Landscape Fire Research Articles

Methodological approaches to the creation of a biological model of smoke in landscape fires

Introduction. Long-term smoke from landscape fires causes various health problems, primarily affecting the respiratory, cardiovascular, and nervous systems. To substantiate safe levels of exposure to smoke from landscape fires, it is necessary to create an adequate biological model for smoke that is close to natural conditions. The aim of the study is to develop and test methodological approaches to creating a biological model for smoke during landscape fires to substantiate safe levels of exposure. Materials and methods. Using the developed biological model, we studied the effects of smoke from landscape fires on white rats. We assessed the functional state of the central nervous system based on rat behaviour and EEG examination results, conducted a morphological study of the cerebral cortex and testes of white rats, and examined the offspring immediately after birth and at puberty. Results. We studied the biological response of white rats exposed to inhalation smoke from landscape fires for different durations. The main criterion indicators of health disorders in the central nervous and reproductive systems of animals were identified. Limitations. The study is limited by the lack of data on safe levels of exposure to smoke from landscape fires on the central nervous system and reproductive toxicity. Conclusion. Testing of the developed method allowed identifying the exposure load of carbon monoxide and ultrafine particles PM2.5, at which changes in the nervous and reproductive systems are minimal. A method for calculating safe levels of exposure for the central nervous and reproductive systems, as well as for the effect on offspring, is proposed. An algorithm for conducting research in studying the effect of smoke from landscape fires on the body has been developed.

Impact of elevated fine particulate matter (PM2.5) during landscape fire events on cardiorespiratory hospital admissions in Perth, Western Australia

BackgroundAustralia has experienced extreme fire weather in recent years. Information on the impact of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) from landscape fires (LFs) on cardiorespiratory hospital admissions is limited.MethodsWe conducted a...

К стратегии управления экологической безопасностью РФ и её регионов в современных условиях

In connection with the upcoming review of the Strategy for Environmental Safety until 2025, it is foreseen that changes and additions to it will be necessary in new socio-economic and political conditions. At the global level: due to the unidentified causes (natural or anthropogenic) affecting global climate change, the RF should withdraw from the Paris Agreement on Climate due to fundamentally incorrect estimates of contribution of countriesCO2 issuers in relation to the area of their territories. Because the share of CO2 emissions per unit area in the Russian Federation is much lower than in other countries, with very low population density and dispersion over production and infrastructure. In the exchange processes on the territory of the Russian Federation, up to 46,5% covered by forests, vegetation is able not only to bind anthropogenic CO2, but also to produce significant amounts of oxygen in the Earth’s atmosphere compared to other countries. Therefore, when investing capital in the Russian economy, countries with a large contribution of anthropogenic CO2 per unit of area must pay an environmental rent. At the regional level, the new direction of the Strategy for ensuring environmental safety of regions should be gradually moved to the assessment of territories not by the level of anthropogenic loads on the environment, but by the amount of their assimilation potential, as an indicator of the ability of nature itself to restore the quality of the environment in natural and economic complexes; to an adaptive system of natural resources management, according to the need not to fight against emergencies, related to climate change (landscape fires, mudslides, floods and so on), and adapt to environmental changes through the systematic relocation of infrastructure and production to less affected areas.

Using computer vision to classify, locate and segment fire behavior in UAS-captured images

