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In recent years, California experienced the largest, most destructive and deadliest wildfires in its history. Wildfires can cause fatalities and injuries, impair air quality for nearby and distant populations, and devastate the immediate area, leaving communities with often…
Person:
Year: 2020
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Emissions and Smoke, Fire Prevention, Prescribed Fire, Safety, Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI)
Region(s): California
Keywords: public health, wildfire, fire mitigation, fire suppression, air quality, water quality, power shutoff, forest management

In this webinar, RMRS research ecologist Sam Cushman, wildlife biologist Joe Ganey, and research ecologist Gavin Jones discussed their latest research on spotted owls and wildfire, including modeling the impacts of habitat loss under climate change on the Mexican spotted owl,…
Person: Cushman, Ganey, Jones
Year: 2020
Type: Media
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Climate, Emissions and Smoke, Fire Ecology, Fire Effects, Models, Restoration and Rehabilitation
Region(s): California, Northwest, Southwest
Keywords: climate change, Strix occidentalis, Strix occidentalis caurina, Strix occidentalis lucida, Strix occidentalis occidentalis, spotted owl, annual area burned, habitat, northern spotted owl, California spotted owl, Mexican spotted owl, forest composition, historical fire regime

Studies of the emissions from wildland fires are important for understanding the role of these events in the production, transport, and fate of emitted gases and particulate matter, and, consequently, their impact on atmospheric and ecological processes, and on human health and…
Person:
Year: 2020
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Emissions and Smoke, Fuels
Region(s): Alaska, California, Eastern, Great Basin, Hawaii, Northern Rockies, Northwest, Rocky Mountain, Southern, Southwest, International, National
Keywords: biomass burning, combustion, fuel selection criteria, wildland fire, wildfire, air quality, public health

This seminar is part of the USFS Missoula Fire Lab Seminar Series. Presented by Bret Anderson, Physical Sciences Technician, USFS, WO, Air Resource Management Program
Person: Anderson
Year: 2020
Type: Media
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Emissions and Smoke, Models, Weather
Region(s): California, Great Basin, Northern Rockies, Northwest, Rocky Mountain, Southwest
Keywords: smoke forecast, dry thunderstorm, ADI - Atmospheric Dispersion Index, ventilation index, spot forecast, LVORI - Low Visibility Occurrence Risk Index, PM - particulate matter, PM2.5, WRF - Weather Research Forecast, injection height

A statement by the Wildland Fire Leadership Council and their partners relating to the benefits of prescribed fire programs.
Person:
Year: 2020
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, National
Keywords:

Objective: The study examines how wildfire smoke exposure may impact health and safety in the agricultural workplace. Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with agricultural employers and focus group discussions were held with farmworkers in three regions of…
Person:
Year: 2020
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Emissions and Smoke, Safety
Region(s): California
Keywords: wildfires, agricultural health, farmworkers, safety communication, air quality, smoke exposure

Wildland fire emissions from both wildfires and prescribed fires represent a major component of overall U.S. emissions. Obtaining an accurate, time-resolved inventory of these emissions is important for many purposes, including to account for emissions of greenhouse gases and…
Person:
Year: 2020
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Emissions and Smoke, Monitoring and Inventory, Prescribed Fire
Region(s): Alaska, California, Eastern, Great Basin, Northern Rockies, Northwest, Rocky Mountain, Southern, Southwest
Keywords: CFIRE - Comprehensive Fire Information Reconciled Emissions, NEI - National Emissions Inventory, wildfire, remote sensing, satellite fire monitoring, satellite data, PM - particulate matter, PM2.5

Air quality impacts from wildfires have been dramatic in recent years, with millions of people exposed to elevated and sometimes hazardous fine particulate matter (PM2.5) concentrations for extended periods. Fires emit particulate matter (PM) and gaseous compounds that can…
Person:
Year: 2020
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Emissions and Smoke, Fire Effects, Prescribed Fire, Safety
Region(s): California, Eastern, Great Basin, Northern Rockies, Northwest, Rocky Mountain, Southern, Southwest
Keywords: air quality, human health, PM - particulate matter, PM2.5, health effects, respiratory health, cardiovascular health, wildfire, AQI - Air Quality Index, remote sensing, emission factors

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the potential for co-occurring wildfires pose health threats to people around the globe. Along with the direct impacts of wildfires, exposure to fine particulate matter (PM 2.5)-pollution composed of small inhalable particles with diameters of 2…
Person:
Year: 2020
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Emissions and Smoke, Fire Effects, Safety
Region(s): California
Keywords: COVID-19, fine particulate matter, PM2.5, public health

