August 2023.
However, previous studies have also found significant long-term human impacts from wildfires and other environmental crises. The impacts have included lung issues and mental health issues such as depression.
“This is bigger than wildfires. These climate-related disasters can change the environment in ways that continue after the immediate emergency is over,”said Ruben Juarez, study co-author and professor of health economics at the university. “Floods, hurricanes, fires, and other disasters definitely can disturb soil, debris, buildings, and legacy contaminants that we have in Hawaii, creating these pathways for exposure. … Disaster response should not stop when visible danger is gone.”
Dr. Kekoa Taparra, a physician and assistant professor who studies chronic diseases at the University of California, Los Angeles, said the research expands our understanding of the health burden of the fires, particularly over an extended period.
“This type of work echoes that climate-related disasters affect human health well beyond the immediate injuries and deaths we see during the event itself,”said Taparra, who was not involved in the study released Monday but has studied the health impacts of disasters. “Historic wildfires in Lahaina and even Los Angeles have highlighted how these disasters can produce longer-lasting consequences through displacement, disruption of healthcare and social networks, environmental exposures, and potentially increased mortality.
“As these events become more frequent and severe, understanding and measuring their full health impact will be essential to building more resilient communities and health systems.”
___
Alexa St. John is an Associated Press climate reporter. Follow her on X: @alexa_stjohn . Reach her at [email protected] .
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2026-09-28 19:11:03 UTC
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2026-09-29 04:41:27 UTC
夏威夷毛伊岛 2023 年野火后，附近居民体内砷、镉、铜、锑等金属浓度升高，与肺功能异常相关，影响可持续一年半。
研究显示，2023 年毛伊岛野火产生的烟雾、灰烬和碎屑中含有有害金属混合物。这些金属来自燃烧的建筑、车辆、电子产品等材料，远超典型植被燃烧的影响。
夏威夷大学研究团队检测了 1400 名成年居民的尿液，发现砷、镉、铜、锑等金属浓度显著升高，其中锑几乎是美国全国生物监测数据的 40 倍。
金属负担增加与肺功能异常相关，表现为呼吸容量降低和呼吸困难，且影响程度与烟雾和灰烬的地理分布一致，靠近拉海纳、瓦伊卢克和卡胡卢的居民受影响更大。
研究人员指出，气候变暖导致野火更大更频繁，灾后环境中的遗留污染物可能长期威胁居民健康，呼吁延长空气质量监测并将污染物清除纳入恢复工作。
尽管研究无法完全区分野火与其他暴露来源的影响，但已有研究表明野火等气候相关灾害会引发长期肺部和心理健康问题，强调需要建立更具韧性的社区和卫生系统。
A study finds that residents near Maui’s 2023 wildfires have elevated levels of metals like arsenic, cadmium, copper and antimony in their urine up to a year and a half later, linked to reduced lung function. The metals likely came from burned buildings, vehicles and electronics,
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