Limited availability of health risk communication related to community smoke exposure from prescribed burns in the United States: a review

Abstract

Prescribed burns are used to maintain wildland ecosystems and decrease fuel loads and associated wildfire hazard. Prescribed burns may produce enough smoke to cause adverse health outcomes. The aim of this review is to understand what communication materials exist for disseminating health risk information related to prescribed burn smoke and challenges to developing such communication. We examined United States peer-reviewed literature from PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science databases and conducted an environmental scan of grey literature including materials from federal, and several US state and local governments, organisations, and newspapers. While 63% of the included peer-reviewed literature focuses on wildfire health risk communication, the review suggests similar methods and messages can be adapted for prescribed burns. The environmental scan review indicates effective strategies use several communication modes, and reliable and timely messaging. There are state regulations for prescribed burn notification, but these do not require communication or education of health risks associated with smoke exposure. Smoke management guidelines often contain information about prescribed burn health risks, but these do not discuss health risk education. Opportunities to expand effective health risk communication include improving inconsistent messaging and inter-agency collaborations, and increasing public interactions, especially with vulnerable populations.