Fort Bragg Forestry Branch, Directorate of Public Works, recently welcomed a collaborative team of researchers and fire professionals for a groundbreaking field campaign aimed at advancing smoke modeling technology. The event brought together the Eastern Innovation Landscape Network (EILN), The Ember Alliance (TEA), the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and atmospheric scientists from Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) to collect critical data on smoke impacts to ground-level visibility during four prescribed burns.
The EILN is a unique interagency initiative supported by the Department of Defense (DoD), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), and USFS among a host of other partners. Funded by DoD’s Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP) and the Environmental Security Technology Certification Program (ESTCP) programs and supported in-kind by USFS and USFWS, the EILN fosters collaboration between fire managers and researchers to test and evaluate next-generation wildland fire innovations.
Putting QUIC-SMOKE to the Test
The purpose of the Fort Bragg campaign was for LANL researchers to validate QUIC-SMOKE, a new physics-based smoke model designed to help fire managers better predict and manage smoke impacts from both wildfires and prescribed burns. Unlike traditional smoke dispersion models, QUIC-SMOKE is a coupled fire/atmosphere smoke model that can account for influences from terrain, fuel heterogeneity, variable winds, dynamic fire activity, and the interaction of complex ignitions typical of prescribed fires. This campaign was particularly focused on validating the QUIC-SMOKE model’s ability to predict the timing and severity of ground-level smoke impacts to visibility on roads.
“One of a burn boss’s primary duties is to assess and mitigate risk, and smoke modeling is a critical tool in that process. This smoke management task has become even more complex and important over the years due to the rising population surrounding the Fort Bragg installation,” said Gabe Pinkston, Fire Management Specialist at Fort Bragg Forestry Branch, Directorate of Public Works. “Accurate smoke forecasts are essential for making informed decisions that protect public health, safety, and the continuity of military operations, while achieving our land management objectives. Current smoke forecasting tools are valuable, but there’s room for improvement—especially in providing more localized, real-time data and better integration with weather, fuel, and fire conditions on the ground. These advancements will help Fort Bragg’s fire management program plan and execute prescribed burns more effectively.”
Fort Bragg’s 145,737-acre training and testing range with a tightly gridded firebreak and road system, as well as experienced fire personnel from their Forestry Branch, made it an ideal setting for this research. The installation’s prescribed fire scale and operational tempo provided a natural laboratory to gather high-quality, real-world data to refine the QUIC-SMOKE model. The Forestry Branch at Ft. Bragg prescribes burns an average of more than 50,000 acres per year and responds to more than 400 wildfires annually.
Bridging Science and Practice on the Fireline
This research campaign is a model for prescribed fire science coproduction. Fort Bragg Forestry Branch provided prescribed burn teams to plan and implement prescribed burns, which enabled the research group to seamlessly integrate through morning planning, briefings, and an Incident Command System. The EPA provided experimental sensors and air samplers, funded through a DoD SERDP & ESTCP grant, to assist in validating QUIC-SMOKE PM 2.5 and CO concentration predictions. USFS and The Ember Alliance personnel assisted LANL staff with instrument set-up and data collection and provided safe, research-focused planning, logistics, and operations functions. Having TEA and USFS staff act as group leads for LANL researchers allowed for safe movement around the prescribed burn, as well as providing subject matter expertise on prescribed fire operations, that enhanced the research effort. TEA and USFS staff provided recommendations for sampling design and instrument location to maximize smoke data collection given prescribed fire operations and existing weather conditions.
According to Dan Gualtieri, Wildland Fire Science Coordinator at The Ember Alliance and EILN Working Group Member, “Burn bosses take significant risks to manage smoke from prescribed fires and minimize impacts on roads, communities, and in the case of the DoD, military missions. To support sound decision-making, fire planners need access to accurate and reliable, science-based smoke models. While current models are improving, they still lack the ability to account for ignition patterns, timing, and fire-atmosphere interactions. QUIC-SMOKE shows promise in addressing these gaps. However, to build trust in next-generation models like QUIC-SMOKE, real-world smoke data must be collected to validate and refine them. By developing these smoke models alongside fire program managers, the resulting tools will reflect operational reality and practical relevance.”
TEA also provided a 4-person prescribed burn team to supplement Fort Bragg forestry staff and to increase span of control during fire operations. By organizing and working closely with Fort Bragg fire personnel, the team supported an integrated system focused on maximizing personnel safety, research, collaboration, probability of success, and overall positive impact on the host unit.
As prescribed fire continues to play a vital role in ecosystem management and wildfire risk reduction, innovations like those tested at Fort Bragg are helping to ensure these practices remain safe, effective, and sustainable based on the best available science.