Nitrous acid (HONO) is a precursor of the hydroxyl radical in the atmosphere, which controls the degradation of greenhouse gases, contributes to photochemical smog and ozone production, and influences air quality. Although biomass burning is known to contribute substantially to…
Person:
Year: 2020
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Climate, Emissions and Smoke, Fire Effects, Mapping, Monitoring and Inventory
Region(s): Alaska, California, Eastern, Great Basin, Hawaii, Northern Rockies, Northwest, Rocky Mountain, Southern, Southwest, International, National
Keywords: atmospheric science, climate science, HONO - nitrous acid, wildfires, plumes, NO2 - nitrogen dioxide, satellite monitoring, remote sensing, greenhouse gases, O3 - ozone

Fire behavior video from the 2020 Red Salmon Complex recorded by the Fire Behavior Assessment Team (FBAT) in coordination with collection of fuels, vegetation, fire behavior, and fire effects data. The FBAT website (see below) provides links to reports on each fire ("Reports and…
Person:
Year: 2020
Type: Media
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Emissions and Smoke, Fire Behavior, Fire Ecology, Fuels, Monitoring and Inventory
Region(s): California
Keywords: Klamath National Forest, California, Siskiyou County, light wind, low rate of spread, backing fire, surface fire, moderate severity fire, uncontained widlfire, unmanaged fuels, fire suppression, 2020 Red Salmon Complex

Although the characteristics of biomass burning events and the ambient ecosystem determine emitted smoke composition, the conditions that modulate the partitioning of black carbon (BC) and brown carbon (BrC) formation are not well understood, nor are the spatial or temporal…
Person:
Year: 2020
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Emissions and Smoke, Mapping, Monitoring and Inventory
Region(s): Alaska, California, Eastern, Great Basin, Hawaii, Northern Rockies, Northwest, Rocky Mountain, Southern, Southwest, National
Keywords: biomass burning, remote sensing, MISR - Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer, smoke plume, particle properties, aerosols, FIREX‐AQ - Fire Influence on Regional to Global Environments and Air Quality, wildfire, smoke plume height, air quality

Prescribed fire is an important tool for maintaining the resilience of fire-dependent ecosystems. Despite broad recognition of its value, however, prescribed fire application in the western US has not been applied at the necessary levels. Past research has identified a range of…
Person:
Year: 2020
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Administration, Emissions and Smoke, Planning, Prescribed Fire, Regulations and Legislation
Region(s): California, Great Basin, Northern Rockies, Northwest, Rocky Mountain, Southwest
Keywords: policy, collaboration, funding, incentives

Wildfires over the past 3 years have resulted in lengthy episodes of smoke inundation across major metropolitan areas in Australia, Brazil, and the United States. In 2020, air quality across the western United States reached and sustained extremely unhealthy to hazardous levels…
Person:
Year: 2020
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, International, National
Keywords: Australia, Brazil, PM - particulate matter, health impacts, air quality, human health

Wildfires are an important source of nitrous acid (HONO), a photolabile radical precursor, yet in situ measurements and quantification of primary HONO emissions from open wildfires have been scarce. We present airborne observations of HONO within wildfire plumes sampled during…
Person:
Year: 2020
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Emissions and Smoke, Monitoring and Inventory
Region(s): California, Great Basin, Northern Rockies, Northwest, Rocky Mountain, Southwest
Keywords: HONO - nitrous acid, wildfires, N - nitrogen, fire plumes, hydrogen oxide

The evolution of organic aerosol (OA) and brown carbon (BrC) in wildfire plumes, including the relative contributions of primary versus secondary sources, has been uncertain in part because of limited knowledge of the precursor emissions and the chemical environment of smoke…
Person:
Year: 2020
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Emissions and Smoke, Monitoring and Inventory
Region(s): California, Great Basin, Northern Rockies, Northwest, Rocky Mountain, Southwest
Keywords: biomass burning, secondary organic aerosol, brown carbon, phenolic compounds, aircraft measurements, PM2.5, wildfires, plumes

Part of the FIRE x FAUNA: Wildfire and Prescribed Fire Effects on Wildlife series sponsored by Forest Service Research and Development Cannabis cultivation and wildfires: Where there’s smoke, there’s smoke, Adam Cummings, Ecologist Wildfires ignitions, costs to wildlife, and…
Person: Cummings, Gabriel, Lake
Year: 2020
Type: Media
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Aquatic, Emissions and Smoke, Fire Behavior, Fire Effects, Regulations and Legislation, Safety
Region(s): California
Keywords: cannabis, wildlife, wildfire, rodenticide, cultivation, Indigenous burning, pyrodiversity, fish, solar radiation, inversion, fisheries, smoke density, AOT - aerosol optical thickness, water temperature