The widely adaptable capabilities of artificial intelligence, in particular deep learning and computer vision have led to significant research output regarding flame and smoke detection. The composition of flame and smoke, also described as fire behavior, can be considerably different depending on factors like weather, fuels, and the specific landscape fire is being observed on. The ability to detect definable classes of fire behavior using computer vision has not been explored and could be helpful given it often dictates how firefighters respond to fire situations. To test whether types of fire behavior could be reliably classified, we collected and labeled a unique unmanned aerial system (UAS) image dataset of fire behavior classifications to be trained and validated using You Only Look Once (YOLO) detection models. Our 960 labeled images were sourced from over 21 h of UAS video collected during prescribed fire operations covering a large region of Texas and Louisiana, United States. National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG) fire behavior observations and descriptions served as a reference for determining fire behavior classes during labeling. YOLOv8 models were trained on NWCG Rank 1–3 fire behavior descriptions in grassland, shrubland, forested, and combined fire regimes within our study area. Models were first trained and validated on classifying isolated image objects of fire behavior, and then separately trained to locate and segment fire behavior classifications in UAS images. Models trained to classify isolated image objects of fire behavior consistently performed at a mAP of 0.808 or higher, with combined fire regimes producing the best results (mAP = 0.897). Most segmentation models performed relatively poorly, except for the forest regime model at a box (locate) and mask (segment) mAP of 0.59 and 0.611, respectively. Our results indicate that classifying fire behavior with computer vision is possible in different fire regimes and fuel models, whereas locating and segmenting fire behavior types around background information is relatively difficult. However, it may be a manageable task with enough data, and when models are developed for a specific fire regime. With an increasing number of destructive wildfires and new challenges confronting fire managers, identifying how new technologies can quickly assess wildfire situations can assist wildfire responder awareness. Our conclusion is that levels of abstraction deeper than just detection of smoke or flame are possible using computer vision and could make even more detailed aerial fire monitoring possible using a UAS.

Protected areas, drought, and grazing regimes influence fire occurrence in a fire-prone Mediterranean region

BackgroundExtreme fire seasons in the Mediterranean basin have received international attention due to the damage caused to people, livelihoods, and vulnerable ecosystems. There is a body of literature linking increasingly intense, large fires to a build-up of fuel from rural land abandonment exacerbated by climate change. However, a better understanding of the complex factors driving fires in fire-prone landscapes is needed. We use a global database based on the MODIS Fire CCI51 product, and the Greater Côa Valley, a 340,000-ha area in Portugal, as a case study, to investigate the environmental drivers of fire and potential tools for managing fires in a landscape that has undergone changing agricultural and grazing management.ResultsBetween 2001 and 2020, fires burned 32% (1881.45 km2) of the study area. Scrublands proportionally burnt the most, but agricultural land and forests were also greatly impacted. The risk of large fires (> 1 km2) was highest in these land cover types under dry conditions in late summer. Areas with higher sheep densities were more likely to burn, while cattle density had no apparent relationship with fire occurrence. There was also a 15% lower probability of a fire occurring in protected areas.ConclusionFuture climatic changes that increase drought conditions will likely elevate the risk of large fires in the Mediterranean basin, and abandoned farmland undergoing natural succession towards scrubland will be at particularly high risk. Our results indicate that livestock grazing does not provide a simple solution to reducing fire risk, but that a more holistic management approach addressing social causes and nature-based solutions could be effective in reducing fire occurrence.

Fire history in northern Sierra Nevada mixed conifer forests across a distinct gradient in productivity

BackgroundUnderstanding the role of fire in forested landscapes is fundamental to fire reintroduction efforts, yet few studies have examined how fire dynamics vary in response to interactions between local conditions, such as soil productivity, and more broadscale changes in climate. In this study, we examined historical fire frequency, seasonality, and spatial patterning in mixed conifer forests across a distinct gradient of soil productivity in the northern Sierra Nevada. We cross-dated 46 different wood samples containing 377 fire scars from 6 paired sites, located on and off of ultramafic serpentine soils. Forests on serpentine-derived soils have slower growth rates, lower biomass accumulation, and patchier vegetation than adjacent, non-serpentine sites. Due to these differences, we hypothesized that historical fire frequency and spatial extent would be reduced in mixed conifer forests growing on serpentine soils.ResultsFire scars revealed a history of frequent fire at all of our sites (median composite interval: 6–22.5 years) despite clear differences in soil productivity. Fire frequency was slightly shorter in more productive non-serpentine sites, but this difference was not consistently significant within our sample pairs. While fires were frequent, both on and off of serpentine, they were also highly asynchronous, and this was largely driven by differing climate–fire relationships. Fires in more productive sites were strongly associated with drought conditions in the year of the fire, while fires in less productive serpentine sites appeared to be more dependent on a cycle of wet and dry conditions in the years preceding the fire. Widespread fires that crossed the boundary between serpentine and non-serpentine were associated with drier than normal years.ConclusionsIn our study, fine-scale variation in historical fire regime attributes was linked to both bottom-up and top-down controls. Understanding how these factors interact to create variation in fire frequency, timing, and spatial extent can help managers more effectively define desired conditions, develop management objectives, and identify management strategies for fire reintroduction and forest restoration projects.

