Summary
Smoke from prescribed fires, which often occur in wildland-urban interface areas and in areas where forest vegetation has a significant impact on the local meteorology, can linger for relatively long periods of time and adversely affect human health and safety. The planning and tactical management of low-intensity prescribed fires can be enhanced with models and decision support tools developed with a fundamental understanding of how the atmosphere interacts with these types of fires and the smoke they generate. Forest Service scientists working with researchers at Michigan State University on a Joint Fire Science Program project developed a coupled meteorological/particle-dispersion model suitable for predicting local meteorological and air-quality effects of low intensity wildland fires in forested environments. The modeling system was tested using meteorological and air-quality data collected during prescribed fires conducted by the New Jersey Forest Fire Service in the New Jersey Pine Barrens and is now being evaluated as a potential real-time operational tool for fire and smoke management.
