Structural Fires at the Wildland Urban Interface: Emission Factors, Inventories, and Implications

The wildland urban interface (WUI) is growing rapidly in most parts of the United States. With 45 million houses in the U.S. located in WUI regions and wildfire frequency and activity on the rise, there is a growing concern that wildfire-related structural fires might be an important source of air pollutants to the atmosphere. However, emissions from structural fires are very poorly understood and what we do understand remains fragmented and incomplete. The goals of this research are to study the detailed gas- and particle- phase emissions from the combustion of common structural materials and their fuel complexes at different scales and develop an emission factor dataset and emissions inventory for structural fires specific to the wildland urban interface. The following objectives will be addressed in the proposed work: (1) Characterize gas and particle emissions from small-scale fires of structural materials and their complexes; (2) Study emissions from large-scale fires of realistic fuel complexes and structures (to be carried out at the National Fire Research Laboratory at NIST); (3) Develop an emission factor dataset and emissions inventory for structural fires specific to the wildland urban interface