Wildfire smoke is a public health concern in the Western United States. The Pacific Northwest Research Station is a nationally recognized leader in smoke science. Fuel treatments are management actions that alter the amount or arrangement of forest vegetation to mitigate wildfire behavior and enhance fire resiliency.
Fuel treatments can include mechanical thinning of dense stands of trees, piling brush, pruning lower branches of trees, or creating fuel breaks to encourage the right kind of fire. Prescribed fire is a form of fuel treatment. Archie Creek Fire in Oregon, September Wind and weather have immediate effects on the ignition, behavior, and suppression of wildland fires.
Station scientists study the complex meteorology—the climate and weather of a region—associated with wildland fires, including how weather conditions create severe wildfires. The dense forests of the western Cascade Range in Oregon and Washington are known for their evergreen, wet conditions and infrequent wildfires. As the climate becomes warmer and drier, west-side forests are experiencing longer fire seasons, larger burns, and increased wildfire risk.
Launched in , the West-Side Fire Research Initiative aims to research and develop tools to support fire-related management on landscapes west of the Cascades. Through the initiative, scientists, fire managers, and stakeholders are working to coproduce the science needed to protect the health, safety, and economic well-being of communities in the region and support fire resilient forests. Skip to Main Content. Skip to Search Box. A wall of blistering flames engulfs the vegetation.
Behind it, charred trees stand like blackened toothpicks while columns of smoke choke the air, rising high up into the atmosphere. Nasa has warned that abnormally warm temperatures in eastern Siberia — particularly in the Sakha Republic, more than 1, miles 2,km away from Krasnoyarsk — have led to more intense and widespread fires than normal.
The destruction this leads to is undeniable. Swathes of forest and peatland are destroyed. Countless animals caught up in the flames and smoke perish. And when the flames reach areas inhabited by people, they can claim many lives and homes of those unlucky enough to be caught in their path. In the first few months of , Australia grappled with the worst wildfire season in its history.
It claimed the lives of 33 people , destroyed thousands of homes and saw 18 million hectares 69, square miles burned. Three billion animals were killed or displaced. And this August, thousands of lightning strikes triggered hundreds of fires across California , leading to a state of emergency being declared as the flames threatened densly populated residential areas.
Beset by a prolonged drought, the state experienced its most destructive and deadliest fires in recorded history during and This year California , Washington and Oregon are fighting deadly wildfires that have burned millions of acres of land — up to hectares 1, acres are burning every 30 minutes — and destroyed thousands of homes.
These impacts on the ground can be hard to bear, but wildfires can have another far-reaching effect on our lives. Rising up to 14 miles 23km into the air, well into the stratosphere , plumes of smoke from large wildfires can spread all over the globe thanks to currents of air. The smoke has even been reducing air quality by creating hazes in cities as far away Seattle. Smoke from the recent fires on the west coast of the US — where blazes have already claimed several lives in Oregon and California — has blown across the continent as far as New York and Washington DC on the east coast.
The Arctic wildfires in Siberia this summer have set a record : for releasing more pollution into the air in a single month than any other in 18 years of record keeping, according to the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts. This helped thaw parts of the tundra, making it much more susceptible to burning.
Carried with the gases released by wildfires, however, are also tiny, lightweight particles of soot. Research is being conducted to advance understanding of the health effects from different types of fires as well as combustion phases. Researchers want to know:. Skip to main content.
Related Topics: Air Research. Contact Us. Researchers want to know: What is the full extent of health effects from smoke exposure? Who is most at risk? Are there differences in health effects from different wildfire fuel types or combustion phases burning versus flaming? Wildfire smoke contains particulate matter, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, and various volatile organic compounds which are ozone precursors and can significantly reduce air quality, both locally and in areas downwind of fires.
Smoke exposure increases respiratory and cardiovascular hospitalizations; emergency department visits; medication dispensations for asthma, bronchitis, chest pain, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease commonly known by its acronym, COPD , and respiratory infections; and medical visits for lung illnesses.
It has also been associated with hundreds of thousands of deaths annually, based on an assessment of the global health risks from landscape fire smoke. Climate change is projected to increase wildfire risks and associated emissions, with harmful impacts on health.
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