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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. The Chemistry of Fires at the Wildland-Urban Interface. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26460.
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Image

The Chemistry of Fires at the
Wildland-Urban Interface

_______

Committee on the Chemistry of Urban Wildfires

Board on Chemical Sciences and Technology

Division on Earth and Life Studies

Consensus Study Report

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. The Chemistry of Fires at the Wildland-Urban Interface. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26460.
×

NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS 500 Fifth Street, NW Washington, DC 20001

This activity was supported by contracts between the National Academy of Sciences and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and the National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, under Contract No. HHSN263201800029I. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of any organization or agency that provided support for the project.

International Standard Book Number-13: 978-0-309-27705-1
International Standard Book Number-10: 0-309-27705-1
Digital Object Identifier: https://doi.org/10.17226/26460
Library of Congress Control Number: 2022949390

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Suggested citation: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. The Chemistry of Fires at the Wildland-Urban Interface. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/26460.

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. The Chemistry of Fires at the Wildland-Urban Interface. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26460.
×

The National Academy of Sciences was established in 1863 by an Act of Congress, signed by President Lincoln, as a private, nongovernmental institution to advise the nation on issues related to science and technology. Members are elected by their peers for outstanding contributions to research. Dr. Marcia McNutt is president.

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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. The Chemistry of Fires at the Wildland-Urban Interface. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26460.
×

Consensus Study Reports published by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine document the evidence-based consensus on the study’s statement of task by an authoring committee of experts. Reports typically include findings, conclusions, and recommendations based on information gathered by the committee and the committee’s deliberations. Each report has been subjected to a rigorous and independent peer-review process and it represents the position of the National Academies on the statement of task.

Proceedings published by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine chronicle the presentations and discussions at a workshop, symposium, or other event convened by the National Academies. The statements and opinions contained in proceedings are those of the participants and are not endorsed by other participants, the planning committee, or the National Academies.

Rapid Expert Consultations published by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine are authored by subject-matter experts on narrowly focused topics that can be supported by a body of evidence. The discussions contained in rapid expert consultations are considered those of the authors and do not contain policy recommendations. Rapid expert consultations are reviewed by the institution before release.

For information about other products and activities of the National Academies, please visit www.nationalacademies.org/about/whatwedo.

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. The Chemistry of Fires at the Wildland-Urban Interface. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26460.
×

COMMITTEE ON THE CHEMISTRY OF URBAN WILDFIRES

Members

DAVID T. ALLEN (NAE), Chair, The University of Texas at Austin

OLORUNFEMI ADETONA, The Ohio State University

MICHELLE BELL (NAM), Yale University

MARILYN BLACK, Underwriters Laboratories Inc.

JEFFEREY L. BURGESS, University of Arizona

FREDERICK L. DRYER (NAE), University of South Carolina

AMARA HOLDER, US Environmental Protection Agency

ANA MASCAREÑAS, Independent Consultant

FERNANDO L. ROSARIO-ORTIZ, University of Colorado Boulder

ANNA A. STEC, University of Central Lancashire

BARBARA J. TURPIN, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

JUDITH T. ZELIKOFF, New York University

Staff

MEGAN E. HARRIES, Study Director (until August 2022)

LIANA VACCARI, Study Director

BRENNA ALBIN, Program Assistant

EMILY J. BUEHLER, Consultant

KESIAH CLEMENT, Research Associate (until July 2021)

CHARLES FERGUSON, Senior Board Director

MEGHAN HARRISON, Senior Program Officer (until July 2021)

ELLEN K. MANTUS, Scholar (until April 2021)

JEREMY T. MATHIS, Board Director (until March 2021)

MARILEE SHELTON-DAVENPORT, Senior Program Officer (until January 2021)

ABIGAIL ULMAN, Research Assistant (until May 2022)

BENJAMIN ULRICH, Senior Program Assistant (until March 2022)

Sponsors

CENTERS FOR DISEASE CONTROL AND PREVENTION

NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH SCIENCES

NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF STANDARDS AND TECHNOLOGY

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. The Chemistry of Fires at the Wildland-Urban Interface. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26460.
×

