US EPA Research Approaches to Better Understand Human Health Impacts from Wildfire Smoke Exposure
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In recent years, wildland fire and the smoke from these fires has affected populations both near and far from the fire locations. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of Research and Development (ORD) developed a Wildland Fire Research Framework 2019-2022 to outline a research agenda related to the public health impacts of wildland fire, in support of the Agency’s mission to protect public health and the environment. The framework supports a breadth of research and outreach designed to help federal, state, local, and tribal organizations prepare and respond to impacts from wildland fire. This work is designed to fill gaps in scientific information related to air quality, water quantity and quality, public health, toxicology, emissions measurement and modeling, and social science. Further, this information is used to prevent and reduce the impact of wildland fire and smoke, and support translation of research and tools into action that reduces the public health burden of these events. This presentation highlights the following projects designed around wildland fire smoke and health: 1) clinical and epidemiological studies aimed to increase the understanding of the magnitude of risk, identify susceptible populations, and reduce health impacts during smoke episodes; 2) Smoke Sense: A crowdsourcing, citizen science research project with an objective to increase issue awareness and engagement in health protective behaviors related to smoke; and, 3) Smoke Ready Communities, a community capacity framework that fosters preparedness and response to wildfire smoke episodes and addresses the need for a model to help communities improve their response. The purpose of this presentation is to provide an overview of EPA’s current public health related research efforts aligned to meet objectives of the framework.