The threat of death from wildfire smoke is so great that any official tally of people killed in a fire probably is wildly low, as it counts obvious victims, not ones who later died after inhaling its far-flung haze. Los Angeles’ catastrophic blaze last January, for instance, killed 30 people according to authorities, but more like 440 according to scientists who determined excess deaths then were likely due to smoke. As climate change makes such conflagrations ever more catastrophic, that mortality is only going to escalate.
grist.org/health/wildfire-smoke-could-soon-kill-71000-americans-every-year/