A picit jeu: Agent-based modelling with serious gaming for a fire-resilient landscape

Wildfire governance requires addressing driving physical, biological and socio-economic processes, by promoting the development of fire-resistant and resilient landscapes. These landscapes can best be achieved by strategies that integrate fuel management for direct prevention with allied socio-economic activities, through the collaboration of stakeholders with different and sometimes conflicting interests. This work aims to address the need for new approaches supporting the participatory process of collective decision-making, helping stakeholders explore land management strategies for landscape fire resilience. We present and discuss a methodology combining agent-based modelling with a role-playing game. It was tested in a valley of the Italian Alps, involving 23 local stakeholders in forest and pasture management in three game sessions. Evaluation was based on observation of game sessions, collection of feedback via immediate post-session debriefing and questionnaires, and long-term (multi-year) assessment carried out through semi-structured interviews. We found the methodology valuable for facilitating discussion among different stakeholders, who were able to identify context-related challenges (land fragmentation and land abandonment, stakeholders' limited collaboration, controversial drives of European funding) and possible strategies for producing a fire-resilient landscape (community management forms of pastoralists activities for maintaining land cover diversity). The approach also triggered a positive process for longer-term change. By analysing the outcomes, we are able to identify four key recommendations for future work using serious gaming for sustainable landscapes: 1) aim for an even composition of session groups, 2) consider the multiple levels of organisation in the area, 3) use the allocation of game roles to disrupt power dynamics, and 4) seek to involve the broadest stakeholder spectrum in developing the game itself.

Landscape Fire Air Pollution as a Mediator in Drought and Childhood Stunting Pathway in Low- and Middle-Income Countries.

Drought induces dry hazards, including wildfire, and increased air pollution from wildfire may be a mechanism by which drought increases health risks. We examined whether the drought-wildfire pathway increases the risk of childhood stunting. We analyzed all geocoded children under five across 44 low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). We first conducted mixed-effect regressions to examine the three pairwise associations between standardized precipitation evapotranspiration index (SPEI), fire-sourced PM2.5, and childhood stunting. We then employed a causal mediation analysis to determine whether compounding drought-wildfire (cascading or co-occurring) events significantly impact the drought-stunting pathway. We found that each 1-unit decrease in SPEI exposure was associated with a 2.16% [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.79, 3.49%] increase in stunting risk and 0.57 (95% CI 0.55, 0.59%) μg/m3 increase in fire-sourced PM2.5. Additionally, each 1 μg/m3 increase in 24 month average fire-sourced PM2.5 was associated with an increased risk of 2.46% (95% CI: 2.16, 2.76%) in stunting. Drought-mediated fires accounted for 26.7% (95% CI: 14.5, 36.6%) of the linkage between SPEI and stunting. Our study revealed fire-sourced PM2.5 is a mediator in the drought-stunting pathway in LMICs. To protect child health under increasing drought conditions, personal interventions against wildfire should be considered to enhance climate resilience.

Fire effects on plant communities in Ozark woodlands and glades

BackgroundDecades of fire suppression caused drastic changes to community structure and composition across ecosystems, including in Ozark woodlands in Missouri, USA. Reintroducing fire can restore ground flora by reducing midstory tree density, increasing ground layer light, and reducing leaf litter accumulation, but we lack a clear understanding of how these effects vary across time and space. We investigated the effects of repeated prescribed fire on ground flora species richness, floristic quality, abundance, community composition, and stand structure over 20 years in a landscape matrix of dry-mesic woodlands, dry woodlands, and glades using data collected from the Ozark National Scenic Riverways Fire Effects Monitoring program in the Current River Watershed in the Missouri Ozarks.ResultsWe found that fire plays a key role in driving community structure and dynamics across community types, although with varying levels of intensity. Herbaceous species richness, abundance, and floristic quality index increased across all community types, while mean coefficient of conservatism decreased. Abundance and floristic quality effects were stronger in drier sites. Community composition changed with successive burns, resulting in several indicator species for post burn treatments. The density of midstory trees declined across community types with repeated fire. The number of burns significantly affected overstory tree density overall, but overstory tree density only declined in dry woodlands and glades and not in dry-mesic woodlands.ConclusionsOur results suggest that landscape fire shapes plant community structure and dynamics. Specifically, these findings show that fire effects vary among community types and suggest that land managers should consider landscape heterogeneity in fire application for restoration. Separate community types imbedded in the same landscape may respond to fire differently. Understanding repeated fire effects over several decades across multiple community types is critical to informing fire-driven woodland restoration across landscape scales.

