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Wildland Fire Smoke and Roadway Visibility: Predict, Prepare and Avert Accidents

Unfortunately, reduced visibility from wildland fire smoke has contributed to fatal incidents or accidents with serious bodily injury in several areas across the country.

 

A 3-part webinar series will be held in June 2017 to address this issue. The webinars will be approximately 2 hours each, and are hosted by the NWCG Smoke Committee, Southern Fire Exchange, The Nature Conservancy, and Montgomery Community College NC Prescribed Fire Training Center. Click Shere to download a printable flier, or visit this link for the full details.

What will you learn? These webinars review present and future efforts made by the US Forest Service and others to understand this important topic. The information and tools developed specifically to address wildland fire smoke, smoke transport and the likelihood of superfog formation are presented in three parts. The webinars are being provided as an effort to eliminate the risk through:

• Enhancing our knowledge base
• Informing wildland fire personnel on the tools available
• Assisting wildland fire personnel in their cognitive awareness of smoke’s risk
• Predictability of smoke events whereby timely actions can be taken before severely reduced visibility occurs

If roadways are not closed during wildland fire events, then the use of the information and tools presented in this webinar provides fire programs the ability to predict and avoid devastating events.

Who should join? Land managers and Owners, Prescribed Burners, Wildfire Suppression Personnel (Air Resource Advisor, Fire Behavior Analyst, Long Term Analyst, Incident Meteorologist, Safety Officer, and Liaison Officer), Air Quality Specialists and Managers, Smoke Modelers, Fire Weather Forecasters, Long-term Analysts, and State Burn Permit Agents, Highway Patrol, Emergency Management and Department of Transportation personnel.

Click here for more information about the series, and how to join each webinar.

June 15Part 1: Superfog
1:00 pm Eastern
Presented by: Gary Achtemeier, former Research Meteorologist USFS Southern Research Station – Retired
• What is Superfog and how it forms on your burn site
• How common is Superfog on burn sites
• Superfog weather: What conditions allow superfog to leave your burn site and how far will it go
• Superfog weather: Identifying conditions that turn a typical safe burn into a disaster
Click here the day of the webinar to join. 
June 22Part 2: Weather Information & Tools
1:00 pm Eastern
Presented by: Gary M. Curcio, former Fire Environment Branch Head NC Forest Service – Retired
• Obtaining and tracking key environmental variables
• Reviewing operationally developed indexes (Turner Stability Index (TS), Atmospheric Dispersion Index (ADI), Low Visibility Occurrence Risk Index (LVORI)
• Superfog Matrix Smart Tool for NWS Weather Forecasting Offices
Click here the day of the webinar to join. 
June 29Part 3: PB – Piedmont, Superfog Potential and Estimated Smoldering Potential
1:00 pm Eastern
Presented by: Matthew Fearon, research meteorologist –Dessert Research Institute
• PB-Piedmont Web, Super-Fog Potential, and Estimated Smoldering Potential – moving science to a usable tool.
Click here the day of the webinar to join.