Bacterial Emission Factors: A Foundation for the Terrestrial-Atmospheric Modeling of Bacteria Aerosolized by Wildland Fires.

Wildland fire is a major global driver in the exchange of aerosols between terrestrial environments and the atmosphere. This exchange is commonly quantified using emission factors or the mass of a pollutant emitted per mass of fuel burned. However, emission factors for microbes aerosolized by fire have yet to be determined.

Multitemporal lidar captures heterogeneity in fuel loads and consumption on the Kaibab Plateau.

Background: Characterization of physical fuel distributions across heterogeneous landscapes is needed to understand fire behavior, account for smoke emissions, and manage for ecosystem resilience. Remote sensing measurements at various scales inform fuel maps for improved fire and smoke models. Airborne lidar that directly senses variation in vegetation height and density has proven to be especially useful for landscape-scale fuel load and consumption mapping.

Wildland firefighter smoke exposure and risk of lung cancer and cardiovascular disease mortality.

Wildland firefighters are exposed to wood smoke, which contains hazardous air pollutants, by suppressing thousands of wildfires across the U. S. each year.

The Fire and Smoke Model Evaluation Experiment-A Plan for Integrated, Large Fire-Atmosphere Field Campaigns.

The Fire and Smoke Model Evaluation Experiment (FASMEE) is designed to collect integrated observations from large wildland fires and provide evaluation datasets for new models and operational systems. Wildland fire, smoke dispersion, and atmospheric chemistry models have become more sophisticated, and next-generation operational models will require evaluation datasets that are coordinated and comprehensive for their evaluation and advancement. Integrated measurements are required, including ground-based observations of fuels and fire behavior, estimates of fire-emitted heat and emissions fluxes, and observations of near-source micrometeorology, plume properties, smoke dispersion, and atmospheric chemistry.

Fire behavior and smoke modeling: Model improvement and measurement needs for next-generation smoke research and forecasting systems.

There is an urgent need for next-generation smoke research and forecasting (SRF) systems to meet the challenges of the growing air quality, health, and safety concerns associated with wildland fire emissions. This review paper presents simulations and experiments of hypothetical prescribed burns with a suite of selected fire behavior and smoke models and identifies major issues for model improvement and the most critical observational needs. The results are used to understand the new and improved capability required for the next-generation SRF systems and to support the design of the Fire and Smoke Model Evaluation Experiment (FASMEE) and other field campaigns.

Review of the health effects of wildland fire smoke on wildland firefighters and the public.

Each year, the general public and wildland firefighters in the US are exposed to smoke from wildland fires. As part of an effort to characterize health risks of breathing this smoke, a review of the literature was conducted using five major databases, including PubMed and MEDLINE Web of Knowledge, to identify smoke components that present the highest hazard potential, the mechanisms of toxicity, review epidemiological studies for health effects and identify the current gap in knowledge on the health impacts of wildland fire smoke exposure. Respiratory events measured in time series studies as incidences of disease-caused mortality, hospital admissions, emergency room visits and symptoms in asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients are the health effects that are most commonly associated with community level exposure to wildland fire smoke.

Radionuclide activity concentrations in forest surface fuels at the Savannah River Site.

Background/objective: A study was undertaken at the United States Department of Energy's Savannah River Site (SRS), Aiken, South Carolina to investigate radionuclide activity concentrations in litter and duff from select areas at SRS. Litter (i.e.

Wildland smoke exposure values and exhaled breath indicators in firefighters.

Smoke from forest fires contains significant amounts of gaseous and particulate pollutants. Firefighters exposed to wildland fire smoke can suffer from several acute and chronic adverse health effects. Consequently, exposure data are of vital importance for the establishment of cause/effect relationships between exposure to smoke and firefighter health effects.

Baseline measurements of smoke exposure among wildland firefighters.

Extensive measurements of smoke exposure among wildland firefighters are summarized, showing that firefighters can be exposed to significant levels of carbon monoxide and respiratory irritants, including formaldehyde, acrolein, and respirable particulate matter. Benzene was also measured and found to be well below permissible exposure limits, with the highest concentrations occurring among firefighters working with engines and torches burning petroleum-based fuel. Exposures to all pollutants were higher among firefighters at prescribed burns than at wildfires, while shift-average smoke exposures were lowest among firefighters who performed initial attack of wildfires in the early stages of the fires.

A screening-level assessment of the health risks of chronic smoke exposure for wildland firefighters.

A screening health risk assessment was performed to assess the upper-bound risks of cancer and noncancer adverse health effects among wildland firefighters performing wildfire suppression and prescribed burn management. Of the hundreds of chemicals in wildland fire smoke, we identified 15 substances of potential concern from the standpoints of concentration and toxicology; these included aldehydes, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, benzene, and respirable particulate matter. Data defining daily exposures to smoke at prescribed burns and wildfires, potential days of exposure in a year, and career lengths were used to estimate average and reasonable maximum career inhalation exposures to these substances.