Skip to main content

Displaying 1 - 25 of 73

Fire has a role in ecosystem services; naturally produced wildfires are important for the sustainability of many terrestrial biomes and fire is one of nature's primary carbon-cycling mechanisms. Under a warming climate, it is likely that fire frequency and severity will increase…
Person:
Year: 2013
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Administration, Climate, Emissions and Smoke, Fire Effects, Models, Regulations and Legislation
Region(s): Alaska, California, Eastern, Great Basin, Hawaii, Northern Rockies, Northwest, Rocky Mountain, Southern, Southwest, International, National
Keywords: climate change, biomass burning, policy, air quality

Several U.S. state and tribal agencies and other countries have implemented a methodology developed in the arid intermountain western U.S. where short-term (1- to 3-hr) particulate matter (PM) with aerodynamic diameters less than 2.5 µm (PM2.5) concentrations are estimated from…
Person:
Year: 2013
Type: Document
Source: TTRS
Topic(s): Emissions and Smoke, Fire Effects
Region(s): Alaska, California, Eastern, Great Basin, Hawaii, Northern Rockies, Northwest, Rocky Mountain, Southern, Southwest, National
Keywords: smoke effects, wildfires, air quality, health factors, fire management, smoke management

Smoke plume height is important for modelling smoke transport and resulting effects on air quality. This study presents analyses of ceilometer measurements of smoke plume heights for twenty prescribed burns in the south-eastern United States. Measurements were conducted from mid…
Person:
Year: 2013
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES, TTRS
Topic(s): Emissions and Smoke, Models, Prescribed Fire
Region(s): Southern
Keywords: fire frequency, fire size, smoke behavior, air quality, military lands, national forests, particulates, statistical analysis, Pinus palustris, longleaf pine, north Florida, Georgia, fire management, smoke management, coastal plain, pine hardwood forests, sandhills, wildlife refuges, ceilometer measurement, particulate matter (PM) concentrations, smoke plume height

Wildland firefighters in the United States are occupationally exposed to high levels of woodsmoke. Results from experimental studies show that exposure to woodsmoke induces inflammation. A study was conducted to investigate the effect of occupational woodsmoke exposure on…
Person:
Year: 2013
Type: Document
Source: TTRS
Topic(s): Emissions and Smoke, Prescribed Fire
Region(s): Southern
Keywords: fire injuries (humans), firefighting personnel, smoke effects, air quality, health factors, South Carolina, fire management, smoke management, dried blood spot, inflammation, interleukin-8, wildland firefighters, woodsmoke

Among the key issues in smoke management is predicting the magnitude and location of smoke effects. These vary in severity from hazardous (acute health conditions and drastic visibility impairment to transportation) to nuisance (regional haze), and occur across a range of scales…
Person:
Year: 2013
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES, TTRS
Topic(s): Emissions and Smoke, Models
Region(s): Alaska, California, Eastern, Great Basin, Hawaii, Northern Rockies, Northwest, Rocky Mountain, Southern, Southwest, International, National
Keywords: smoke effects, wildfires, air quality, particulates, pollution, Canada, Mississippi, Tennessee, fire management, smoke management, air-quality impacts, forest fires, atmospheric transport, lower stratosphere, stochastic models, plume rise, simulation, system, dispersion, smoke modeling, smoke transport, smoke prediction systems

Emissions of trace gases and particles £ 2.5 microns aerodynamic diameter (PM2.5) from fires during 2008-2011 on the North Carolina coastal plain were collected and analyzed. Carbon mass balance techniques were used to quantify emission factors (EFs). PM2.5 EFs were at least a…
Person:
Year: 2013
Type: Document
Source: TTRS
Topic(s): Emissions and Smoke, Fuels, Prescribed Fire
Region(s): Southern
Keywords: biomass burning, fuel loading, wildfires, air quality, C - carbon, organic soils, peat, North Carolina, fire management, fuel management, soil management, coastal plain, biomass burning, organic soil, North Carolina, PM2.5, CO2 - carbon dioxide, CO - carbon monoxide, levoglucosan

Exposure to combustion products from wildland fires causes respiratory irritation and decreased lung function among firefighters. The authors evaluated carbon monoxide (CO) exposures of a group of wildland firefighters who conducted prescribed burns in the southeastern United…
Person:
Year: 2013
Type: Document
Source: TTRS
Topic(s): Emissions and Smoke, Prescribed Fire, Safety
Region(s): Southern
Keywords: firefighting personnel, CO - carbon monoxide, health factors, fire management, forest management, exposure assessment, wildland, firefighter

Experimental studies indicate that exposure to woodsmoke could induce oxidative stress. However studies have not been conducted among the general population and specialized occupational groups despite the existence of elevated woodsmoke exposure situations. Therefore, we…
Person:
Year: 2013
Type: Document
Source: TTRS
Topic(s): Emissions and Smoke, Prescribed Fire, Safety
Region(s): Southern
Keywords: firefighting personnel, smoke effects, air quality, health factors, pollution, Georgia, South Carolina, fire management, smoke management, coastal plain, pine hardwood forests, oxidative stress, 8-oxo-7, 8-dihydro-2 '-deoxyguanosine (8-oxo-dG), malondialdehyde (MDA), wildland firefighters, woodsmoke, oxidatively damaged DNA

