Grantee Research Project Results
Center for Wildfire Smoke Research at University of Oregon
EPA Grant Number: EM840540Title: Center for Wildfire Smoke Research at University of Oregon
Investigators: Huber-Stearns, Heidi , Smith, Hollie , Coughlan, Michael
Institution: University of Oregon
EPA Project Officer: Chung, Serena
Project Period: April 1, 2023 through March 31, 2026
Project Amount: $800,000
RFA: Congressionally Directed Spending (2022)
Research Category: Air , Wildfires
Description:
Wildfire smoke is an increasingly common public health hazard in the U.S. West, driven by the effects of climate change on wildfire size and severity. People with cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, asthma, the young and elderly, and unhoused populations face increased health effect risks from smoke. Additionally, those without adequate home air filtration, who are unhoused, or work outdoors can be particularly vulnerable to wildfire smoke exposure.
Objective:
The purpose of this project is to create a center that will help communities, local governments, agencies, and policymakers across Oregon better prepare for wildfire smoke events and help them protect the most vulnerable populations. The overarching goal of the center is to use research to support community and household adaption to living with wildfire smoke.
Approach:
The Smoke Center and its partners will collaborate to produce actionable ways Oregon communities, local governments and agencies can better prepare for wildfire smoke events and support sensitive populations. Furthermore, these evidence-based approaches and lessons learned can both add to and expand on the existing knowledges and practices across the U.S. West. The Smoke Center has three areas of focus: (1) community and household preparation, (2) communicating public health smoke risks, and (3) planning and response during smoke events. We will use a variety of approaches to better understand needs to identify and develop effective best practices.
- Oregon statewide survey to identify how the public experiences wildfire smoke, gathers information, and take action. This will support community leaders to better target communications, outreach, and engagement efforts.
- Key informant interviews with community leaders to understand how communication networks and public education are used to include and support sensitive populations, as well as the scope and scale of community-level planning and preparation. This can provide community leaders and community-based organizations with best practices to support and create smoke ready communities that are inclusive of sensitive populations.
- After action review workshops (AAR) to evaluate the effectiveness of planning, preparation, and response during smoke events, identify lessons learned and what additional preparation, capacities, and organizational networks are needed. This can support emergency managers and their partners’ decision-making to better prepare their communities for future smoke events.
Expected Results:
New knowledge and efficacious strategies identified through this center will offer important evidence-based approaches that can be applied across the Western US and elsewhere. Specifically, the expected outcomes include increased understanding of:
- How the public experiences wildfire smoke, where and how they seek smoke-related information, and the actions they are taking. This should allow community organizations to better target communications, outreach, and engagement efforts.
- The scope and scale of planning, preparation, public education/communication efforts and the extent to which they are bringing together the necessary networks and actions to include and support vulnerable populations. This should provide community leaders with best practices, while identifying needed areas of emphasis to successfully create smoke ready communities that are inclusive of vulnerable populations, and address gaps that require innovation.
- The effectiveness of planning and preparation efforts when they are exercised during actual smoke events and how to improve upon current understanding of best practices. This should support emergency managers and their partners to better prepare their communities for future smoke events.
Supplemental Keywords:
Media, communication tools, risk, policy, mitigation, adaptation, decision making, public policy, management, forest, community, vulnerability, rural, equityThe perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.