OREGON—As wildfire seasons grow longer, hotter and drier, more people are feeling the effects of smoke—even in communities that are far from forests. Thanks to the USDA Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Station’s AirFire Research Team, we can all breathe a little easier.

Each year, millions of people are exposed to unhealthy air quality. Children, the elderly and people with respiratory issues are particularly at risk and vulnerable to wildfire smoke. The more we know about how smoke travels, however, the better we can prepare and protect ourselves.

The AirFire Research Team is part of the Interagency Wildland Fire Air Quality Response Program, which monitors wildland fire smoke risks and shares information with the public and fire personnel. The program was recognized by Congress in the John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act, which authorized its work and mandates that these advisors be assigned to all larger wildland fires with type 1 Incident Management Teams.

In 2020, air resource advisors produced smoke outlooks for areas populated by more than 65 million people.

State and federal agencies used this information to inform incident smoke outlooks, daily state air quality blogs and the EPA-USFS AirNow Fire and Smoke Map. The AirFire Research Team works on wildland fire emissions, smoke and air quality in other ways as well.

For instance, the team created the BlueSky Modeling Framework, which integrates multiple models to simulate fire emissions and smoke impacts. These models incorporate fire locations, the fuels being burned, how much fuel the fire will consume, the amounts and timing of smoke produced, and how the smoke travels in the atmosphere. These invaluable tools are then integrated into many different smoke prediction systems and modeling efforts to predict wildfire smoke impacts and inform prescribed burning decisions.

“The BlueSky Modeling Framework is the result of thousands of hours of collaboration and research,” says Sim Larkin, Pacific Northwest Research Station climatologist and team leader. “Producing accurate smoke projections requires understanding and combining science across multiple disciplines, which leads to highly collaborative and rewarding teamwork and partnerships.”

The AirFire team also tracks fire weather and measures fuel moisture, the amount of solid and liquid particles in the air, and smoke location and movement. AirFire conducts climate studies to better understand climate patterns, variabilities and changes as well as their effects. This information is used to plan for the best times to conduct prescribed fires.

Prescribed fires can not only reduce flammable vegetation that could otherwise fuel larger wildfires, but also the smoke and particulate matter that would have been released into the air. Using prescribed fire allows land managers to control the burn and minimize smoke impacts.

By developing tools and resources that help forecast when and where smoke will travel, the AirFire Research Team allows public health agencies and communities to prepare for smoke impacts in advance. These ongoing efforts make it that much easier for everyone to breathe a collective sigh of relief all year long.