In recent decades, the frequency of wildland fire incidents near residential areas has decreased but the number of acres burned has increased, in large part due to changes in forest management methods and further human encroachment in forested regions. There is much debate about…
Person:
Year: 2013
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES, TTRS
Topic(s): Emissions and Smoke, Fire Effects, Fire Occurrence, Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI)
Region(s): Southern
Keywords: fire case histories, fire damage (property), fire size, surface fires, wildfires, air quality, ash, char, particulates, pH, sampling, soot, Texas, fire management, forest management, asbestos, forest fire, metals, polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons, residential buildings, wood ash, residential areas, hydrocarbons

Smoke from wildfires has adverse biological and social consequences, and various lines of evidence suggest that smoke concentrations in the future may be more intense, more frequent, more widespread, or all of the above. In this document, we review the essential ingredients of a…
Person:
Year: 2013
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Climate, Emissions and Smoke, Fire Behavior, Fire Effects, Models
Region(s): Alaska, California, Eastern, Great Basin, Hawaii, Northern Rockies, Northwest, Rocky Mountain, Southern, Southwest, International, National
Keywords: climate change, smoke transport, smoke prediction systems, wildfire regime, feedbacks, coupled models

Satellite based fire radiant energy retrievals are widely applied to assess biomass consumed and emissions at regional to global scales. A known potential source of uncertainty in biomass burning estimates arises from fuel moisture but this impact has not been quantified in…
Person:
Year: 2013
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Emissions and Smoke, Fire Behavior, Fuels, Mapping, Models
Region(s): Alaska, California, Eastern, Great Basin, Hawaii, Northern Rockies, Northwest, Rocky Mountain, Southern, Southwest, National
Keywords: fuel moisture, remote sensing, biomass burning, FRE - Fire Radiative Energy, FRP - Fire Radiative Power

Key Findings: 1)Climate forecasts indicate that the South's spring and fall wildfire seasons will be extended. 2)Prescribed fires, currently conducted on roughly a 3 to 5 year rotation across much of the South, would need to become more frequent if conditions become drier. 3)…
Person:
Year: 2013
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Climate, Emissions and Smoke, Fire Behavior, Fuels, Mapping, Prescribed Fire, Safety
Region(s): Southern
Keywords: air quality, climate change, fire potential, human health, PDI - Palmer Drought Index, fuel build up, climate scenario, wildfire potential mapping, future fire activity, prescribed fire alternatives

The Fire Modeling Institute (FMI) brings the best available fire and fuel science and technology developed throughout the research community to bear in fire-related management issues. Although located within the Fire, Fuel, and Smoke Science Program of the U.S. Forest Service…
Person:
Year: 2013
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Emissions and Smoke, Fire Behavior, Fuels, Mapping, Models, Monitoring and Inventory
Region(s): Alaska, California, Eastern, Great Basin, Hawaii, Northern Rockies, Northwest, Rocky Mountain, Southern, Southwest, National
Keywords: MPB - mountain pine beetle, smoke science research, Fire Modeling Institute

The term 'backfire' refers to a commonly used method for prescribed burning in which the igniter sets a line of fire that slowly backs into the wind. This technique should not be confused with the colloquial use of the term 'backfire' for 'suppression fire,' which refers to any…
Person:
Year: 2013
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Emissions and Smoke, Fire Behavior, Prescribed Fire, Safety
Region(s): Alaska, California, Eastern, Great Basin, Hawaii, Northern Rockies, Northwest, Rocky Mountain, Southern, Southwest, National
Keywords: fire intensity, backfire

We report trace-gas emission factors from three pine-understory prescribed fires in South Carolina, US measured during the fall of 2011. The fires were more intense than many prescribed burns because the fuels included mature pine stands not subjected to prescribed fire in…
Person:
Year: 2013
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Emissions and Smoke, Monitoring and Inventory, Prescribed Fire
Region(s): Southern
Keywords: longleaf pine, Pinus palustris, South Carolina, smoldering, fourier transform infrared spectroradiometer

While North American ecosystems vary widely in their ecology and natural historical fire regimes, they are unified in benefitting from prescribed fire when judiciously applied with the goal of maintaining and restoring native ecosystem composition, structure, and function. On a…
Person:
Year: 2013
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Emissions and Smoke, Fire Effects, Prescribed Fire
Region(s): Alaska, California, Eastern, Great Basin, Hawaii, Northern Rockies, Northwest, Rocky Mountain, Southern, Southwest, International, National
Keywords: Canada, fire benefits, ecosystem health, historic fire regimes

Smoke management is one of the most important considerations in all fire prescriptions. In many situations it is the first planning step-the rest of the prescription is built around smoke dispersal in a specific direction. National Weather Service forecasts provide a key source…
Person:
Year: 2013
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Emissions and Smoke, Models, Planning, Prescribed Fire
Region(s): Southern
Keywords: FEPS - Fire Emissions Production Simulator, HYSPLIT-CheM forecast model, smoke management, VSMOKE, Simple Smoke Screening model

