What Health Concerns to Watch For in Michigan During Wildfire Air Quality Alerts

MICHIGAN, Aug. 6, 2025 ~ With the state experiencing weeks of diminished air quality due to wildfire smoke, the question arises about what it means for the health of Michigan residents.

Michigan saw an air quality alert lifted after about a week of hazy skies blanketing the state due to ongoing wildfires in Canada. “If you have asthma, a heart condition, or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, then you should consider changing your plans and staying indoors, or at very least, not being very active,” Robert Wahl, environmental epidemiologist and assistant professor at Michigan State University, told WJR. “Sometimes we might push into some red categories due to the Canadian wildfires, and that’s unhealthy for everybody. So what that means is that some members of the general public may experience health effects like coughing, sneezing, stingy eyes, sore throat, things like that.“