Sarah Henderson

Ambient particulate matter, landscape fire smoke, and emergency ambulance dispatches in Sydney, Australia

Publisher: Elsevier BV

Date: 02-2017

DOI: 10.1016/J.ENVINT.2016.11.018

Abstract: Emergency ambulance dispatches (EAD) are a novel outcome for evaluating the public health impacts of air pollution. We assessed the relationships between ambient particulate matter (PM) from all sources, PM from landscape fire smoke (LFS), and EADs likely to be associated with cardiorespiratory problems in the Sydney greater metropolitan region for an 11-year period from 2004 to 2015. EAD codes are assigned at the time of the call to emergency services using standard computer assisted algorithms. We assessed EADs coded as: breathing problems, chest pain, stroke or cerebrovascular accident (stroke), cardiac or respiratory arrest and death (arrest), and heart or defibrillator problems (other heart problems). Using a daily times series study design with a generalized linear Poisson regression model we quantified the association between EAD and daily PM Increases of 10μg·m Emergency dispatches for breathing problems are associated with PM

Can Air Quality Management Drive Sustainable Fuels Management at the Temperate Wildland–Urban Interface?

Publisher: MDPI AG

Date: 09-08-2018

DOI: 10.3390/FIRE1020027

Abstract: Sustainable fire management has eluded all industrial societies. Given the growing number and magnitude of wildfire events, prescribed fire is being increasingly promoted as the key to reducing wildfire risk. However, smoke from prescribed fires can adversely affect public health. We propose that the application of air quality standards can lead to the development and adoption of sustainable fire management approaches that lower the risk of economically and ecologically damaging wildfires while improving air quality and reducing climate-forcing emissions. For ex le, green fire breaks at the wildland–urban interface (WUI) can resist the spread of wildfires into urban areas. These could be created through mechanical thinning of trees, and then maintained by targeted prescribed fire to create bio erse and aesthetically pleasing landscapes. The harvested woody debris could be used for pellets and other forms of bioenergy in residential space heating and electricity generation. Collectively, such an approach would reduce the negative health impacts of smoke pollution from wildfires, prescribed fires, and combustion of wood for domestic heating. We illustrate such possibilities by comparing current and potential fire management approaches in the temperate and environmentally similar landscapes of Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada and the island state of Tasmania in Australia.

Evaluation of interventions to reduce air pollution from biomass smoke on mortality in Launceston, Australia: retrospective analysis of daily mortality, 1994-2007

Publisher: BMJ

Date: 08-01-2013

DOI: 10.1136/BMJ.E8446

Extensible Database of Validated Biomass Smoke Events for Health Research

Publisher: MDPI AG

Date: 06-12-2018

DOI: 10.3390/FIRE1030050

Abstract: The extensible Biomass Smoke Validated Events Database is an ongoing, community driven, collection of air pollution events which are known to be caused by vegetation fires such as bushfires (also known as wildfire and wildland fires), or prescribed fuel reduction burns, and wood heaters. This is useful for researchers of health impacts who need to distinguish smoke from vegetation versus other sources. The overarching aim is to study statistical associations between biomass smoke pollution and health. Extreme pollution events may also be caused by dust storms or fossil fuel smog events and so validation is necessary to ensure the events being studied are from biomass. This database can be extended by contribution from other researchers outside the original team. There are several available protocols for adding validated smoke events to the database, to ensure standardization across datasets. Air pollution data can be included, and free software was created for identification of extreme values. Protocols are described for reference material needed as supporting evidence for event days. The utility of this database has previously been demonstrated in analyses of hospitalization and mortality. The database was created using open source software that works across operating systems. The prospect for future extensions to the database is enhanced by the description in this paper, and the availability of these data on the open access Github repository enables easy addition to the database with new data by the research community.

BC Centre For Disease Control

Location: Canada

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University Of British Columbia

Location: Canada

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Discovery Projects - Grant ID: DP210102076

Start Date: 04-2022

End Date: 03-2025

Amount: $466,964.00

Funder: Australian Research Council

Linkage Projects - Grant ID: LP130100146

Start Date: 04-2014

End Date: 12-2018

Amount: $559,330.00

Funder: Australian Research Council