Grantee Research Project Results
2023 Progress Report: Integrated Communication and Intervention Strategies to Reduce Exposure to Prescribed Wildland Fire Emissions in Schools, Schoolchildren and Communities
EPA Grant Number: R840246Title: Integrated Communication and Intervention Strategies to Reduce Exposure to Prescribed Wildland Fire Emissions in Schools, Schoolchildren and Communities
Investigators: Russell, Armistead G. , Odman, Mehmet Talat , Ng, Nga Lee , Hull, Rebecca Watts , Vaidyanathan, Ambarish
Institution: Georgia Institute of Technology , Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
EPA Project Officer: Chung, Serena
Project Period: September 1, 2021 through August 31, 2024
Project Period Covered by this Report: September 1, 2022 through August 31,2023
Project Amount: $1,000,000
RFA: Interventions and Communication Strategies to Reduce Health Risks of Wildland Fire Smoke Exposures (2021) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Air Quality and Air Toxics , Wildfires
Objective:
Prescribed burning air pollution forecasting, on-site low- cost monitoring and air cleaning, and coordinated communication approaches will be employed and assessed for their effectiveness at reducing exposures of schoolchildren in southern Georgia and Alabama to elevated levels of PM2.5 and other pollutants. This will involve addressing three hypotheses: 1) An integrated strategy containing both interventions and communications can reduce wildland fire pollution exposure in children and youth; 2) Targeted intervention, e.g., classroom-based air cleaning, can be used to effectively reduce exposures of school community members, including students, to wildland fire burn emissions; and 3) Wildland fire impact forecasting can be used to reduce exposures, both by adjusting the timing of burn activities that would lead to large population exposures and by alerting and providing guidance to potentially impacted areas in advance. Late in 2023, however, we were asked to terminate sampling at East Columbus Magnet Academy (ECMA) and also could not expand to other schools in that area, and are now identifying alternative approaches to address our research goals.
Progress Summary:
- Teaming with East Columbus Magnet Academy (ECMA): Building on the potential schools identified in the original proposal, the Georgia Tech (GT) team worked with ECMA for the initial year’s deployment of monitors in the school. Multiple meetings were held with School officials and teachers, as well as GT facilitating a meeting between ECMA, the US Forest Service and the Georgia Forestry Commission to discuss prescribed burning impacts and uses. Discussions with ECMA led to the initial instrument deployment plan. We resented our initial results at an ECMA STEM night activity (in person).
- Deployment of Air Quality Monitors to ECMA: As planned, we deployed PurpleAir and QuantAQ monitors to ECMA to capture indoor and outdoor concentrations in and around the school. We installed a set of sensors (QuantAQ and PurpleAir) at ECMA in summer 2023 to study the impact of prescribed burns on indoor air quality at the school. ECMA is a middle school located in Columbus, Muscogee County, GA and often impacted by prescribed burns from managed forests outside of the military base. One QuantAQ MODULAIR sensor (gas phase pollutants including CO, CO2, NO, NO2, O3, also PM) and one PurpleAir sensor (PM) were installed outside the school. PurpleAir sensors were installed at five indoor locations: three classrooms, cafeteria, and main school entrance hall. In one of the classrooms, a QuantAQ MODULAIR sensor was also installed next to the PurpleAir sensor. We held a teacher training session (virtual) on the basics of air pollution, potential impacts of nearby prescribed burns on indoor and outdoor air quality, and how to access QuantAQ Cloud and PurpleAir map and view the data online (log into the QuantAQ / PurpleAir websites and select the sensor of interest). To further facilitate communication of the sensor data to the wider school community, we recently participated in the ECMA STEM night activity (in person). We set up a stand near one of the sensors. We shared and discussed the sensor data and general air quality topics with the students, teachers, parents, and other guests. Preliminary data analysis of these “background” data (not impacted by prescribed burns) show that the pollutant levels and dynamics in the three classrooms are comparable. There are clear increases in PM10 levels during class times, likely due to resuspension of particles as students move around at the beginning /end of classes. We observed high levels of CO2 during class times (few thousands of ppm) in classrooms. We communicated these results to the school and presented the results at a STEM open house in Columbus. In terms of indoor / outdoor comparison, we observed moderate correlations between classroom/outdoor PM2.5 (R2 ~ 0.3-0.4), though these correlations are likely influenced by PM spikes during class times.
- Prescribed Fire Impact Forecasting: We have continued improving our prescribed fire impact forecasting system. A particular focus has been on better characterization of fire progression, emissions estimates and plume rise modeling.
Future Activities:
Planned future activities include: Identification of other school or community partners to continue our sampling activities, and when identified we will deploy PurpleAir and QuantAQ monitors. In terms of our forecasting efforts, we plan to incorporation our improvements in plume rise modeling and fire emissions estimation.
Supplemental Keywords:
Prescribed burning; Fire plumes; Wildland fire, Intervention, Communication, Air Quality, Pollution Control, ForecastingRelevant Websites:
None at this time
Progress and Final Reports:
Original AbstractThe 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.