WILD FIRES on the west coast of the United States are increasing under climate change and their smoke carries a threat to farmworkers, a study has warned.

Researchers at the University of California-Irvine found that farmworkers in the prime wine country of California’s Sonoma County, which saw wild fires in 2020, are paying a heavy price for increasing numbers of blazes by being exposed to high levels of air pollution.

They said the monitoring of when it was safe to work there during wild fires did not adequately protect farmworkers.

The report has recommended safeguarding steps including air-quality monitors at work sites, stricter requirements for employers, post-exposure health screenings and hazard pay.

Farmworkers are “experiencing first and hardest what the rest of us are just starting to understand,” Max Bell Alper, executive director of workers’ group North Bay Jobs with Justice, said at a webinar devoted to the research this week.

 Such workers face immense pressure to work in dangerous conditions as they do not get paid unless they work. Others in the country illegally are more vulnerable due to limited language skills, lack of benefits, discrimination and exploitation, making it harder for them to fight for basic rights.

During the 2020 fires, many kept working, often in evacuation zones deemed unsafe for the general population.

Because smoke and ash can contaminate grapes, growers were under increasing pressure to get workers into fields.

Worker Maria Salinas said her saliva turned black from inhaling the toxins until one day she had to be rushed to A&E. When she felt better, she returned to work as the fires raged.

“What forces us to work is necessity,” Ms Salinas said. “We always expose ourselves to danger out of necessity, whether by fire or disaster, when the weather changes, when it’s hot or cold.”