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Problem statement: Forest fires are especially frequent around the Mediterranean Sea basin in the summer period and might be able to release naturally-occurring and man-made radionuclides from plant biomass and inject them into the atmosphere. The impact of this radioactivity on…
Person:
Year: 2012
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Emissions and Smoke, Fire Behavior, Fire Effects, Safety
Region(s): International
Keywords: radionuclides, polonium, Mediterranean, radioactivity, forest fires, atmospheric deposition, PM - particulate matter, cigarettes

The risk of hospitalisation from bushfire exposure events in Darwin, Australia, is examined. Several local studies have found evidence for the effects of exposure to bushfire particulates on respiratory and cardiovascular hospital admissions. They have characterised the risk of…
Person:
Year: 2012
Type: Document
Source: TTRS
Topic(s): Emissions and Smoke, Safety, Hazard and Risk
Region(s): International
Keywords: wildfires, air quality, health factors, particulates, pollution, Northern Territory of Australia, Australia, fire management, forest management, particulates, bush fires, cardiovascular and respiratory hospital admissions, health risk

From the text ... 'Wildland fire managers face increasingly steep challenges to meet air quality standards while planning prescribed fire and its inevitable smoke emissions. The goals of sound fire management practices, including fuel load reduction through prescribed burning,…
Person:
Year: 2012
Type: Document
Source: TTRS
Topic(s): Climate, Emissions and Smoke, Fire Effects, Fire Occurrence, Fuels, Hazard and Risk, Models, Prescribed Fire
Region(s): Alaska, California, Eastern, Great Basin, Hawaii, Northern Rockies, Northwest, Rocky Mountain, Southern, Southwest, National
Keywords: fire hazard reduction, fuel loading, low intensity burns, rate of spread, smoke effects, wildfires, air quality, climate change, fire management, land management, smoke management

BACKGROUND: In late October 2003, a series of wildfires exposed urban populations in Southern California to elevated levels of air pollution over several weeks. Previous research suggests that short-term hospital admissions for respiratory outcomes increased specifically as a…
Person:
Year: 2012
Type: Document
Source: TTRS
Topic(s): Emissions and Smoke, Fire Effects, Safety
Region(s): California
Keywords: wildfires, air quality, health factors, particulates, fire management, smoke management, air pollution, birth weight, fetal growth retardation, fires, particulate matter, pregnancy outcomes

From the Overview ... 'Exposure to smoke from wildland fire is an important public health concern. While fire managers can minimize prescribed fire smoke impacts by identifying smoke-sensitive areas and using appropriate burn techniques, smoke exposure is an inevitable side…
Person:
Year: 2012
Type: Document
Source: TTRS
Topic(s): Emissions and Smoke, Fire Occurrence, Prescribed Fire, Safety
Region(s): Southern
Keywords: smoke effects, wildfires, air quality, health factors, particulates, fire management, smoke management

There is a growing concern that human health impacts from exposure to wildfire smoke are ignored in estimates of monetized damages from wildfires. Current research highlights the need for better data collection and analysis of these impacts. Using unique primary data, this paper…
Person:
Year: 2012
Type: Document
Source: TTRS
Topic(s): Economics, Emissions and Smoke, Fire Effects, Safety
Region(s): California
Keywords: fire size, smoke effects, wildfires, health factors, pollution, southern California, fire management, smoke management, wildfire, health effects, defensive behavior method, WTP - willingness to pay, cost of illness, Station Fire

Multiple air monitoring campaigns were conducted from 2003 to 2007 during the months of December through April in which time-integrated monitoring of PM2.5 was performed during 55 prescribed burn (PB) events administered under select meteorological conditions. The data were…
Person:
Year: 2012
Type: Document
Source: TTRS
Topic(s): Climate, Emissions and Smoke, Fire Behavior, Models, Prescribed Fire, Weather
Region(s): Southern
Keywords: fire intensity, fire size, ignition, air quality, particulates, statistical analysis, wind, Georgia, South Carolina, fire management, smoke management, air pollution, Generalized Additive Models, mixed-models, particulate matter

Large forest fires are a known natural and dominant disturbance factor in high northern latitudes, and form pyrocumulus (pyroCu), and occasionally pyrocumulonimbus (pyroCb) clouds. These clouds can transport emissions into the upper troposphere/lower stratosphere (UT/LS) and…
Person:
Year: 2012
Type: Document
Source: TTRS
Topic(s): Emissions and Smoke, Intelligence, Models, Climate
Region(s): International
Keywords: biomass burning, fire size, wildfires, radiation, remote sensing, Saskatchewan, Canada, fire management, smoke management, remote sensing, pyrocumulus, clouds, fires, biomass burning, radiometer, Monte Carlo, three-dimensional (3D) radiative transfer, dffusion approximations, airborne