Применение методов пространственного анализа при оценке степени горимости лесов Хабаровского края

Forest fires are the dominant factor in the transformation of natural landscapes in the boreal zone. The area of the Khabarovsk Territory, 93.6 % of which belongs to the forest fund lands, currently has a forest cover of only 66.5 %, which is largely due to forest fires. This makes urgent the problem of reducing the forest fire frequency in the region, including in terms of assessing the actual fire frequency for predicting the risks of landscape fires. The article shows the possibilities of using spatial analysis methods of the Spatial Analyst module of the ArcGIS 10.8 software package to assess the degree of actual forest fire frequency based on calculating the number of fires per 1 million and 250 thousand ha and the area of fires per 1000 ha for a sliding window of a given size. Based on the data from the Remote Monitoring Information System of the Federal Forestry Agency for 2000–2020 and the data on the number of fires from the Fire Information for Resource Management System website for 2000–2021, an assessment of the actual fire frequency for the Khabarovsk Territory has been carried out. The analysis of the results reflects the high spatial and seasonal heterogeneity of the spread of landscape fires in the territory and their proximity to transport and residential structures. Areas with high fire frequency often do not coincide with the boundaries of forestry enterprises, and the maximum indicators are typical for non-forest areas that are not covered by forestry statistics. For different seasons of the year, along with quantitative differences, spatial shifts of firing points and areas with their high density are also observed. Most of the lands in the region (88.3 %) in terms of fire danger belong to the “low” and “below medium” fire frequency categories, which is primarily due to the low degree of development of these areas. The assessment of the degree of fire frequency in the territory on the basis of annual and seasonal maps of the density of firing points, calculated using the sliding window method, makes it possible to fairly objectively and in detail reflect the average long-term risk of fire occurence outside of reference to forestry boundaries. In combination with a map of the distribution of forests by natural fire hazard classes based on pyrological characteristics, the results of the reseаrch can become the basis for calculating the background fire risk, reflecting the risk of fire occurrence and development.

Dynamic shifts of functional diversity through climate-resilient strategies and farmland restoration in a mountain protected area

Land-use land-cover (LULC) change contributes to major ecological impacts, particularly in areas undergoing land abandonment, inducing modifications on habitat structure and species distributions. Alternative land-use policies are potential solutions to alleviate the negative impacts of contemporary tendencies of LULC change on biodiversity.This work analyzes these tendencies in the Montesinho Natural Park (Portugal), an area representative of European abandoned mountain rural areas. We built ecological niche models for 226 species of vertebrates (amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals) and vascular plants, using a consensus modelling approach available in the R package ‘biomod2’. We projected the models to contemporary (2018) and future (2050) LULC scenarios, under four scenarios aiming to secure relevant ecosystem services and biodiversity conservation for 2050: an afforestation and a rewilding scenario, focused on climate-smart management strategies, and a farmland and an agroforestry recovery scenario, based on re-establishing human traditional activities. We quantified the influences of these scenarios on biodiversity through species habitat suitability changes for 2018–2050. We analyzed how these management strategies could influence indices of functional diversity (functional richness, functional evenness and functional dispersion) within the park.Habitat suitability changes revealed complementary patterns among scenarios. Afforestation and rewilding scenarios benefited more species adapted to habitats with low human influence, such as forests and open woodlands. The highest functional richness and dispersion was predicted for rewilding scenarios, which could improve landscape restoration and provide opportunities for the expansion and recolonization of forest areas by native species. The recovery of traditional farming and agroforestry activities results in the lowest values of functional richness, but these strategies contribute to complex landscape matrices with diversified habitats and resources. Moreover, this strategy could offer opportunities for fire suppression and increase landscape fire resistance. An integrative approach reconciling rewilding initiatives with the recovery of extensive agricultural and agroforestry activities is potentially an harmonious strategy for supporting the provision of ecosystem services while securing biodiversity conservation and functional diversity within the natural park.