BOARD ON CHEMICAL SCIENCES AND TECHNOLOGY

Members

SCOTT COLLICK, Co-chair, DuPont

JENNIFER SINCLAIR CURTIS, Co-chair, University of California, Davis

GERARD BAILLELY, Procter and Gamble

RUBEN G. CARBONELL (NAE), North Carolina State University

JOHN FORTNER, Yale School of Engineering and Applied Science

KAREN I. GOLDBERG (NAS), University of Pennsylvania

JENNIFER M. HEEMSTRA, Emory University

JODIE L. LUTKENHAUS, Texas A&M University

SHELLEY D. MINTEER, University of Utah

AMY PRIETO, Colorado State University

MEGAN L. ROBERTSON, University of Houston

SALY ROMERO-TORRES, Thermo Fisher Scientific

REBECCA T. RUCK, Merck Process Research & Development

ANUP K. SINGH, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

VIJAY SWARUP, ExxonMobil

Staff

CHARLES FERGUSON, Senior Board Director

MEGAN E. HARRIES, Program Officer (until August 2022)

LIANA VACCARI, Program Officer

LINDA NHON, Associate Program Officer

THANH NGUYEN, Finance Business Partner

JESSICA WOLFMAN, Research Associate

BRENNA ALBIN, Program Assistant

AYANNA LYNCH, Program Assistant

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. The Chemistry of Fires at the Wildland-Urban Interface. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26460.
×

Acknowledgments

This Consensus Study Report was reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise. The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will assist the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine in making each published report as sound as possible and to ensure that it meets the institutional standards for quality, objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the study charge. The review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential to protect the integrity of the deliberative process.

We thank the following individuals for their review of this report:

Tami Bond, Colorado State University

Shoba Iyer, California Environmental Protection Agency and San Francisco Department of the Environment

Samuel Manzello, REAX Engineering

Sarah McAllister, US Forest Service

Birgitte Messerschmidt, National Fire Protection Association

Jason Sacks, US Environmental Protection Agency

David Sedlak (NAE), University of California, Berkeley

Carsten Warneke, US National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration

Christine Wiedinmyer, University of Colorado Boulder

Although the reviewers listed above provided many constructive comments and suggestions, they were not asked to endorse the conclusions or recommendations of this report, nor did they see the final draft before its release. The review of this report was overseen by Susan Brantley, The Pennsylvania State University, and Martin-Jose J. Sepulveda, Florida International University. They were responsible for making certain that an independent examination of this report was carried out in accordance with the standards of the National Academies and that all review comments were carefully considered. Responsibility for the final content rests entirely with the authoring committee and the National Academies.

This study would not have been successful without the assistance of many. The committee is grateful to the people who helped provide research support to the report, including Colette Schissel, The University of Texas at Austin; Yosuke Kimura, The University of Texas at Austin; and the staff of the National Academies Research Center. We are especially grateful to the numerous expert individuals who spoke to the committee during an open information-gathering session or otherwise provided input (see Appendix D).

Page viii Cite
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. The Chemistry of Fires at the Wildland-Urban Interface. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26460.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. The Chemistry of Fires at the Wildland-Urban Interface. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26460.
×

Acronyms and Abbreviations

AQI Air Quality Index
ASTM American Society for Testing and Materials
BBOP Biomass Burn Observation Project
CAMS continuous air quality monitoring station
CARB California Air Resources Board
CDC Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
CDD chlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxin
CE combustion efficiency
CF combustion factor
CI confidence interval
CMAQ Community Multiscale Air Quality
COPD chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
CWS community water system
DBP disinfection by-product
DOM dissolved organic matter
ED emergency department
EF emission factor
EPA US Environmental Protection Agency
ER emission ratio
FASMEE Fire and Smoke Model and Evaluation Experiment
FIREX-AQ Fire Influence on Regional to Global Environments and Air Quality
GeoXO Geostationary Extended Observations
GOES Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite
GREET Greenhouse gases, Regulated Emissions, and Energy use in Technologies
HEPA high-efficiency particulate air
HVAC heating, ventilating, and air conditioning
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. The Chemistry of Fires at the Wildland-Urban Interface. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26460.
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IARC International Agency for Research on Cancer
IMPROVE Interagency Monitoring of Protected Visual Environments
ISO International Organization for Standardization
IVOC intermediate-volatility organic compound
MCE modified combustion efficiency
MDA8 daily maximum eight-hour average
MERV minimum efficiency reporting value
MODIS Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer
NAAQS National Ambient Air Quality Standards
NIEHS National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
NIFC National Interagency Fire Center
NIOSH National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
NIST National Institute of Standards and Technology
NTU nephelometric turbidity unit
OSB oriented strand board
OSHA Occupational Safety and Health Administration
PAH polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon
PBDE polybrominated diphenyl ether
PCB polychlorinated biphenyl
PCDD polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxin
PCDF polychlorinated dibenzofuran
PFAS perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl organic substance
PiG plume-in-grid
PM particulate matter
PM10 coarse particulate matter; particles with diameters of 10 micrometers or less
PM2.5 fine particulate matter; particles with diameters of 2.5 micrometers or less
PTR-ToF-MS proton-transfer-reaction time-of-flight mass spectrometry
PVC polyvinyl chloride
RAP-Chem Rapid Refresh with Chemistry
RISE Research Institutes of Sweden
RR relative rate
Rx-CADRE Prescribed Fire Combustion-Atmospheric Dynamics Experiments
SOA secondary organic aerosol
SP SP Technical Research Institute of Sweden
SVOC semi-volatile organic compound
TCEP tris(2-chloroethyl) phosphate
TCPP tris(1-chloro-2-propyl) phosphate
TEMPO Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution
VIIRS Visible Infrared Imager Radiometer Suite
VOC volatile organic compound
WE-CAN Western Wildfire Experiment for Cloud Chemistry, Aerosol Absorption, and Nitrogen
WUI wildland-urban interface
ϕ equivalence ratio
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. The Chemistry of Fires at the Wildland-Urban Interface. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26460.
×