Particle size distribution from forest biomass combustion is an important parameter as it affects air quality, global climate and human health. There have been several studies that relate emission of 2.5-10 µm particulates and their effects on human health. The objective of this…
Person:
Year: 2012
Type: Document
Source: TTRS
Topic(s): Climate, Emissions and Smoke, Fire Occurrence
Region(s): International
Keywords: biomass burning, wildfires, air quality, climate change, health factors, particulates, Amazon, Brazil, South America, fire management, forest management, smoke management, ultra-fine particulate matter, real-time sampling, Amazon forest fires

Wildfires and severe smoke can create dangerous conditions for people, especially those with chronic health conditions. Learn about current wildfires, wildfire smoke conditions, and what you can do to reduce the health effects of wildfire smoke.
Person:
Year: 2012
Type: Website
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Emissions and Smoke, Fire Effects, Hazard and Risk, Safety
Region(s): Northwest
Keywords: Oregon, public health

Exposure to forest fire smoke is episodic, which makes its health effects challenging to study. We review the newest contributions to a growing literature on acute respiratory outcomes.
Person:
Year: 2012
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Emissions and Smoke, Fire Effects, Safety
Region(s): Alaska, California, Eastern, Great Basin, Hawaii, Northern Rockies, Northwest, Rocky Mountain, Southern, Southwest, International, National
Keywords: health effects, respiratory health, respiratory disease, asthma, smoke exposure, forest fires, wildfires

The State of North Carolina has engaged in an active prescribed fire and smoke management program since the 1970s in an effort to maintain a healthy ecosystem and minimize uncontrolled fuel overgrowth that contributes to catastrophic wildfires. Each of the State's 13 natural…
Person:
Year: 2012
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Climate, Emissions and Smoke, Fire History, Prescribed Fire, Weather
Region(s): Southern
Keywords: NFDRS - National Fire Danger Rating System, North Carolina, fire data

While the mortality impacts of urban air pollution have been well addressed in the literature, very little is known about the mortality impacts and associated social cost from wildfire-smoke exposure (Kochi et al., 2010; U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2004). In an attempt…
Person:
Year: 2012
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Economics, Emissions and Smoke, Models, Planning, Safety, Social Science
Region(s): California
Keywords: 2003 Southern California fires, air pollution, mortality impact, social cost, value of statistical life

Wildland fire managers face increasingly steep challenges to meet air quality standards while planning prescribed fire and its inevitable smoke emissions. The goals of sound fire management practices, including fuel load reduction through prescribed burning, are often challenged…
Person:
Year: 2012
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Climate, Emissions and Smoke, Intelligence, Models
Region(s): Alaska, California, Eastern, Great Basin, Hawaii, Northern Rockies, Northwest, Rocky Mountain, Southern, Southwest, National
Keywords: air quality, JFSP - Joint Fire Science Program, smoke emissions, smoke management, smoke science research

The Pacific Northwest (PNW) Research Station conducts research on a wide range of topics to improve the management and use of natural resources. Categorizing this research is often difficult because in many cases the crux of an issue lies in its connection to many natural…
Person:
Year: 2012
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Climate, Emissions and Smoke, Fire Ecology, Fuels, Models, Prescribed Fire, Social Science, Aquatic
Region(s): Northwest
Keywords: fire, wildlife, climate change, watersheds, community sustainability, forests and grasslands, learning events

Fires in agricultural ecosystems emit greenhouse gases and aerosols that influence climate on multiple spatial and temporal scales. Annex 1 countries of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), many of which ratified the Kyoto Protocol, are required to…
Person:
Year: 2012
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES, TTRS
Topic(s): Climate, Emissions and Smoke, Fire Effects, Regulations and Legislation
Region(s): Alaska, California, Eastern, Great Basin, Hawaii, Northern Rockies, Northwest, Rocky Mountain, Southern, Southwest, International, National
Keywords: agriculture, CO2 - carbon dioxide, cropland fires, mitigation, biomass burning, satellite observations, radiative forcing, fire frequency, aerosols, air quality, greenhouse gases, remote sensing, fire management, range management, croplands

Background: Characterizing factors which determine susceptibility to air pollution is an important step in understanding the distribution of risk in a population and is critical for setting appropriate policies. We evaluate general and specific measures of community health as…
Person:
Year: 2012
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Climate, Emissions and Smoke, Fire Effects, Safety
Region(s): Southern
Keywords: North Carolina, asthma, air pollution, air quality, heart failure, climate change, wildfires, disparities and susceptibility, public health