Deforestation drivers in northern Morocco: an exploratory spatial data analysis

Formulating effective policies to address or mitigate deforestation requires a comprehensive understanding of the contributing factors. This study examines the drivers of deforestation from 2001 to 2020 in the Tangier-Tetouan-Al Hoceima (TTA) region, a northern Moroccan area distinguished by the country’s highest deforestation rate. Through an extensive review of existing literature and employing Geist and Lambin’s deforestation framework, we identified five key causes: infrastructure extension, agricultural expansion, logging, wildfires as direct causes, and demographic factors as an indirect cause. Data on deforestation and its contributing factors were sourced from diverse databases, including Global Forest Change (GFC), Global Land Analysis and Discovery (GLAD), Burned Area Product (MODIS Fire_CCI51), World Population, Forest Proximate People (FPP), and National Forest Inventory (NFI) datasets. Pixel-level analysis of GFC data indicated that wildfires are the primary driver of deforestation in the region, accounting for 35.2%, followed by agricultural expansion (30.6%), logging (13.2%), and infrastructure extension (10.1%). The remaining 10.9% of losses were attributed to other disturbances, such as illegal extraction, pests, and dieback. Spatial patterns were further analyzed through Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis (ESDA) methods at a 1 km2 gridded scale, revealing strong clustering for all studied factors. Spatial relationships were explored using the bivariate local Moran’s index, which highlighted the highest spatial dependence between deforestation and fires (I = 0.21). Correlations between deforestation and other factors, including agricultural expansion, logging, infrastructure extension, and demographic pressure, were assessed at 0.18, 0.17, 0.08, and 0.05, respectively. Landscape pressures (LSP), encompassing deforestation, agricultural expansion, fires, infrastructure extension, and demographic pressure, were analyzed using the local Geary index, revealing a positive correlation in approximately 59% of spatial units. Last, a composite map of LSP clusters and an explanatory diagram illustrating dominant patterns in the TTA region were generated based on the results from local Geary’s multivariate and local Moran’s univariate tests.

Association between PM2.5 from a coal mine fire and FeNO concentration 7.5 years later

Background and aimThere are few long-term studies of respiratory health effects of landscape fires, despite increasing frequency and intensity due to climate change. We investigated the association between exposure to coal mine fire PM2.5 and fractional exhaled nitric oxide (FeNO) concentration 7.5 years later.MethodsAdult residents of Morwell, who were exposed to the 2014 Hazelwood mine fire over 6 weeks, and unexposed residents of Sale, participated in the Hazelwood Health Study Respiratory Stream in 2021, including measurements of FeNO concentration, a marker of eosinophilic airway inflammation. Individual exposure to coal mine fire PM2.5 was modelled and mapped to time-location diaries. The effect of exposure to PM2.5 on log-transformed FeNO in exhaled breath was investigated using multivariate linear regression models in the entire sample and stratified by potentially vulnerable subgroups.ResultsA total of 326 adults (mean age: 57 years) had FeNO measured. The median FeNO level (interquartile range [IQR]) was 17.5 [15.0] ppb, and individual daily exposure to coal mine fire PM2.5 was 7.2 [13.8] µg/m3. We did not identify evidence of association between coal mine fire PM2.5 exposure and FeNO in the general adult sample, nor in various potentially vulnerable subgroups. The point estimates were consistently close to zero in the total sample and subgroups.ConclusionDespite previous short-term impacts on FeNO and respiratory health outcomes in the medium term, we found no evidence that PM2.5 from the Hazelwood coal mine fire was associated with any long-term impact on eosinophilic airway inflammation measured by FeNO levels.

Impacts of Forest Fires on Landscape Patches

The interrelationships between landscape and forest fires are synthesized by going through relevant books and reviewing related literature. Various effects of forest fires on landscape patches are described, while the interference of landscape on forest fires is illustrated, and some applications of forest fires in landscape ecology, such as firebreaks, are enumerated to provide scientific and reasonable bases for the prevention and control of forest fires.

