BACKGROUND A major industrial fire accident occurred in a tire manufacturing factory in Daejeon, Korea, on 12 March 2023 and lasted for 3 d, generating air pollutant emissions. Although evidence regarding the health effects of urban fires is limited, residents near tire factory may have experienced health hazards due to smoke exposure from fire plumes. OBJECTIVES Capitalizing on the timing of this fire incident as a natural experiment, we estimated the attributable excess air pollution exposure and associated disease development among residents living near the tire factory. METHODS We used the generalized synthetic control method to estimate air pollution exposure and health burden attributable to the accident among residents living in smoke-exposed districts. Based on satellite images and air pollution monitoring results, three administrative districts (within 1.2km from the factory) were defined as smoke-exposed, and the other 79 districts of Daejeon were defined as controls. Among the 11 monitoring stations in Daejeon, the station located 500m from the factory was used to estimate excess air pollution exposure (PM10, PM2.5, NO2, O3, SO2, and CO) for residents in the exposed districts. The number of daily district-level disease-specific incidence cases were acquired from the National Health Insurance Database and used to estimate excess health burden resulting from the fire. RESULTS During the first week following the factory fire, residents of exposed districts had an estimated excess exposure to 125.2 [95% confidence interval (CI): 44.9, 156.7] μg/m3 of PM10, 50.4 (95% CI: 12.7, 99.8) ppb of NO2, and 32.0 (95% CI: 21.0, 35.9) ppb of SO2. We also found an average increase in the incidence cases of other diseases of upper respiratory tract [20.6 persons (95% CI: 6.2, 37.4)], lung disease due to external agents [2.5 persons (95% CI: 2.1, 3.3)], urticaria and erythema [5.9 persons (95% CI: -0.6, 11.2)], and episodic and paroxysmal disorders [8.5 persons (95% CI: 3.7, 13.4)] in exposed districts. DISCUSSION Excessive air pollution exposure and disease incidence were identified among residents living close to the tire factory. Preventive measures, such as a warning system, to avoid health impacts to people breathing fire-related pollution may be beneficial for communities impacted by such events. https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP14115.

中文翻译：

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估计城市工厂火灾事故烟雾暴露对健康的急性影响：以韩国轮胎厂火灾为例。


背景技术2023年3月12日，韩国大田市一家轮胎制造厂发生重大工业火灾事故，持续3天，产生大气污染物排放。尽管有关城市火灾对健康影响的证据有限，但轮胎厂附近的居民可能因暴露在火羽中的烟雾而遭受健康危害。目标 利用这次火灾事件发生的时间作为自然实验，我们估计了轮胎厂附近居民可归因的过量空气污染暴露和相关疾病的发展。方法采用广义综合控制方法来估算烟雾暴露地区居民因事故造成的空气污染暴露和健康负担。根据卫星图像和空气污染监测结果，将3个行政区（距离工厂1.2公里以内）定义为烟雾暴露区，将大田市的其他79个区定义为控制区。在大田的 11 个监测站中，距离工厂 500m 的监测站用于估算暴露地区居民的超标空气污染暴露（PM10、PM2.5、NO2、O3、SO2 和 CO）。从国民健康保险数据库中获取每日地区级特定疾病发病病例数，并用于估计火灾造成的过度健康负担。结果 在工厂火灾后的第一周，暴露地区的居民估计过量暴露于 125.2 [95% 置信区间 (CI)：44.9, 156.7] μg/m3 的 PM10, 50.4 (95% CI: 12.7, 99.8) ppb 的 NO2 和 32.0 (95% CI: 21.0, 35.9) ppb 的 SO2。我们还发现其他上呼吸道疾病的发病率平均增加[20.6 人（95% CI：6.2, 37.4)]、外因引起的肺部疾病 [2.5 人 (95% CI: 2.1, 3.3)]、荨麻疹和红斑 [5.9 人 (95% CI: -0.6, 11.2)] 以及阵发性和阵发性疾病 [ 8.5 人 (95% CI: 3.7, 13.4)] 暴露地区。讨论 居住在轮胎厂附近的居民发现了过度的空气污染和疾病发病率。预警系统等预防措施可以避免对呼吸火灾相关污染的人们造成健康影响，这可能对受此类事件影响的社区有益。 https://doi.org/10.1289/EHP14115。