Objectives: Human exposure to wood smoke particles (WSP) impacts on human health through changes in indoor air quality, exposures from wild fires, burning of biomass and air pollution. This investigation tested the postulate that healthy volunteers exposed to WSP would…
Person:
Year: 2012
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Emissions and Smoke, Fire Effects, Safety
Region(s): Alaska, California, Eastern, Great Basin, Hawaii, Northern Rockies, Northwest, Rocky Mountain, Southern, Southwest, National
Keywords: wood smoke, particles, PM - particulate matter, biomass burning, human health, air pollution, pulmonary inflammation, health impacts, wildfires

The methodology for this assessment explicitly addressed ecosystem disturbances, including human- and naturally caused wildland fires, as required by the EISA legislation (U.S. Congress, 2007; Zhu and others, 2010). As indicated by figure 1.2 in chapter 1 of this report, the…
Person:
Year: 2012
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Climate, Emissions and Smoke, Fire Behavior, Fire Effects, Fire Occurrence, Mapping, Models
Region(s): California, Great Basin, Northern Rockies, Northwest, Rocky Mountain, Southwest
Keywords: climate change, area burned, C - carbon, carbon dioxide, carbon sequestration, wildfires, FOFEM - First Order Fire Effects Model, mitigation, fire management

This assessment was conducted to fulfill the requirements of section 712 of the Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) of 2007 and to improve understanding of carbon and greenhouse gas (GHG) fluxes in ecosystems of the Western United States. The assessment examined carbon…
Person:
Year: 2012
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Climate, Emissions and Smoke, Fire Behavior, Fire Occurrence, Mapping, Models
Region(s): California, Great Basin, Northern Rockies, Northwest, Rocky Mountain, Southwest
Keywords: climate change, C - carbon, carbon storage, greenhouse gases, flux, sequestration, wildfires

During a wildfire burnout operation in extremely dry fuels, firefighters suddenly observe a massive rotating vertical plume. Unfortunately, the crews who watch it swirl across this ridgeline don't see the plume as an imminent threat to adjoining forces. These people will not…
Person: Keller
Year: 2012
Type: Media
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Communications, Emissions and Smoke, Fire Behavior, Safety
Region(s): California
Keywords: entrapment, fire shelter deployment, firefighter safety, lookout, plume, situational awareness, firefighter survival, Indians Fire, rotating plume, rotating vertical plume

Boreal forest fires are an important source of terrestrial carbon emissions, particularly during years of widespread wildfires. Most carbon emission models parameterize wildfire impacts and carbon flux to area burned by fires, therein making the assumption that fires consume a…
Person:
Year: 2012
Type: Document
Source: TTRS
Topic(s): Climate, Emissions and Smoke, Fire Effects, Fuels
Region(s): Alaska
Keywords: fire regimes, surface fuels, wildfires, air quality, C - carbon, cover, fire management, forest management, boreal forests, boreal forest, C - carbon, dNBR - differenced (or delta) Normalized Burn Ratio, NLCD - National Land Cover Database

Biomass burning (BB) contributes large amounts of black carbon (BC) and particulate organic matter (POM) to the atmosphere and contributes significantly to the earth's radiation balance. BB particles can be a complicated optical system, with scattering and absorption…
Person:
Year: 2012
Type: Document
Source: TTRS
Topic(s): Climate, Emissions and Smoke, Fire Effects, Fire Occurrence
Region(s): Rocky Mountain
Keywords: biomass burning, fire case histories, wildfires, air quality, C - carbon, organic matter, particulates, Colorado, fire management, forest management, coniferous forests, forest fire, tar balls

This paper examines the economic potential for fire management to provide offsets to carbon markets in the savannas of northern Australia. Long-term field trials in Australia's savannas have quantified greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions abatement resulting from improved fire…
Person:
Year: 2012
Type: Document
Source: TTRS
Topic(s): Climate, Economics, Emissions and Smoke, Fire Occurrence
Region(s): International
Keywords: fire frequency, wildfires, C - carbon, climate change, greenhouse gases, Northern Territory of Australia, Australia, fire management, forest management, savannas, carbon market, climate change mitigation, fire management, greenhouse gas offset, Indigenous fire management

Prescribed fire can potentially reduce carbon emissions from unplanned fires. This potential will differ among ecosystems owing to inherent differences in the efficacy of prescribed burning in reducing unplanned fire activity (or 'leverage', i.e. the reduction in area of…
Person:
Year: 2012
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES, TTRS
Topic(s): Climate, Emissions and Smoke, Fire Effects, Fire Occurrence, Fuels, Models, Prescribed Fire
Region(s): International
Keywords: fine fuels, fire frequency, fire intensity, fire regimes, fuel accumulation, fuel loading, fuel types, surface fuels, wildfires, air quality, C - carbon, climate change, litter, statistical analysis, Eucalyptus spp., Australia, fire management, forest management, fuel management, smoke management, sclerophyll forests