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The U.S. EPA wildland fire sensor challenge: Performance and evaluation of solver submitted multi-pollutant sensor systems.

ABSTRACT: Wildland fires can emit substantial amounts of air pollution that may pose a risk to those in proximity (e.g., first responders, nearby residents) as well as downwind populations. Quickly deploying air pollution measurement capabilities in response to incidents has been limited to date by the cost, complexity of implementation, and measurement accuracy. Emerging technologies including miniaturized direct-reading sensors, compact microprocessors, and wireless data communications provide new opportunities to detect air pollution in real time. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) partnered with other U.S. federal agencies (CDC, NASA, NPS, NOAA, USFS) to sponsor the Wildland Fire Sensor Challenge. EPA and partnering organizations share the desire to advance wildland fire air measurement technology to be easier to deploy, suitable to use for high concentration events, and durable to withstand difficult field conditions, with the ability to report high time resolution data continuously and wirelessly. The Wildland Fire Sensor Challenge encouraged innovation worldwide to develop sensor prototypes capable of measuring fine particulate matter (PM_2.5), carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO₂), and ozone (O₃) during wildfire episodes. The importance of using federal reference method (FRM) versus federal equivalent method (FEM) instruments to evaluate performance in biomass smoke is discussed. Ten solvers from three countries submitted sensor systems for evaluation as part of the challenge. The sensor evaluation results including sensor accuracy, precision, linearity, and operability are presented and discussed, and three challenge winners are announced. Raw solver submitted PM_2.5 sensor accuracies of the winners ranged from ~22 to 32%, while smoke specific EPA regression calibrations improved the accuracies to ~75-83% demonstrating the potential of these systems in providing reasonable accuracies over conditions that are typical during wildland fire events.

SUBMITTER: Landis MS

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8059620 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:Wildland fires are a major source of fine particulate matter (PM2.5), one of the most harmful ambient pollutants for human health globally. To represent the influence of wildland fire emissions on atmospheric composition, regional and global chemical transport models rely on emission inventories developed from estimates of burned area (i.e. fire size and location). While different methods of estimating annual burned area agree reasonably well in the western U.S. (within 20-30% for most years during 2002-2014), estimates for the southern U.S. can vary by more than a factor of 5. These differences in burned area lead to significant variability in the spatial and temporal allocation of emissions across fire emission inventory platforms. In this work, we implement wildland fire emission estimates for 2011 from three different products - the USEPA National Emission Inventory (NEI), the Fire Inventory of NCAR (FINN), and the Global Fire Emission Database (GFED4s) - into the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model to quantify and characterize differences in simulated PM and ozone concentrations across the contiguous U.S. (CONUS) due to the fire emission inventory used. The NEI is developed specifically for the U.S., while both FINN and GFED4s are available globally. We find that NEI emissions lead to the largest increases in modeled annual average PM2.5 (0.85 μg m-3) and April-September maximum daily 8-h ozone (0.28 ppb) nationally compared to a "no fire" baseline, followed by FINN (0.33 μg m-3 and 0.22 ppb) and GFED4s (0.12 μg m-3 and 0.17 ppb). Annual mean enhancements in wildland fire pollution are highest in the southern U.S. across all three inventories (over 4 μg m-3 and 2 ppb in some areas), but show considerable spatial variability within these regions. We also examine the representation of five individual fire events during 2011 and find that of the two global inventories, FINN reproduces more of the acute changes in pollutant concentrations modeled with NEI and shown in surface observations during each of the episodes investigated compared to GFED4s. Understanding the sensitivity of modeling fire-related PM2.5 and ozone in the U.S. to burned area estimation approaches will inform future efforts to assess the implications of present and future fire activity for air quality and human health at national and global scales.

Project description:ObjectivesDue to accelerating wildland fire activity, there is mounting urgency to understand, prevent, and mitigate the occupational health impacts associated with wildland fire suppression. The objectives of this review of academic and grey literature were to: 1. Identify the impact of occupational exposure to wildland fires on physical, mental, and emotional health; and 2. Examine the characteristics and effectiveness of prevention, mitigation, or management strategies studied to reduce negative health outcomes associated with occupational exposure to wildland fire.MethodsFollowing established scoping review methods, academic literature as well as government and industry reports were identified by searching seven academic databases and through a targeted grey literature search. 4679 articles were screened using pre-determined eligibility criteria. Data on study characteristics, health outcomes assessed, prevention or mitigation strategies studied, and main findings were extracted from each included document. The results of this scoping review are presented using descriptive tables and a narrative summary to organize key findings.ResultsThe final sample was comprised of 100 articles: 76 research articles and 24 grey literature reports. Grey literature focused on acute injuries and fatalities. Health outcomes reported in academic studies focused on respiratory health (n = 14), mental health (n = 16), and inflammation and oxidative stress (n = 12). The identified studies evaluated short-term outcomes measuring changes across a single shift or wildland fire season. Most research was conducted with wildland firefighters and excluded personnel such as aviation crews, contract crews, and incident management teams. Five articles reported direct study of mitigation strategies, focusing on the potential usage of masks, advanced hygiene protocols to reduce exposure, fluid intake to manage hydration and core temperature, and glutamine supplementation to reduce fatigue.ConclusionsWhile broad in scope, the evidence base linking wildland fire exposure to any one health outcome is limited. The lack of long-term evidence on changes in health status or morbidity is a clear evidence gap and there is a need to prioritize research on the mental and physical health impact of occupational exposure to wildland fire.

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The U.S. EPA wildland fire sensor challenge: Performance and evaluation of solver submitted multi-pollutant sensor systems.

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