“The world is on fire” is no longer a metaphor. In the United States, that means almost 16,000 deaths per year from wildfire smoke. That number could nearly double by mid-century, according to an April analysis by the National Bureau of Economic Research. Another study this year out of Yale found that we could already be near 30,000 deaths per year, when factoring in all the additional harm to heart, lung, kidney, and mental health in the aftermath of smoke exposure.