Skip to main content
General Strike Anniversary
Farmers threatened by growing wild fires due to climate change
A firefighter uses a drip torch to burn vegetation while trying to stop the Park Fire from near Mill Creek in Tehama County, Calif., August 7, 2024

WILD FIRES on the west coast of the United States are increasing under climate change and their smoke carries a threat to farmworkers, a study has warned.

Researchers at the University of California-Irvine found that farmworkers in the prime wine country of California’s Sonoma County, which saw wild fires in 2020, are paying a heavy price for increasing numbers of blazes by being exposed to high levels of air pollution.

They said the monitoring of when it was safe to work there during wild fires did not adequately protect farmworkers.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
NATIONALISATION CALL UNHEEDED: Assorted notables at the location of the new Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) on Monday July 14 2025 - Tata Steel gets £500 million while the local population a loss of 2,800 job
Wales / 28 February 2026
28 February 2026

LUKE FLETCHER outlines Plaid Cymru bold plans for wide-ranging policy consultations with trade unions in Wales

Cars drive past a fast-moving wildfire in a Mediterranean region of France near the Spanish border is pictured, August 5, 2025. Photo: Richard Capoulade/UGC via AP
Climate Crisis / 6 August 2025
6 August 2025
A blaze across a large area of gorse in Newry, where firefighters are tackling the flames which have been burning for several days, as the Northern Ireland Fire & Rescue Service said the wildfire at this stage appears to have been deliberately started, April 2020
Features / 3 May 2025
3 May 2025

When it comes to extreme weather events, from wildfires to flash floods, it’s firefighters who are on the front line of defence, but services have been cut to the bone, and government is not taking seriously its responsibility for the environment, says STEVE WRIGHT