Impacts of fire smoke plumes on regional air quality, 2006–2013

Abstract

Increases in the severity and frequency of large fires necessitate improved understanding of the influence of smoke on air quality and public health. The objective of this study is to estimate the effect of smoke from fires across the continental U.S. on regional air quality over an extended period of time. We use 2006-2013 data on ozone (O), fine particulate matter (PM), and PM constituents from environmental monitoring sites to characterize regional air quality and satellite imagery data to identify plumes. Unhealthy levels of O and PM were, respectively, 3.3 and 2.5 times more likely to occur on plume days than on clear days. With a two-stage approach, we estimated the effect of plumes on pollutants, controlling for season, temperature, and within-site and between-site variability. Plumes were associated with an average increase of 2.6 p.p.b. (2.5, 2.7) in O and 2.9 µg/m (2.8, 3.0) in PM nationwide, but the magnitude of effects varied by location. The largest impacts were observed across the southeast. High impacts on O were also observed in densely populated urban areas at large distance from the fires throughout the southeast. Fire smoke substantially affects regional air quality and accounts for a disproportionate number of unhealthy days.

The FireWork v2.0 air quality forecast system with biomass burning emissions from the Canadian Forest Fire Emissions Prediction System v2.03

“…At each fire hotspot location CWFIS assigns local noontime meteorology (surface temperature, humidity, 10 m open wind speed, and cumulative rainfall from the past 24 h) from measurements or GEM model forecasts and modelled fire characteristics based on the Canadian Forest Fire Behav-ior Prediction (FBP) system (Forestry Canada Fire Danger Group, 1992), including total fuel consumption for the associated fire and fuel types. Inputs to FBP include fuel type, elevation, slope steepness, slope direction, and outputs from the Canadian Forest Fire Weather Index (FWI) system used to estimate fuel moisture (Lawson and Armitage, 2008). In FireWork-Ops, the area burned (per day) is assumed to be 38.5 ha per hotspot (350 m burn radius).…”

Ambient Air Quality and Cardiovascular Health

“…Extreme air pollutant events attributed to wildfires are frequent in North Carolina and contribute significantly to impaired air quality, clinical symptoms, increased health care utilization, and health care costs [29][30][31][32][33][34]. Based on the best available evidence, wildfire emissions contribute to allcause mortality and worsen asthma, chronic lung disease, and childhood respiratory disease [33].…”

Time Series of Potential US Wildland Fire Smoke Exposures

“…The results showed a disproportionate number of days considered "unhealthy" by USEPA's Air Quality Index (AQI) occurring on days when HMS Smoke plumes are present. Unhealthy days were 3.3 (O 3 ) and 2.5 (PM 2.5 ) times more likely to occur when HMS Smoke Plumes were present than when absent (8). Health impacts of exposure to poor air quality have also been demonstrated using HMS Smoke information.…”