Fireflux Experiments Improve Safety of Prescribed Burns in the New Jersey Pine Barrens
Prescribed fires are an essential fuels management tool for enhancing ecosystem health and protecting people, homes, and property from wildfires. When prescribed fires are conducted near urban centers or areas where air pollution is already a problem, federal, state, or local air quality standards can be exceeded. Three large fire-fuel-atmosphere interaction (also known as Fireflux) experiments measured fuel loading and consumption, atmospheric turbulence, fluxes of energy, water vapor and CO2, and smoke transport at the landscape scale during operational prescribed fires in the New Jersey Pine Barrens. Results from the experiments indicate that most of the heat and water vapor released from consumed fuel is indeed captured by flux measurements, and that particulate matter (PM2.5) concentrations returned to below EPA standards rapidly after flames passed. Measurements of fuel consumption, fluxes, and atmospheric circulations during fires are essential for evaluating and improving predictive models used by fire and land managers for prescribed burn planning and smoke management.
Forest Service Partners