Beyond the plume of smoke: There are choices in how and when we are exposed to smoke from fires.

There is growing recognition among fire scientists, air regulators, and policy makers that we need to return to controlled burning—Indigenous cultural and prescribed fires, which gives us more choice in the timing and quantity of smoke we are exposed to. Fire has always been part of California’s landscape, so we can either embrace the opportunity to use it on our own terms—as Indigenous cultural burns have done for millennia by working with nature—or continue to be subject to the fire nature will inevitably bring.