CHEMICAL FORMULAS

BrO hypobromite ion
C2H2 acetylene
C2H4 ethylene
C3H4O acrolein
C6H6 benzene
C7H8 toluene
CF3Br bromotrifluoromethane
CH2O or HCHO formaldehyde
CH3Br bromomethane
CH3Cl chloromethane
CH4 methane
CHOCHO glyoxal
ClNO2 chlorine nitrite
CO carbon monoxide
CO2 carbon dioxide
COCl2 phosgene
COF2 carbonyl fluoride
H2O water
H2O2 hydrogen peroxide
H2S hydrogen sulfide
H2SO4 sulfuric acid
H3PO4 phosphoric acid
HBr hydrogen bromide
HCHO; see CH2O
HCl hydrogen chloride
HCN hydrogen cyanide
HF hydrogen fluoride
HNO2 or HONO nitrous acid
HNO3 nitric acid
HO2 hydroperoxyl radical
HO2NO2 peroxynitric acid
HOCO hydrocarboxyl radical
HONO, see HNO2
N2O5 dinitrogen pentoxide
NH3 ammonia
NO nitric oxide radical
NO2 nitrogen dioxide
NO3 nitrate radical
NOx nitrogen oxides
O3 ozone
OH hydroxyl radical
POF3 phosphoryl fluoride
SO2 sulfur dioxide
SO3 sulfur trioxide
SOx sulfur oxides
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. The Chemistry of Fires at the Wildland-Urban Interface. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26460.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. The Chemistry of Fires at the Wildland-Urban Interface. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26460.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. The Chemistry of Fires at the Wildland-Urban Interface. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26460.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. The Chemistry of Fires at the Wildland-Urban Interface. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26460.
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Page R3
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. The Chemistry of Fires at the Wildland-Urban Interface. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26460.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. The Chemistry of Fires at the Wildland-Urban Interface. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26460.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. The Chemistry of Fires at the Wildland-Urban Interface. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26460.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. The Chemistry of Fires at the Wildland-Urban Interface. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26460.
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Page R7
Page viii Cite
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. The Chemistry of Fires at the Wildland-Urban Interface. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26460.
×
Page R8
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. The Chemistry of Fires at the Wildland-Urban Interface. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26460.
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Page R9
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. The Chemistry of Fires at the Wildland-Urban Interface. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26460.
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Page R10
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. The Chemistry of Fires at the Wildland-Urban Interface. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26460.
×
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. The Chemistry of Fires at the Wildland-Urban Interface. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26460.
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Page R12
Page xiii Cite
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. The Chemistry of Fires at the Wildland-Urban Interface. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26460.
×
Page R13
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2022. The Chemistry of Fires at the Wildland-Urban Interface. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/26460.
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Page R14
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Wildfires in America are becoming larger, more frequent, and more destructive, driven by climate change and existing land management practices. Many of these fires occur at the wildland-urban interface (WUI), areas where development and wildland areas overlap and which are increasingly at risk of devastating fires as communities continue to expand into previously undeveloped areas. Unlike conventional wildfires, WUI fires are driven in part by burning of homes, cars, and other human-made structures, and in part by burning vegetation. The interaction of these two types of fires can lead to public health effects that are unique to WUI fires.

This report evaluates existing and needed chemistry information that decision-makers can use to mitigate WUI fires and their potential health impacts. It describes key fuels of concern in WUI fires, especially household components like siding, insulation, and plastic, examines key pathways for exposure, including inhalation and ingestion, and identifies communities vulnerable to exposures. The report recommends a research agenda to inform response to and prevention of WUI fires, outlining needs in characterizing fuels, and predicting emissions and toxicants.

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