An Assessment of Air Quality Impacts of Fires Associated with Fire Fighting Operations

Abstract

Fire fighters in Canada’s navy must undergo regular training with fires from simulated helicopter crashes. Visible emissions from these fires often create health concerns in surrounding communities. This paper presents air quality implications of plume dispersion associated with “helicopter fires.” Evaluations involved measuring plume rise, estimating emissions, dispersion modeling and ambient monitoring. Results of the evaluation provided ground-level concentration estimates of plume particulate matter, oxides of nitrogen, hydrogen fluoride, carbon monoxide, 22 metals, 15 PAH and 13 OC. The study showed that the air quality impact of the fire fighting training is much lower than the relevant time-weighted averages established to protect workers’ health. This paper will be of interest to people in environmental protection agencies because it demonstrates the effects of fire fighting operations that must frequently occur as part of training exercises.