Prescribed fires, set to reduce wildfire risk and maintaining forest biodiversity, contribute more than one-fifth of the fine particle pollution in the southeastern United States, according to new research from the University of Georgia.
The study found that the Southeast accounts for more than 60% of all prescribed burning in the US. Using state burn permit records from Georgia, Florida and South Carolina, researchers developed an air quality model to capture thousands of small, short-lived burns often overlooked by satellites or federal fire inventories.
Georgia experienced the highest population exposure, with over 40 smoke-impacted days annually. On those days, smoke from prescribed burns increased the amount of fine particle pollution people inhaled even when overall air quality did not reach hazardous levels.
Florida showed lower and more localised impacts, with many burns occurring away from populated areas. South Carolina had less burned area overall. The differences were driven by where burns occur relative to population centres .
Jingting Huang, lead author and postdoctoral researcher, said: ‘Prescribed fire is receiving more attention because it is increasingly viewed as an important climate-adaptation tool to reduce wildfire risk and maintain biodiversity. But as its use expands, we also need to understand how prescribed fire smoke affects nearby communities.’
The study is the first to place state burn permit records at the centre of smoke modelling. This approach reduced known errors in existing fire inventories and changed estimated smoke exposure patterns across the region.
Christina H. Fuller, co-author and associate professor of engineering at UGA said: ‘We can use this new model to estimate the impacts of policy changes on fine particle matter concentrations and people’s exposure. This is important because we would like to maximise prescribed fire use for conservation while also reducing people’s exposure to smoke.’
As prescribed burning expands with forest restoration efforts, researchers say the framework offers a way to balance ecosystem conservation needs with smoke exposure risks.
Holly Nowell, co-author of the study, said: ‘In regions where permit records are incomplete, unavailable or not comparable across jurisdictions, satellite observations remain essential for tracking fire activity and estimating smoke impacts.’
Jeffery Cannon, co-author of the study, a research scientist at The Jones Center at Ichauway, added: ‘One exciting aspect of this study is that we’ll now be able to simulate how individual landowners – and potentially new burn policies – can reduce smoke impacts overall.’
Read the full research here
Photo: Emma Renly
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