Fire’s Immediate and Residual Effects on Youth Mental Health (F.I.R.E.)

Fires in California have become a major public safety and public health concern. Effects of wildfires on physiological health are well documented but there is little research that investigates and quantifies the causal effect of wildfires on mental health. Results from our two stage least squares regression suggest there is a statistically significant positive causal effect on the youth mental health diagnosis rate in certain zip codes that varies in magnitude.