112981 - A transdisciplinary approach to understanding the health effects of wildfire and prescribed fire smoke regimes.pdf (2.05 MB)
A transdisciplinary approach to understanding the health effects of wildfire and prescribed fire smoke regimes
journal contribution
posted on 2023-05-19, 00:06 authored by Grant WilliamsonGrant Williamson, David BowmanDavid Bowman, Price, OF, Henderson, SB, Fay JohnstonFay JohnstonPrescribed burning is used to reduce the occurrence, extent and severity of uncontrolled fires in many flammable landscapes. However, epidemiologic evidence of the human health impacts of landscape fire smoke emissions is shaping fire management practice through increasingly stringent environmental regulation and public health policy. An unresolved question, critical for sustainable fire management, concerns the comparative human health effects of smoke from wild and prescribed fires. Here we review current knowledge of the health effects of landscape fire emissions and consider the similarities and differences in smoke from wild and prescribed fires with respect to the typical combustion conditions and fuel properties, the quality and magnitude of air pollution emissions, and the potential for dispersion to large populations. We further examine the interactions between these considerations, and how they may shape the longer term smoke regimes to which populations are exposed. We identify numerous knowledge gaps and propose a conceptual framework that describes pathways to better understanding of the health trade-offs of prescribed and wildfire smoke regimes.
History
Publication title
Environmental Research LettersVolume
11Article number
125009Number
125009Pagination
1-11ISSN
1748-9326Department/School
School of Natural SciencesPublisher
Institute of Physics Publishing Ltd.Place of publication
United KingdomRights statement
Copyright 2016 IOP Publishing Ltd. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported (CC BY 3.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/Repository Status
- Open