Wildfires and other types of biomass burning are a seasonal phenomenon in different land ecosystems around the world. Such fires are estimated to consume biomass containing a total of 2-5 petagrams of carbon globally every year, generating heat energy and emitting smoke plumes…
Person: Ichoku
Year: 2020
Type: Media
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Emissions and Smoke, Fire Effects, Mapping, Models, Monitoring and Inventory
Region(s): Alaska, California, Eastern, Great Basin, Hawaii, Northern Rockies, Northwest, Rocky Mountain, Southern, Southwest, International, National
Keywords: FRE - Fire Radiative Energy, biomass, PM - particulate matter, air quality, black carbon, CO2 - carbon dioxide, MODIS - Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer, remote sensing, emission factor, satellite observations

This webinar to the NWCG Smoke Committee describes experimental tools developed for smoke management including higher resolution 7-day forecasts. Presented by Bret Anderson, who works for the National USDA Forest Service Air program and develops tools for wildfire smoke…
Person: Anderson
Year: 2020
Type: Media
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Emissions and Smoke, Fire Effects, Models, Planning, Weather
Region(s): Alaska, California, Eastern, Great Basin, Hawaii, Northern Rockies, Northwest, Rocky Mountain, Southern, Southwest, National
Keywords: Smoke Dispersion Modeling, smoke modeling, air quality forecasting

In this short webinar, RMRS Research Physical Scientist Shawn Urbanski and Fire Ecologist Duncan Lutes will discuss the current state of the science on wildland fire smoke emissions, including pollutants present in smoke, methods for quantifying emission flux, existing datasets…
Person: Urbanski, Lutes
Year: 2020
Type: Media
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Emissions and Smoke, Fuels, Models, Safety
Region(s): Alaska, California, Eastern, Great Basin, Hawaii, Northern Rockies, Northwest, Rocky Mountain, Southern, Southwest, National
Keywords: FOFEM - First Order Fire Effects Model, fuel consumption, smoke prediction, public health, smoke impacts, emission factor, C - carbon, fuelbed properties, PM2.5, smoldering, flaming combustion, PM - particulate matter

A presentation delivred to by Caroline Noble to the National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG) Smoke Committee (SmoC) in November 2020. The presentation focuses on the current features of the Interagency Fuel Treatment Decision Support System (IFTDSS) Version 3.2.2.1. Questions…
Person: Noble
Year: 2020
Type: Media
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Emissions and Smoke, Fire Behavior, Fuels, Hazard and Risk, Models, Planning
Region(s): Alaska, California, Eastern, Great Basin, Hawaii, Northern Rockies, Northwest, Rocky Mountain, Southern, Southwest, National
Keywords: smoke, fuels planning, fire modeling, smoke modeling, risk models, DSS - decision support system

Wildland firefighters are exposed to health hazards including inhaling hazardous pollutants from the combustion of live and dead vegetation (smoke) and breathe soil dust, while working long shifts with no respiratory protection. This research brief summarizes a study analyzing…
Person:
Year: 2020
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Emissions and Smoke, Safety
Region(s): Alaska, California, Eastern, Great Basin, Hawaii, Northern Rockies, Northwest, Rocky Mountain, Southern, Southwest, National
Keywords: PM - particulate matter, PM2.5, cardiovascular disease, lung cancer, smoke exposure, firefighter safety, relative risk

Wildfire smoke influences on air quality and atmospheric chemistry have been underscored by the increasing fire prevalence in recent years, and yet, the connection between fire, smoke emissions, and the subsequent transformation of this smoke in the atmosphere remains poorly…
Person:
Year: 2020
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Emissions and Smoke, Fire Behavior, Mapping, Monitoring and Inventory
Region(s): California, Great Basin, Northern Rockies, Northwest, Rocky Mountain, Southwest
Keywords: aerosol, FIREX‐AQ - Fire Influence on Regional to Global Environments and Air Quality, remote sensing, FRP - Fire Radiative Power, in situ monitoring, wildfire, satellite observations, gas emissions

Wildfires in the western United States are expected to increase both in size and severity in coming decades. These trends are likely to accelerate large-scale habitat loss and fragmentation for the spotted owl in the Pacific Northwest, California, and the Southwest. All three…
Person:
Year: 2020
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Emissions and Smoke, Fire Ecology, Fire Effects
Region(s): California, Northwest, Southwest
Keywords: spotted owl, Strix occidentalis, Strix occidentalis caurina, Strix occidentalis lucida, Strix occidentalis occidentalis, northern spotted owl, California spotted owl, Mexican spotted owl, large fires, annual area burned, habitat, fire severity, forest structure, forest composition

The Thomas Fire ignited on December 5, 2017 and burned nearly 300,000 acres of land in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties until January 12, 2018, making it the largest wildfire in California history at the time. During the fire, a persistent plume of ash, smoke, and soot…
Person:
Year: 2020
Type: Document
Source: FRAMES
Topic(s): Aquatic, Emissions and Smoke, Fire Ecology, Fire Effects
Region(s): California
Keywords: Thomas Fire, Santa Barbara Channel, ash, phytoplankton, marine ecology