 killed more than 50,000 Californians prematurely in the 10-year period between 2008 and 2018. Not from the fires themselves, but from the smoke. Exactly, the wildfire smoke, because it contains teeny tiny particles that are called particulate matter, and they are small enough to enter the bloodstream, the heart and the lungs when they are inhaled, and those little particles can raise the risk of dying from heart disease or lung disease or strokes.