Living with Fire (and Smoke) in

Leland Tarnay Physical Ecologist Land-Atmosphere Interactions Forest Service Region 5 Remote Sensing Lab p: 530-587-3558 ext.260 c: 530-227-8811 [email protected] Fine particles and PM2.5 PM2.5 (and smoke) Health Effects

Higher smoke levels equate to higher risk for these problems What’s the Daily Air Quality Index (AQI)?

• 24 hr average • Midnight to Midnight

• Based on effects observed on people exposed to 24 hrs of PM2.5 at a given PM2.5 (or smoke) level What to do: Balancing Outdoor Activity with Outdoor Air Quality

-From a recent presentation by Wayne Cascio, EPA’s Acting Director, National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory: https://www.adeq.state.ar.us/air/planning/fire-forum/presentations/wayne-cascio--smoke.pdf When to do it: the “NowCast” • On smoky days, a 3(ish) hr average • Basis for figuring out (and advising people on) what to do about smoke at a given time of day • There’s often a pattern Hourly NowCast vs. Daily AQI (During Wine Country Fires)

NAPA – JEFFERSON STREET

SAN FRANCISCO Balancing smoke with activity: Where’s your fulcrum?

Activity! Smoke!

Good Unhealthy for sensitive groups Very Unhealthy or wors

Activity! Smoke! Effective Smoke Management Air Resource Advisor (ARA) “one- pagers” now graphically show (and forecast) hourly patterns for wildfire smoke If you don’t have an ARA…(1) https://tools.airfire.org/monitoring/v4 If you don’t have an ARA…(2)

Nowcast Daily AQI Baseline Details

https://tools.airfire.org/monitoring/v4#!/?monitors=060410001_01&monitors=060950004_01&monitors=060110007_01&monitors=320310016_01&category=PM2.5_nowcast¢erlat=37.9074 ¢erlon=-122.6074&zoom=9 If you don’t have an ARA…(3)

If hourly dot is below NowCast (line) is Nowcast line, Hourly values (dots) more reliable, but trend is down from portable less responsive (better); if monitors are not as above, trend reliable, but more is up (worse) responsive

https://tools.airfire.org/monitoring/v4 Megafire vs. “good fire”

Megafire

Rx Fire

MODIS Satellite from Aug 31, 2017 Good fire is often “slower fire”

• Megafire packs thousands, even tens of thousands of tons of PM2.5 into single days; • Slower fires (i.e., Rx and Wildfire for Resource Objectives) spread the emissions out • Good/slower fire limits growth of future fires – Yosemite worked for decades to build the fuel treatments that could be linked together to fight the Rim Fire about same Northern CA fires as Rim /day total 2-3x Rim (lighter Wine Country Fires fuels) 2013 Rim fire: 5-10K totaled ~2x Rim tons PM2.5/day Larger

Landscape Redwood Valley Valley Strategies are Rocky Pocket also Air Quality Tubbs Strategies Atlas

• Limit future growth of large fire • Reduce per acre fuel loads Nuns • Requires a population trained to avoid/live with some smoke, from “good fire” Healthier Forests = Healthier Air • S moke from “good fire” is largely localized in time and space, leaving ample time and space to avoid smoke • Fast growing (e.g., mega) fires leave little time or space for relief – Air Resource advisors and their materials provide a means to tell people if/when/where there’s potential relief • Timely, specific messaging can help us find balance: (i.e., those places and times where we can get a break from smoke) – Key is tying hourly NowCast patterns to activity advice, using, modeling and monitoring • Long term, strategic application of fire can build resilience back into our landscapes, and limit future smoke impacts – Investments in your landscapes can result in cleaner air, just like investments in cleaner buses and cars. Where’s that smoke coming from?

http://californiasmokeinfo.blogspot.com/