Smoke Management

Smoke over Yosemite National Park

NPS

Protecting Health and the Environment

National Park Service units must comply with regulations and standards set by local, state, and national agencies in order to minimize effects of smoke on air resources, the public, and park employees. The success of fire management programs for both wildfires and prescribed fires depends on a solid foundation of clear communication and planning. This promotes understanding of the complexity of wildland fire, shares information, promotes actions to minimize smoke effects to public health and welfare, and allows wildland fires natural role in the ecological process.

The first guiding principle for fire managers is always the safety of firefighters and the public, followed by the role of wildland fire as an essential ecological process. Fire managers also understand that smoke is a concern when conducting prescribed fires, as well as responding to wildfires, due to public health and safety. During the planning and implementation of a prescribed fire, actions to minimize and mitigate public health and safety impacts are incorporated in the prescribed fire plans, and take into account the following six basic smoke management practices:

• Communicate with and notify the public
• Evaluate smoke dispersion conditions
• Monitor effects of air quality
• Keep records including keeping and maintaining a smoke journal
• Consider emission reduction techniques
• Share the airshed or coordination with other burners in the area

Smoke's Impacts on Viewsheds

Left image
The Longmire meadow along the Trail of the Shadows on July 13, 2018.
Credit: NPS

Right image
The Longmire meadow obscured by haze on August 14, 2018.
Credit: NPS

Wildfire smoke has potential to impact your national park experience. This comparison image from Mount Rainier in July and August 2018 demonstrate how even smoke coming from a distance, in this case from Canada and California, can obscure the view. Thank you to Mount Rainier National Park for sharing these images.

Learn more about wildland fire research to protect health and the environment.