JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – As the West Mims wildfire rages on, now having consumed more than 225 square miles, smoke fills the air each day, and depending on the wind direction and speed, in some cases it is creating an unhealthy air quality. We provide the air quality rating for our area so that you can make good decisions for you and your family based on the day's ratings. Here is how and where we get that air quality rating.
The Wildland Fire Air Quality Response Program (WFAQRP) explains their purpose and methods on their website, it was created to directly assess, communicate, and address risks posed by wildland fire smoke to the public as well as fire personnel. The program depends on four primary components: specially trained personnel called Air Resource Advisors, air quality monitoring, smoke concentration and dispersion modeling, and coordination and cooperation with agency partners.
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Air Resource Advisors
Under the WFAQRP, Air Resource Advisors are technical specialists that are trained to work on smoke issues from wildland fire. They are deployed nationwide during large smoke events. Air Resource Advisors are dispatched to an incident to assist with understanding and predicting smoke impacts on the public and fire personnel. They analyze, summarize, and communicate these impacts to incident teams, air quality regulators, and the public. Currently, one Air Resource Advisor has been deployed to our area, his name is Dan Byrd.
Monitoring
The Program has developed a national cache of smoke monitoring equipment that can be deployed to incidents to understand the magnitude of smoke impacts. The monitors were heavily used in western wildfires in 2014 and 2015. Smoke monitors which measure fine particulate matter, PM2.5 are tied into the GOES satellite system similar to Remote Automated Weather Stations (RAWS). The near-real time data is available to the public via the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) AirNow website as well as smoke monitor data display systems developed by the Pacific Northwest Research Station’s AirFire Team to support operational smoke forecasting. Generally, orders for monitors are tied to the overall emergency response to a wildfire and the interagency systems which support incident management teams
Modeling
ARAs depend on smoke modeling to assess future impacts. These include customized forecasts produced by the US Forest Service AirFire Team with their BlueSky smoke modeling system provides daily smoke impact modeling of active wildfires throughout the lower 48 states. Alaska BlueSky runs were added when wildfire smoke needs developed in 2015. The operational model products of BlueSky, which frequently utilize fine scale meteorological data supplied by U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for greater resolution and model performance, support active smoke and air quality impact forecasting downwind of large wildfires.
Coordination
The success of the Wildland Fire Air Quality Response Program depends on contributions from numerous interagency partners. The current pool of trained ARAs includes staff from various federal, state, tribal, and local governments as well as the private sector. The success and online presence of key smoke modeling tools would not be possible without the significant contributions by the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Smoke impact modeling is contributed by the U.S. Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Station among others.
The Environmental Protection Agency put out a guide to help Public Officials make informed decision regarding wildfire smoke, they explain: smoke is a complex mixture of carbon dioxide, water vapor, carbon monoxide, particulate matter, hydrocarbons and other organic chemicals, nitrogen oxides, and trace minerals. The individual compounds present in smoke number in the thousands. Smoke composition depends on multiple factors, including how efficiently a fuel burns, the fuel type and moisture content, the fire temperature, wind conditions and other weather-related influences, whether the smoke is fresh or “aged,” and other variables. Different types of wood and vegetation are composed of varying amounts of cellulose, lignin, tannins and other polyphenols, oils, fats, resins, waxes, and starches, which produce different compounds that are released as smoke when burned.
Particulate matter is the principal pollutant of concern from wildfire smoke for the relatively short-term exposures (hours to weeks) often experienced by the public. Particulate matter is a generic term for particles suspended in the air, typically as a mixture of both solid particles and liquid droplets. The characteristics, sources, and potential health effects of particulate matter depend on its source, the season, and atmospheric conditions. Additionally, the size of particles affects their potential to cause health effects. Particles larger than 10 micrometers do not usually reach the lungs, but can irritate the eyes, nose, and throat. For purposes of comparison, a human hair is about 60 micrometers in diameter. Small particles with diameters less than or equal to 10 micrometers, also known as particle pollution or PM10, can be inhaled deep into the lungs; exposure to the smallest particles can affect the lungs and heart.
The EPA continues to explain that particles from smoke tend to be very small, with a size range near the wavelength of visible light (0.4 – 0.7 micrometers), and therefore efficiently scatter light and impact visibility. Moreover, these particles are within the fine particle PM2.5 fraction and can be inhaled into the deepest recesses of the lung and may represent a greater health concern than larger particles.