As forest fires threaten more and more lives, landscapes and air quality in the United States, a study led by Stanford published in Agu advances June 26 finds that prescribed burns can help reduce risks. Research reveals that prescribed burns can reduce the severity of subsequent forest fires by an average of 16% and net smoke pollution by an average of 14%.
“The prescribed fire is often promoted as a promising tool in theory To cushion the impacts of forest fires, but we show clear empirical evidence that prescribed burning works in practice“said main author Makoto Kelp, postdoctoral member in the science of the land system at the Stanford Dorr sustainability school.” It is not a cure, but it is a strategy that can reduce the damage of extreme forest fires when used effectively. “
Experts consider that prescribed burns are an effective strategy to reduce the threat of forest fires, and almost 2 billion federal funds had been reserved to perform these and similar treatments to reduce dangerous fuel. Even so, the use of burning prescribed in Western states has expanded only slightly in recent years. There is little research to quantify its effectiveness, and public opinion remains mixed amid the concerns that prescribed burns can lead to smoked air and escaped fires.
Data -based fire strategy
In Stanford, Kelp is working with the Climate Scientist Noah Diffenbaugh and the environmental economist Marshall Burke through the National Postdoctoral Company program of the Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the global change. Using high -resolution satellite images, Land Management Records and Inventories of smoke emissions, the research team compared areas treated with a prescribed fire between the end of 2018 and spring 2020 with unrelated adjacent areas that later burned in the Extreme fire season 2020. The analysis found that the areas treated with prescribed fire were burned with less severe and produced significantly less smoke.
This finding is particularly important given the growing recognition of the smoke of forest fires as a great threat to public health. Fine particles (pm2.5) Of forest fires has been related to respiratory and cardiovascular problems and is increasingly promoting the poor air quality in the United States
“People often think of forest fires only in terms of flames and evacuations,” said Burke, associate professor of Environmental Social Sciences at the Dorr Sustainability School. “But smoke is a silent and high range danger, and prescribed fire can be one of the few tools that really reduces total exposure to smoke.”
Not all treatments are equal
The study also highlights a key nuance: the authors found that the prescribed fires were significantly more effective outside the urban interface (WUI) (WUI), the areas where the houses are found with forest vegetation, which inside it. In Wui areas, where agencies often depend on mechanical thinning due to concerns about smoke and safety, the severity of the fire was reduced by only 8.5%, compared to 20% in non -Wui areas.
“We already know that the population is growing faster in the areas of the urban interface of wild lands where vegetation is more sensitive to the intelined intensification of forest fire risk,” said Diffenbaugh, a professor at the Kara J Foundation at Stanford Doer Sustainability School and the main member of the Kimmelman family at the Mother’s Institute of Stanford’s forests. “Then, understanding why prescribed fire treatments are less effective in these areas is a key priority to effectively handle this risk intensification.”
Smoke compensation and political implications
The study addresses concerns about smoked air from prescribed burning, discovering that the approach produces only around 17% of the prime minister2.5 smoke that would be emitted by a forest fire in the same area. The researchers estimate that if California fulfilled their goal of treating one million acres annually with prescribed fire, could cut PM2.5 Emissions for 655,000 tons for five years: more than half of the total smoke pollution of the devastating Forest Fire Season 2020.
The authors point out that their findings probably represent a conservative estimate of the benefits of prescribed fire, since such treatments may have protective protective effects in the unrelated surrounding areas.
“This type of empirical evidence is essential for effective policy,” Kelp said. “I hope it helps to inform the ongoing conversation about the prescribed fire as a possible strategy to mitigate forest fires in California.”
Studio co -authors also include Minghao Qiu from Stony Brook University, Iván Higuera-Mindietaa doctoral student in Earth System Sciences in Stanford; and Tianjia Liu of the British Columbia University.
Burke is also a main member in the Stanford Woods Environment Institutehe Freeman Splli Institute for International Studiesand the Stanford Institute for Economic Policies Research (SIEPR); an associated teacher (courtesy) of Earth system science; And a member of Bio-x and the WU TSAI Institute Neurosciences.
The study was funded by the Oceanic and Atmospheric National Administration and Stanford University.
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