Citation

Harries ME, Allen DT, Adetona O, Bell ML, Black MS, Burgess JL, Dryer FL, Holder AL, Mascareñas A, Rosario-Ortiz FL, Stec AA, Turpin BJ, Zelikoff JT. Environ. Sci. Technol. 2022; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2022, American Chemical Society)

DOI

10.1021/acs.est.2c07015

PMID

36288208

Abstract

Fires at the wildland-urban interface (WUI) are an increasingly common occurrence in the United States and internationally. The WUI is defined as "the line, area, or zone where structures and other human development meet or intermingle with undeveloped wildland or vegetation fuels". (1) WUI fires are increasing in number and severity due to climate change, the expansion of interface communities, and historical land management practices. The economic, environmental, and human health costs of WUI fires are substantial. Despite the increased impact of WUI fires, the current understanding of the unique chemistry of their emissions and subsequent impacts on health is very limited.

In September 2022, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine released a consensus report authored by a committee of 12 subject matter experts that examines our current level of understanding of the chemistry of WUI fires and describes a multidisciplinary research agenda to advance that understanding in priority areas. (2) We, the study committee and staff, highlight some of our findings below and encourage the research community to explore the full report, which is freely available as a PDF from the National Academies Press website.

The combination of human-made materials and biomass that burns during a WUI fire generates a unique mixture of emissions. The increased presence of halogens, nitrogen, organic polymers, and other elements at the WUI, compared to wildlands, is expected to alter combustion chemistry and ultimately the composition of emitted species. WUI fire ventilation conditions (e.g., temperature and oxygen availability) also have impacts on the composition of emissions and are expected to be different from wildland or structural fires. Although we can extrapolate from the knowledge of wildland fires and structural fires to predict emissions-associated WUI fires, such inferences are not reliable. There is a need for direct investigation of WUI fire emissions using experimental and modeling approaches. Additionally, researchers need data on material loadings and compositions, structure density and arrangement in the WUI landscape, and combustion conditions in WUI fires. Experiments and mechanistic models are needed to probe the interactions between the chemistries in wildland fire plumes and urban (structural) fire plumes.

Language: en

Keywords

chemical exposure; fire chemistry; fire emission; firefighter; multidisciplinary research; particle exposure; research agenda; rural−urban interface; wildfire smoke; wildland−urban interface