In recent years, smoke from wildland fires has affected populations both near and far from the fire locations. A public health response to smoke intrusion presents a complex challenge, and many communities are aiming to develop effective smoke preparedness and response plans. In response, EPA’s Office of Research and Development (ORD) developed the Wildland Fire Research Framework 2019-2022 which supports a breadth of research and outreach designed to help federal, state, local and tribal organizations prepare and respond to public health impacts from wildland fires.

This presentation will highlight two wildland fire smoke and health projects. Smoke Sense is a crowdsourcing, citizen science app which engages the public to broaden awareness of wildland fire smoke locally as well as health protective measures and behaviors. This presentation will share findings from the past two wildfire seasons including community engagement and data visualization tools. The Smoke Ready Communities project offers a model and framework to help communities improve their response. It supports collaboration and capacity building and also fosters preparedness and response to wildfire smoke episodes. This presentation will share a solutions-driven approach for helping reduce the public health burden of smoke intrusion at the community level. Participants will learn about how these projects can integrate a community capacity lens with resources specifically related to wildland fire smoke, air quality and health.