The FIRE-IN project: Tsunami-risk related practitioner challenges and 3rd cycle overall results

This article summarizes the methodology for the identification of practitioners’ challenges, in the context of the H2020 funded project FIRE-IN (Fire and Rescue Innovation Network) activities. The project consisted of five thematic areas or “Thematic Working Groups”, as they are called, i.e., Search and Rescue Emergency Response, Structure Fires, Landscape Fires Crisis Mitigation, Natural Hazard Mitigation and Chemical Biological Radiological Nuclear and Explosives, and three iterations, each one including the identification of capability challenges, the screening for solutions, that can potentially address these challenges, and the request for ideas regarding future innovations that will complement already existing ones and will assist in covering capability gaps. This article focuses on the natural hazard mitigation working group and tsunamis in the Mediterranean region as a case study for the 3rd and last iteration of the project. The scenario of a tsunami occurrence in the Mediterranean is the basis for the FIRE-IN 3rd cycle workshop, as an indicative example of a high impact – low probability event, which aims to identify practitioners’ Future Common Capability Challenges in Europe. The current status of the tsunami hazard in Europe, national and international tsunami risk mitigation measures and procedures and operational experience from recent events are also discussed. Focus is provided on the natural hazard mitigation and tsunami related practitioners’ challenges, while results from the FIRE-IN request for ideas process and the interaction between practitioners, researchers and industry are also discussed. The aim is to present practitioners’ current and future capability challenges , one of the main outcomes of the FIRE-IN project, and to provide further guidelines to stakeholders of disaster management towards a safer Europe, mainly, through preparedness and adaptation for stronger and resilient societies.

An efficient, multi-scale neighbourhood index to quantify wildfire likelihood

Background To effectively reduce future wildfire risk, several management strategies must be evaluated under plausible future scenarios, requiring models that provide estimates of how likely wildfires are to spread to community assets (wildfire likelihood) in a computationally efficient manner. Approaches to quantifying wildfire likelihood using fire simulation models cannot practically achieve this because they are too computationally expensive. Aim This study aimed to develop an approach for quantifying wildfire likelihood that is both computationally efficient and able to consider contagious and directionally specific fire behaviour properties across multiple spatial ‘neighbourhood’ scales. Methods A novel, computationally efficient index for quantifying wildfire likelihood is proposed. This index is evaluated against historical and simulated data on a case study in South Australia. Key results The neighbourhood index explains historical burnt areas and closely replicates patterns in burn probability calculated using landscape fire simulation (ρ = 0.83), while requiring 99.7% less computational time than the simulation-based model. Conclusions The neighbourhood index represents patterns in wildfire likelihood similar to those represented in burn probability, with a much-reduced computational time. Implications By using the index alongside existing approaches, managers can better explore problems involving many evaluations of wildfire likelihood, thereby improving planning processes and reducing future wildfire risks.

Scaling Landscape Fire History: Wildfires Not Historically Frequent in the Main Population of Threatened Gunnison Sage-Grouse

The main population of ~5000 threatened Gunnison sage-grouse (GUSG; Centrocercus minimus) in Colorado depends on sagebrush plants that are killed by wildfires, with recovery taking decades, so frequent fire is a threat, but did it occur historically? Early land surveys showed that the historical (preindustrial) fire rotation (FR), the expected period to burn area equal to a focal land area, was 90–143 years in GUSG ranges, which is not classed as frequent fire (≤25 years). However, recent research, based on fire scars on trees at ten sites near sagebrush, suggested some frequent fire historically in the main population. That study was not spatial, essential to estimate FR, so spatial data were created in GIS with land-survey reconstructions, survey dates, fire-scar sites, mapped sagebrush, and Thiessen polygons around sites. The previous study assumed fires that burned 2+ sites likely burned across sagebrush. Historical FRs were calculated several ways over a common period. A recovery estimate of FR was 90–135 years, a land-survey estimate was 82–131 years, and three spatial scar-based estimates were 93–107 years, showing agreement. However, the comparison found that only 8.8% of the land-survey fire area was detected at fire-scar sites. Detailed analysis showed that 10 fire-scar sites were insufficient to detect historical fire sizes and distributions across the large 168,753 ha sagebrush area. Adequate fire reconstruction could require ~45–60 fire-scar sites, making it feasible to study only ~30,000 ha of sagebrush. Using the two remaining methods, which cross-validate, showed frequent fire did not occur historically in the study area, as historical FRs were 82–135 years.

