California Case Study of Wildfires and Prescribed Burns: PM_2.5 Emissions, Concentrations, and Implications for Human Health.

ABSTRACT: Wildfires are a significant threat to human health, in part through degraded air quality. Prescribed burning can reduce wildfire severity but can also lead to an increase in air pollution. The complexities of fires and atmospheric processes lead to uncertainties when predicting the air quality impacts of fire and make it difficult to fully assess the costs and benefits of an expansion of prescribed fire. By modeling differences in emissions, surface conditions, and meteorology between wildfire and prescribed burns, we present a novel comparison of the air quality impacts of these fire types under specific scenarios. One wildfire and two prescribed burn scenarios were considered, with one prescribed burn scenario optimized for potential smoke exposure. We found that PM_2.5 emissio

SUBMITTER: Kiely L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10976878 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature