Prescribed Burning Emissions: Impacts on Nearby Residents
SEAN BENJAMIN, Michael Hannigan, Colleen Reid, Katherine Dickinson, Hannah Brenkert-Smith, Carla Nyquist, Malena Toups, Evan Coffey, University of Colorado at Boulder
Abstract Number: 197
Working Group: Indoor Aerosols
Abstract
Wildfires have been a growing threat to residents living in the wildland-urban interface due to a changing climate, societal factors, and land use practices. Prescribed (Rx) burning is a land management technique that can help prevent large and uncontrollable wildfires. A barrier to Rx fire is the impact on nearby residents. Rx fires are often conducted near residential areas to protect those areas from the threat of wildfires in the future. Rx fire practices vary widely and one goal of this work is to explore which of these practices reduce the impact on nearby residents. The emissions from these fires include particulate matter (PM). When inhaled chronically or in large concentrations PM presents a risk to respiratory and cardiovascular health.
In this research, we utilize a suite of low-cost sensors (pods) to investigate the relative impact of Rx fire emissions on nearby residents. Resident exposure to the PM with a diameter of less than 2.5 micrometers (PM 2.5) are determined by analyzing indoor/outdoor ratios in homes within 10 miles of Rx fires. Tracking extraneous indoor emissions sources is critical to isolate the effects of the Rx fires on homes. We do this by having the residents fill out daily activity forms that let us know which spikes could come from the Rx fires. In every field deployment, roughly five pods are deployed per house, three inside and two outside, and these log pollutant concentrations at least once every 10 seconds. This provides us with ample data to analyze the comparison between indoor and outdoor pollutants.
This research aims to provide new information about the potential impacts of Rx burns on nearby residents by analyzing the effects of the Rx burns’ emissions on the air quality in and around nearby homes.