Estimated Impacts of Prescribed Fires on Air Quality and Premature Deaths in Georgia and Surrounding Areas in the US, 2015-2020.

ABSTRACT: Smoke from wildfires poses a substantial threat to health in communities near and far. To mitigate the extent and potential damage of wildfires, prescribed burning techniques are commonly employed as land management tools; however, they introduce their own smoke-related risks. This study investigates the impact of prescribed fires on daily average PM_2.5 and maximum daily 8-h averaged O₃ (MDA8-O₃) concentrations and estimates premature deaths associated with short-term exposure to prescribed fire PM_2.5 and MDA8-O₃ in Georgia and surrounding areas of the Southeastern US from 2015 to 2020. Our findings indicate that over the study domain, prescribed fire contributes to average daily PM_2.5 by 0.94 ± 1.45 μg/m³ (mean ±

SUBMITTER: Maji KJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11256750 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature