Smoke from Prescribed Fires

Acreage treated by prescribed burning on Federal lands increased from 918,300 acres in 1995 to 2,240,105 acres in 1999, demonstrating renewed interest in the use of fire as an important tool in the management of wildlands (NIFC 2001b). On a national annual basis, PM10 emissions from prescribed burns in 1989 were estimated to be over 600,000 tons, half of which (380,000 tons) occurred in the Southeastern States. Of the remaining 42 States, seven (Arizona, California, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Texas, and Washington) were estimated to have annual emissions over 10,000 tons of PM10 from prescribed forest and rangeland burning (EPA 1992a; Peterson and Ward 1990). More recent estimates of prescribed fire PM2.5 emissions in the West (EPA regions 8, 9 and 10) totaled 193,293 tons (Dickson and others 1994). These national, annual estimates are less significant in terms of air quality impact than those prepared at the State level. For example, the 211,000 tons of prescribed fire PM10 emissions in Georgia in 1989 is about 30 percent of the total estimated particulate inventory for all sources (EPA 1992a). On a seasonal basis, emissions from prescribed burning are likely to be an even more significant percentage of total emissions in some States.