Fuel consumption specifies the amount of vegetative biomass consumed during wildland fire. It is a two-stage process of pyrolysis and combustion that occurs simultaneously and at different rates depending on the characteristics and condition of the fuel, weather, topography, and…
Person:
Year: 2013
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Climate, Emissions and Smoke, Fuels, Models
Region(s): Alaska, California, Eastern, Great Basin, Hawaii, Northern Rockies, Northwest, Rocky Mountain, Southern, Southwest, National
Keywords: carbon emissions, FERA - Fire and Environmental Research Applications Team, fuel consumption, wildland fire emissions

As forest carbon offset projects become more popular, professional foresters are providing their expertise to support them. But when several members of the Society of American Foresters questioned the science and assumptions used to design the projects, the organization decided…
Person:
Year: 2013
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Emissions and Smoke, Fire Effects
Region(s): Alaska, California, Eastern, Great Basin, Hawaii, Northern Rockies, Northwest, Rocky Mountain, Southern, Southwest, National
Keywords: forest management, carbon offsets, greenhouse gas mitigation

First order fire effects are those that concern the direct or indirect or immediate consequences of fire. First order fire effects form an important basis for prediction secondary effects such as tree regeneration plant succession, and changes in site productivity, but these…
Person:
Year: 2013
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Emissions and Smoke, Fire Effects, Fuels, Models
Region(s): Alaska, California, Eastern, Great Basin, Hawaii, Northern Rockies, Northwest, Rocky Mountain, Southern, Southwest, National
Keywords: FOFEM - First Order Fire Effects Model, duff, moisture regimes, soil heating, fuel consumption, tree mortality

Modeling fire effects, including terrestrial and atmospheric carbon fluxes and pollutant emissions during wildland fires, requires accurate predictions of fuel consumption. Empirical models were developed for predicting fuel consumption from fuel and environmental measurements…
Person:
Year: 2013
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES, TTRS
Topic(s): Emissions and Smoke, Fire Behavior, Fire Effects, Fuels, Models, Prescribed Fire, Weather
Region(s): Southern
Keywords: fuel loading, gallberry, longleaf pine, Pinus palustris, saw palmetto, FERA - Fire and Environmental Research Applications Team, shrubs, pine flatwoods, fuel consumption, fire size, fuel moisture, wildfires, air quality, duff, herbaceous vegetation, litter, national forests, statistical analysis, SFP - Southern Fire Portal, Aristida stricta, wiregrass, Ilex glabra, Picoides borealis, red-cockaded woodpeckers, Pinus elliottii, slash pine, Pinus serotina, pond pine, Quercus chapmanii, Chapman oak, Quercus minima, dwarf live oak, Serenoa repens, Apalachicola National Forest, St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge, Florida, Georgia, flatwoods, fire management, forest management, fuel management, pine forests

Exposure to combustion products from wildland fires causes respiratory irritation and decreased lung function among firefighters. The authors evaluated carbon monoxide (CO) exposures of a group of wildland firefighters who conducted prescribed burns in the southeastern United…
Person:
Year: 2013
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Emissions and Smoke, Prescribed Fire, Safety
Region(s): Southern
Keywords: southeastern United States, firefighter health, smoke exposure, CO - carbon monoxide

The worldwide 'wildfire' problem is headlined by the loss of human lives and homes, but it applies generally to any adverse effects of unplanned fires, as events or regimes, on a wide range of environmental, social, and economic assets. The problem is complex and contingent,…
Person:
Year: 2013
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Emissions and Smoke, Fire Effects, Prescribed Fire, Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI)
Region(s): Alaska, California, Eastern, Great Basin, Hawaii, Northern Rockies, Northwest, Rocky Mountain, Southern, Southwest, International, National
Keywords: biodiversity, fire management, fire regime, adaptation, policy, fatalities, disaster, assets

An extensive program of experiments focused on biomass burning emissions began with a laboratory phase in which vegetative fuels commonly consumed in prescribed fires were collected in the southeastern and southwestern US and burned in a series 5 of 71 fires at the US Forest…
Person:
Year: 2013
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Emissions and Smoke, Prescribed Fire
Region(s): Southern, Southwest
Keywords: field experimental fires, trace gas emissions, emission factors, laboratory experiments, biomass burning

Models of fire behavior and effects do not always make accurate predictions, and there is not enough systematically gathered data to validate them. To help advance fire behavior and fire effects model development, the Joint Fire Science Program is helping fund the RxCADRE, which…
Person:
Year: 2013
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Emissions and Smoke, Fire Behavior, Fire Effects, Fuels, Models, Prescribed Fire
Region(s): Alaska, California, Eastern, Great Basin, Hawaii, Northern Rockies, Northwest, Rocky Mountain, Southern, Southwest, National
Keywords: aircraft, fire data, RxCADRE