Respiratory Diseases Associated With Wildfire Exposure in Outdoor Workers

Wildfires, including forest fires, bushfires, and landscape fires, have become increasingly prevalent, fueled by climate change and environmental factors, posing significant challenges to both ecosystems and public health. This review article examines the relationship between wildfires and respiratory diseases in outdoor workers, with a main focus on airway disease. In addition to the expected effects of direct thermal respiratory injuries, and possible carbon monoxide poisoning, there are associations between wildfires and upper and lower respiratory effects including infections, as well as exacerbations of asthma and COPD. A few studies have also shown an increased risk of new onset asthma among wildfire firefighters. Outdoor workers are likely to have greater exposure to wildfire smoke with associated increased risks of adverse effects. As wildfires become increasingly prevalent globally, it is crucial to understand the various dimensions of this association. Furthermore, this review addresses preventive measures and potential interventions to alleviate the airway burden on individuals during and after work with wildfires events.

Landscape fire smoke airway exposure impairs respiratory and cardiac function and worsens experimental asthma

Millions of people are exposed to landscape fire smoke (LFS) globally, and inhalation of LFS particulate matter (PM) is associated with poor respiratory and cardiovascular outcomes. However, how LFS affects respiratory and cardiovascular function is less well understood. We aimed to characterize the pathophysiologic effects of representative LFS airway exposure on respiratory and cardiac function and on asthma outcomes. LFS was generated using a customized combustion chamber. In 8-week-old female BALB/c mice, low (25 μg/m3, 24-hour equivalent) or moderate (100 μg/m3, 24-hour equivalent) concentrations of LFS PM (10 μm and below [PM10]) were administered daily for 3 (short-term) and 14 (long-term) days in the presence and absence of experimental asthma. Lung inflammation, gene expression, structural changes, and lung function were assessed. In 8-week-old male C57BL/6 mice, low concentrations of LFS PM10 were administered for 3 days. Cardiac function and gene expression were assessed. Short- and long-term LFS PM10 airway exposure increased airway hyperresponsiveness and induced steroid insensitivity in experimental asthma, independent of significant changes in airway inflammation. Long-term LFS PM10 airway exposure also decreased gas diffusion. Short-term LFS PM10 airway exposure decreased cardiac function and expression of gene changes relating to oxidative stress and cardiovascular pathologies. We characterized significant detrimental effects of physiologically relevant concentrations and durations of LFS PM10 airway exposure on lung and heart function. Our study provides a platform for assessment of mechanisms that underpin LFS PM10 airway exposure on respiratory and cardiovascular disease outcomes.

Single-Temporal Sentinel-2 for Analyzing Burned Area Detection Methods: A Study of 14 Cases in Republic of Korea Considering Land Cover

Forest fires are caused by various climatic and anthropogenic factors. In Republic of Korea, forest fires occur frequently during spring when the humidity is low. During the past decade, the number of forest fire incidents and the extent of the damaged area have increased. Satellite imagery can be applied to assess damage from these unpredictable forest fires. Despite the increasing threat, there is a lack of comprehensive analysis and effective strategies for addressing these forest fires, particularly considering the diverse topography of Republic of Korea. Herein, we present an approach for the automated detection of forest fire damage using Sentinel-2 images of 14 areas affected by forest fires in Republic of Korea during 2019–2023. The detection performance of deep learning (DL), machine learning, and spectral index methods was analyzed, and the optimal model for detecting forest fire damage was derived. To evaluate the independent performance of the models, two different burned areas exhibiting distinct characteristics were selected as test subjects. To increase the classification accuracy, tests were conducted on various combinations of input channels in DL. The combination of false-color RNG (B4, B8, and B3) images was optimal for detecting forest fire damage. Consequently, among the DL models, the HRNet model achieved excellent results for both test regions with intersection over union scores of 89.40 and 82.49, confirming that the proposed method is applicable for detecting forest fires in diverse Korean landscapes. Thus, suitable mitigation measures can be promptly designed based on the rapid analysis of damaged areas.