View the webinar recording here.
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New SFE Publication: Webinar Summary, Potential Impacts of Prescribed Fire Smoke on Air Quality, Public Health, and Socially Vulnerable Populations in the Southeastern US
An SFE webinar recorded August 2021 discussed research showing that while prescribed fire is beneficial to air quality overall in terms of wildfire risk reduction, prescribed fire smoke may cause serious health impacts, particularly to socially vulnerable groups. A new SFE publication summarizes the key findings from the webinar in an easy to read two page format.
Read the webinar summary here.
Continue ReadingNew SFE Publication: Air Impacts Webinar Summary
SFE has released a publication summarizing key points from our August 2021 webinar, Potential Impacts of Prescribed Fire on Air Quality and Public Health in the Southeast.
View the webinar summary here.
Continue ReadingFLN Networker December 1, 2021
The latest FLN Networker includes a number of items relevant to the South:
Indigenous Voices: There were two announcements from the federal government on November 15: The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and the White House Council on Environmental Quality jointly released a new memorandum that commits to elevating Indigenous traditional ecological knowledge in federal scientific and policy processes (press release). And the departments of Agriculture and the Interior issued a joint Secretarial Order to strengthen tribal co-stewardship of public lands and waters (press release).
Smoke: The Fire Adapted Communities Learning Network Smoke Learning Group has collected some highlights from its learning, including a two-pager on HEPA filter programs and another summarizing a conversation about smoke with social scientist Sarah McCaffrey.
Inequality & Risk Response: The authors of the article “Inequality Hinders Group Efforts to Avoid Environmental Disasters” experimentally explored how people’s contributions to a common solution were affected by differences in (experimental) wealth and probability of risk. “As inequality increases, much depends on the rich, who do not necessarily cooperate.”
Continue ReadingFEMA Funds Research Study on Cancer Risk for Wildland Firefighters
A $1.5 million grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency is funding a study at the University of Arizona Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health that will evaluate cancer risks among wildland firefighters with the goal of finding ways to reduce those risks.
Continue ReadingPartner Webinar: Comparing Air Quality and Public Health Impacts from Prescribed Fire and Wildfire Smoke
Join us for a conversation about the recent release of the EPA Report on Comparing Air Quality and Public Health Impacts from Prescribed Fire and Wildfire Smoke. Jason Sacks, with the Center for Public Health and Environmental Assessment, Office of Research and Development at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will be joining us for an overview of the studies that provided the information for this report aimed at helping federal, state, local and Tribal partners and fire organizations make risk management decisions to reduce the impacts of wildfire smoke in their communities.
Continue ReadingFueling Collaboration: Smoke is NOT Just Smoke
Smoke was already an important issue in wildland fire, but this summer is driving home the point even more across the eastern US. Whether it’s the western US and Canadian wildfire smoke or smoke from more local prescribed fires, what are the messages we should be communicating? What are the tools that can help us assess impacts? Attend this session to hear about the latest and greatest regarding smoke.
Continue ReadingPartner Webinar: Winners of the Cleaner Indoor Air During Wildfires Challenge
Join the EPA on October 26 as we announce the winners of the Cleaner Indoor Air During Wildfires Challenge. Winners will share their innovative designs for low-cost solutions that quietly and safely reduce indoor fine particulate matter (PM2.5) during periods when outdoor PM2.5 concentrations are high.
Register for the webinar here.
EPA and its federal, state, local and tribal partners held a Challenge competition to encourage the development of detailed plans for novel, effective, low-cost technologies to reduce indoor PM2.5 concentrations and protect public health during wildfire smoke events.
Exposure to PM2.5, an air pollutant from wildfire smoke and other sources, can be harmful to lung and heart health, especially for those with pre-existing health conditions.
Continue ReadingStudy Finds Exposure to Air Pollution Higher for People of Color Regardless of Region or Income
In the United States, people of color breathe more particulate air pollution on average, a finding that holds across income levels and regions of the US, according to a study by researchers at the EPA-funded Center for Air, Climate, and Energy Solutions. The findings expand a body of evidence showing that African Americans, Hispanics, Asians, and other people of color are disproportionately exposed to a regulated air pollutant called fine particulate matter (PM2.5). PM2.5 is emitted by prescribed fire.
Continue ReadingEPA Awards Georgia Tech $1M to Help Protect Students and Communities from Prescribed Fire Smoke in Southern Georgia and Alabama
A $1 million award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will help researchers in Georgia Tech’s College of Engineering develop tactics to protect children from harmful emissions from controlled wildland burns. The initiative will provide equipment and new communications approaches in middle and high schools in Albany and Columbus, Ga., and Phenix City, Ala. Georgia Tech is focusing on the three cities because of their proximity to regular controlled burns, in addition to the communities’ lower socioeconomic statuses.
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