Factsheet/brief icon

Comparing smoke exposure from wildfires and Rx fires

View brief.

This study examines the differences in community level exposures to smoke from both wildfire and prescribed fire.

Webinar, video, audio icon

Smoke exposure health effects and mitigations for wildland fire personnel

View webinar recording.

Wildland firefighters are exposed to wood smoke, which contains hazardous air pollutants, during wildland fire management assignments across the U.S. each year. In this webinar, Kathleen Navarro, PhD, presented on a recent Joint Fire Science Program study estimating the lifetime risk of lung cancer and cardiovascular disease from exposure to particulate matter (PM) from smoke. This analysis combined measured PM exposures on wildfires, estimated wildland firefighter breathing rates, and an exposure disease relationship for PM to estimate mortality of lung cancer and cardiovascular disease mortality from lifetime exposure to PM. In addition, Zone Fuels AFMO, Megan Martinez, reviewed previous smoke research, as well as field-based experiences with successes and challenges of implementing smoke exposure mitigations.

Outline of a smart phone with box-shaped apps

Smoke Sense App

Access App

EPA researchers initiated a citizen science project called Smoke Sense. This project has two broad objectives. The first to increase awareness of the known health effects associated with exposure to wildfire smoke. The second is to further advance the scientific understanding of that relationship, specifically to:

  1. Understand the subclinical health impacts of wildland fire smoke
  2. Discover how people protect their health during smoke exposure
  3. Develop effective strategies to communicate health risks from smoke exposure

Individuals who want to contribute to science can participate in the study by using the Smoke Sense app, a publicly available mobile application on the Google Play Store and the App Store.

Open book with a bar chart on left page and line graph and lines simulating text on the right page

Wildland fire smoke health effects on wildland firefighters and the public

View report.

Using epidemiology studies to understand the exposure-response relationship for PM, this study found that firefighters were at an increased risk for long-term health effects from smoke exposure. The risk for lung cancer mortality increases nearly linearly with exposures over time and is more strongly influenced by exposure duration than are the risks of death from cardiovascular or ischemic heart disease. On the other hand, the risk of cardiovascular mortality rises steeply for doses in the range we estimated for firefighter exposures but flattens out at higher exposures to PM. The data presented in this paper clearly identify the crews and activities most likely to exceed occupational exposure limits and firefighters may have a an increased health risk from smoke exposures.

Single sheet of paper with bullet points

Resources for predicting and mitigating smoke impacts of wildfires

View article.

This working paper describes how Air Resource Advisors use smoke modeling and monitoring tools to build a toolkit for fire managers and to improve public communication.

Single sheet of paper with bullet points

Prescribed fire policy barriers and opportunities

View brief.

This represents the first phase of a project investigating policies that limit managers’ ability to conduct prescribed fire on US Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands in the 11 Western states. The goals for this phase of our work were to understand the extent to which various policies are limiting prescribed fire programs, strategies to maintain and increase prescribed fire activities, and opportunities for improving policies or policy implementation. To understand the diversity of challenges faced and strategies in use across the West, we conducted a legal analysis of the laws and policies that affect prescribed fire programs on Forest Service and BLM lands (available online at http://ewp.uoregon.edu/publications/working) and approximately 60 interviews with land managers, air regulators, state agency partners, and several NGO partners.

Open book with lines simulating text on left and right pages

Aligning smoke management with ecological and public health goals

View article.

Past and current forest management affects wildland fire smoke impacts on downwind human populations. However, mismatches between the scale of benefits and risks make it difficult to proactively manage wildland fires to promote both ecological and public health. Building on recent literature and advances in modeling smoke and health effects, we outline a framework to more directly quantify and compare smoke impacts based on emissions, dispersion, and the size and vulnerability of downwind populations across time and space. We apply the framework in a case study to demonstrate how different kinds of fires in California’s Central Sierra Nevada have resulted in very different smoke impacts.

Single sheet of paper with bullet points

Air quality impacts from prescribed fire and wildfire compared

View brief.

Wildfires are far more likely to result in harmful air quality and public health impacts than prescribed fires because they are unplanned and typically are much larger. Wildfires also last longer, and burn and consume (on average) more vegetation per acre than prescribed fires.

Open book with a bar chart on left page and line graph and lines simulating text on the right page

Estimating effects of changing climate on fires and air quality

View report.

The objectives of this study, were: 1) use of climate projections to predict changes in fire activity in 2050, 2) identify potential changes in vegetation and fuels resulting from changes in climate and their implications in fire activity, 3) identify changes in fire occurrence and severity resulting from changes in future climate and vegetation and fuels, and 4) predict impacts on air quality resulting from changes in fire activity and climate on the mid-21st century.

Computer monitor with triangular play button on the screen

Fire, smoke, and air quality

Access webinar recording.

This webinar discusses various agricultural and forestry fires and their impacts on air quality, including smoke and other air emissions. Basic Smoke Management Practices (BSMPs) will be discussed as means to minimize air quality impacts from prescribed fires.

Narrow your search

Stay Connected