Grantee Research Project Results
Partnering for Resilient Opportunities To Eliminate Cumulative Toxic (PROTECT) Health Effects from Wildfire PM2.5 in Environmental Justice Communities
EPA Grant Number: R840481Title: Partnering for Resilient Opportunities To Eliminate Cumulative Toxic (PROTECT) Health Effects from Wildfire PM2.5 in Environmental Justice Communities
Investigators: Thakur, Neeta , Balmes, John R. , Holm, Stephanie , Chow, Fontini , de la Rosa, Rosemarie Michelle , Noth, Betsey M , Chan, Wanyu , Kirchstetter, Thomas W , Basu, Rupa
Current Investigators: Thakur, Neeta , Balmes, John R. , de la Rosa, Rosemarie Michelle , Holm, Stephanie , Chow, Fontini , Noth, Betsey M , Chan, Wanyu , Kirchstetter, Thomas W , Basu, Rupa
Institution: University of California - San Fransisco , University of California - Berkeley , Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory , California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment
Current Institution: University of California - San Fransisco , California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment , Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory , University of California - Berkeley
EPA Project Officer: Hahn, Intaek
Project Period: December 1, 2022 through April 28, 2025
Project Amount: $1,330,536
RFA: Cumulative Health Impacts at the Intersection of Climate Change, Environmental Justice, and Vulnerable Populations/Lifestages: Community-Based Research for Solutions (2021) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Endocrine Disruptors , Environmental Justice , Human Health , Watersheds
Description:
Social adversity and environmental pollution are geospatially distributed and concentrated in communities of color and of low socioeconomic status, leading to worse health outcomes in these (Environmental Justice [EJ]) communities. In California, the increase in wildfire smoke events has likely had cascading and widespread impacts in EJ communities. There is a critical need to understand the impact of recurrent and prolonged wildfire smoke exposure on health and how this health risk is distributed across communities.
Objective:
The specific objectives for this study are to:
1) Estimate the health effects of sub-daily exposure to wildfire-specific PM2.5 in California, including across social vulnerability factors, with particular focus on effects within EJ communities
2) Understand community recovery from short-term health effects following exposure
3) Understand indoor infiltration of wildfire smoke and the mitigating effect of housing quality and behaviors on health effects; and, 4) identify acceptable community-relevant mitigation interventions.
Approach:
We will derive an hourly 3km wildfire-specific PM2.5 concentration grid by improving upon the NOAA High-Resolution Rapid Refresh (HRRR) Smoke Model with corrections from observation data. Exposure estimates will be assigned to geographic areas of interest. We will use a combination of air infiltration models using housing attributes and meteorological data as inputs combined with new observational studies of infiltration factors of PM2.5 to estimate smoke infiltration.We will then examine for health effects of wildfire-specific PM2.5 on respiratory, cardiovascular, and cerebrovascular-related emergency department visits and hospitalizations across zip codes (n~1300) in California, factoring for smoke infiltration. We will examine if health effects occur disproportionately across social vulnerability factors, including age, race/ethnicity, composite indices for socioeconomic status, and EJ community designation using CalEnvironScreen 4.0. Lastly, with our community partners, we will quantitatively survey (n=450) residents of EJ communities residing in Fresno, Richmond, and San Francisco about mitigation behaviors during wildfire events and qualitatively assess barriers to existing barriers. Together, these data will be used to co-develop implementation strategies to increase uptake of acceptable community-relevant mitigation interventions.
Expected Results:
At the conclusion, we will have a HRRR Smoke model with more accurate estimates for wildfire-specific PM2.5 and understanding of smoke infiltration for housing across California; estimated health risk of wildfire PM2.5 across different communities in California; improved understanding of behaviors during wildfire events, including barriers to mitigations; and, co-developed implementation strategies to increase uptake of acceptable interventions.
Publications and Presentations:
Publications have been submitted on this project: View all 3 publications for this projectSupplemental Keywords:
Wildfire Smoke, Environmental Justice, Sensitive Populations, Health Effects
Progress and Final Reports:
The 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.