Spatio-Temporal Assessment of Human Wildfire Exposure in China From 2001 to 2019

In the term of climate Change, wildfire exposures are increasingly recognized as an important public health issue especially in China. Indicators proposed in our study capture the change in human exposure to wildfire lifecycle in China from 2001 to 2019 in three aspects: pre-fire risk, active fire biomass burning and post-fire destruction. Although the fire risk indicator scarcely grew through 2001–2019, national combustion exposure went up in most years while fire influenced population displays the tendency of rising up at the beginning and declining later. Northern provinces in China saw the largest growth in fire risk, and the Northeast reports the biggest rise of fire exposure and burned area affected population, while East-China experienced the largest shrink in burned area affected population. The result implies a stronger need for better wildfire monitor and control.