Californias Smoke Management Program Managing Wildland Fire - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

California’s Smoke Management Program Managing Wildland Fire Complexities WESTAR Spring Business Meeting April 27, 2017 San Diego, California

Historic Role of Fire  Fire has always been a part of California ’ s landscape • In 1542 Cabrillo named San Pedro Harbor the “ Bay of Smoke and Fir es” • Fire plays an important role in California ’ s forest Ecosystems • Wildfires single biggest source of high-level air quality impacts (in U.S.) • Contributes to more than 40% of US fine particulate matter (PM2.5) based on the EP A ’ s 2011 National Emission Inventory • California averages over 600,000+ acres burned over the past five year • 46,000+ acres of prescribed burning over the past five year

Smoke Management Program  Provide increased opportunities for prescribed and agricultural burning, while minimizing smoke impacts • 1300 Call, Daily Communication Between (CARB, FLMs, Air Districts) • Burn Day Determinations  Mutual objectives of protecting public health and ensuring healthy and resilient forests (Tree Mortality)  2011 Coordination and Communication Protocol for Naturally Ignited Fires  California ’ s air quality standards and climate goals • Meeting air quality standards • Improving visibility • Reducing short-lived climate pollutants • Achieving greenhouse gas reduction targets Changes from 1890 to 1970

Smoke Management Program  Sets requirements for: • Daily burn determinations based on meteorological dispersion rates, air quality conditions and the amount of emissions predicted • Burn registration and planning well ahead of time • Public notification procedures • Communications on many levels  Prescribed Fire Reporting System (PFIRS) – Serves as a data and information interface between regulators, burners and individuals using wildland fire. • Smoke Management Information distribution system • Public notification interface • Emissions tracking and storage  Meteorological Forecasting – High resolution(2km x 2km) smoke weather forecasts via CANSAC

California Air Response Planning Alliance  Multi-Agency Partnership  ARBs Office of Emergency Response • Meteorological Forecasting • Air Pollution Modeling • Air Monitoring Deployment  Guide for smoke response coordination in California  Lists recommended health actions.  Daily intelligence briefing  1400 Monitoring Call (Smoke response decisions made)

Key Organizational Objectives Messaging Monitoring 6

Monitoring Wildland Fire Smoke  Air Quality Management Information System (AQMIS)  ARB E-BAMs (30 units) - Portable PM2.5 monitoring instrument  USFS E-BAMs  Prescribed Fire Information Reporting System (PFIRS)  Modis Satellite Images  Hazard Mapping System (HMS)  BlueSky Modeling System  National Weather Service (GOES Satellite, Radar, Winds) 7

Modeling Wildland Fire Smoke  USFS AirFire Teams, BlueSky  Integrated effort with CANSAC WRF (and others high resolution models)  Website automatically generates daily plume models twice a day (select your run).  Estimates current and future PM concentration values.  Focus on high resolution and customization (newer, faster machine) King Fire 2014 8

Messaging Wildland Fire Smoke  Work closely with local air districts and public health agencies  Sync communications across impacted areas, and incident commands  Create Smoke Outlooks and Impact Summaries • Goal: Reduce exposure through behavior modification  Provide critical decision information: • Monitor data • Fire behavior predictions • Incident command decisions  Posting on web, blogs, social media

Air Resource Advisors  Smoke specialists deployed as part of an Incident Management T eam (THSP in ICS) Enables: • Smoke information within Incident decisions • Allows incident decision information for BlueSky modeling, messaging, etc • Develops outlooks and other documents ARA Deployments by Y ear for communications • Works with local agencies and communities

Multi-Agency Workgroups  USEPA, ARB, State and Federal Land Managers, Local Air Pollution Control Districts and NGOs • Air and Land Managers • Interagency Air and Smoke Council • 1300 & 1400 Conference Calls • CANSAC, PFIRS, RX 410 Training  Provides a forum to discuss issues regarding air quality and smoke management in California  The Goal is Healthy and Sustainable Forests , while protecting public health!

Thank Y ou Dar Mims Smoke Management Coordinator Air Quality Planning and Science Division California Air Resources Board Dar.Mims@arb.ca.gov