A study of particulate emissions during 23 major industrial fires: Implications for human health

Abstract

Public exposure to significantly elevated levels of particulate matter (PM) as a result of major fires at industrial sites is a worldwide problem. Our paper describes how the United Kingdom developed its Air Quality in Major Incidents (AQinMI) service to provide fire emission plume concentration data for use by managers at the time of the incident and to allow an informed public health response. It is one of the first civilian services of its type anywhere in the world. Based on the involvement of several of the authors in the AQinMI service, we describe the service's function, detail the nature of fires covered by the service, and report for the first time on the concentration ranges of PM to which populations may be exposed in major incident fires. We also consider the human health impacts of short-term exposure to significantly elevated PM concentrations and reflect on the appropriateness of current short-term guideline values in providing public health advice. We have analysed monitoring data for airborne PM (≤10μm, PM;≤2.5μm, PM and ≤1.0μm, PM) collected by AQinMI teams using an Osiris laser light scattering monitor, the UK Environment Agency's 'indicative standard' equipment, during deployment to 23 major incident industrial fires. In this context, 'indicative' is applied to monitoring equipment that provides confirmation of the presence of particulates and indicates a measured mass concentration value. Incident-averaged concentrations ranged from 38 to 1450μgm for PM and 7 to 258μgm for PM. Of concern was that, for several incidents, 15-min averaged concentrations reached >6500μgm for PM and 650μgm for PM, though such excursions tended to be of relatively short duration. In the absence of accepted very short-term (15-min to 1-h) guideline values for PM and PM we have analysed the relationship between the 1-h and 24-h threshold values and whether the former can be used as a predictor of longer-term exposure. Based on this analysis, for PM, our tentative 1-h threshold value for use in deciding whether to close public buildings or to evacuate areas is 510μgm. For PM, 1-h concentrations exceeding 350μgm might indicate longer-term exposure problems. We conclude that whilst services such as AQinMI are a positive development, there is a need to consider further the accuracy of the data provided and for the development of very short-term guideline values (i.e. minutes to hours) that responders can use to determine the appropriate public health response.

Strategies of method selection for fine-scale PM<sub>2.5</sub> mapping in an intra-urban area using crowdsourced monitoring

“…(3) Several studies have employed sampling periods of 10 min to measure the within-day variability of PM concentrations (Godri et al, 2010;Griffiths et al, 2018) and few studies have proven that the performance characteristics of some low-cost sensors on 1 min and 1 h scales were rather similar (Zheng et al, 2018). However, it needs to be noted that this assumption was proposed under the circumstance that the weather condition and emission sources of the study area demonstrate no extreme variation in the short term.…”

“…Fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 ) has been associated with an increased risk of morbidity and mortality in both the long term and the short term (Beverland et al, 2012;Di et al, 2017;Lelieveld et al, 2015). The persistent cumulative effects from exposure in daily activities, especially daily travelling, are critical (Kingham et al, 2013;Hankey et al, 2017). If individuals could consciously choose the location and time of their outdoor activities based on detailed knowledge about the spatio-temporal variation in PM 2.5 concentration, then their health protection could be improved.…”

Practicalities of mapping PM10 and PM2.5 concentrations on city-wide scales using a portable particulate monitor

“…This technology, in the form of the Osiris monitor, has been widely used for ambient particulate monitoring in urban environments (King and Dorling 1997) as well as in major fire incidents (Griffiths et al 2015). It has also been used for investigating individual exposure to particulates during different modes of travel (Gulliver and Briggs 2004, 2007).…”

Inhalation exposure to particulate matter in a work environment of firefighters

“…Fires are important source of pollutant emission to the atmosphere, which translates into impact on the environment and human health, both on a local, regional or global scale. The most important air pollutants are particulate matter (PM), carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), carbon monoxide (CO), including sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ), nitrogen oxides (NO x ) and nitrous oxide (N 2 O), hydrogen cyanide (HCN), phosphorus pentoxide (P 2 O 5 ), hydrogen chloride (HCl), hydrogen fluoride (HF), hydrogen bromide (HBr), acrolein, formaldehyde, and organic contaminants including methane (CH 4 ), non-methane hydrocarbons (NMHC), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), dioxins and dibenzofuran [4][5][6].…”

“…The impact of fires on air quality depends on meteorology, fire dynamic, the amount and chemical composition of fuel, and the atmosphere. For example, the concentration of PM10 during various fires can range from 340 μg/m 3 to 6000 μg/m 3 [6]. Firefighters participating in rescue and firefighting operations may experience or have direct, acute or chronic effects due to exposure to smoke.…”