Many agricultural fields are burned in the Willamette Valley of Oregon during the summer for economic reasons. A major air pollution problem results from these burnings. The purpose of this study was to develop relations between the maximum plume height and some of the independent variables affecting this plume height, such as, burn rate, wind velocity and atmospheric stability. By applying the proper relations found in this study, one could predict the maximum height a field burning plume would reach. The higher the plume rise, the lower the concentration of the plume effluents at ground level. If a relationship between the maximum plume height and the ground level concentration is known, for an accepted limit of ground concentration, the issuance of permission for the burning of a certain field could be given knowing the environmental variables. Three equations for different environmental conditions were developed through dimensional analysis. Their constants of proportionalities were obtained experimentally.

Wildland fires are one of the most devastating and terrifying forces of nature. While their effects are mostly destructive they also help with regeneration of forests and other ecosystems. Low-intensity fires clear accumulating biomass reducing risk of catastrophic crown fires and can be used as an effective management tool. This book presents current understanding of wildland fires and air quality as well as their effects on human health, forests and other ecosystems. in the first section of the book the basics of wildland fires and resulting emissions are presented from the perspective of changing global climate, air quality impairment and effects on environmental and human health and security. in the second section, effects of wildland fires on air quality, visibility and human health in various regions of the Earth are discussed. The third section of the book deals with complex issues of the ecological impacts of fires and air pollution in forests and chaparral in North America. The fourth section discusses various management issues facing land and fire managers which are related to wildfires, use of prescribed fires, and air quality. This section also presents various modeling systems used for describing fire dangers and behavior as well as smoke and air pollution predictions applied in the risk assessment analysis. The book concludes with a series of expert recommendations for wildland fire and atmospheric research.

This state-of-knowledge review about the effects of fire on air quality can assist land, fire, and air resource managers with fire and smoke planning, and their efforts to explain to others the science behind fire-related program policies and practices to improve air quality. Chapter topics include air quality regulations and fire; characterization of emissions from fire; the transport, dispersion, and modeling of fire emissions; atmospheric and plume chemistry; air quality impacts of fire; social consequences of air quality impacts; and recommendations for future research.