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Comparative Assessment of the Impacts of Prescribed Fire Versus Wildfire (CAIF): A Case Study in the Western US (Presentation)
Citation:
Cascio, W. AND J. Sacks. Comparative Assessment of the Impacts of Prescribed Fire Versus Wildfire (CAIF): A Case Study in the Western US (Presentation). Wildland Fire Leadership Council (WFLC), Virtual, N/A, April 08, 2021.
Impact/Purpose:
At the request of the Wildland Fire Leadership Council (WFLC) EPA was asked to lead and conduct an assessment to examine the air quality and health impacts of smoke from wildland fire titled A Comparative Assessment of the Impacts of Prescribed Fire Versus Wildfire (CAIF): A Case Study in the Western U.S. The CAIR Report was developed in collaboration with USFS, DOI, and NIST. This presentation represents a second progress update and a complete overview of the draft report, including draft results and key insights, that is being submitted for a letter peer review.
Description:
In January 2020, the Wildland Fire Leadership Council’s (WFLC) requested that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) conduct an assessment of the health impacts of prescribed fire versus wildfire. Building off this request, EPA actively engaged with the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), Department of the Interior (DOI) (including the bureaus), and National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) to plan and develop the CAIF report, and in the process foster interagency connections that previously did not exist. The CAIF Report consists of a framework to not only discuss different fire management strategies, but also a novel modeling component that allows for a quantitative comparison of the air quality and health impacts attributed to smoke from each. Through two case studies, this assessment quantitatively estimates the air quality and health impacts associated with the actual case study fires, hypothetical fires based on different fire management strategies, and prescribed fires.