Fire & Smoke Science Team

The Fire & Smoke Science (FSS) team is working to transform how we understand and manage wildland and prescribed fires. Our research focuses on the chemistry of smoke, fire behavior, and air quality impacts—especially in the rural and mountainous regions of Montana and the Mountain West.
As part of the SMART FIRES initiative, we combine field experiments, mobile labs, and advanced sensing technologies to answer critical questions about how fires burn, what they emit, and how those emissions affect people and the environment.

What does the Smoke & Fire Science team do?

Our team is developing new methods to measure and model smoke emissions from prescribed fires, which are increasingly used to reduce wildfire risk. We aim to:

• Quantify emissions factors (EFs) and combustion efficiencies (CEs) across different fuel types and fire conditions
• Characterize smoke chemistry in areas where people live and firefighters work—especially where traditional air monitoring is lacking
• Deploy mobile laboratories equipped with high-tech instruments to capture real-time data on smoke composition and plume behavior
• Develop and test new spectroscopic tools, including the Cavity Enhanced Raman Spectrometer (CERS), to detect trace gases and understand combustion processes
• Collaborate with other SMART FIRES teams, including Smart Optical Sensors and AI/ML, to integrate data and improve predictive models

Who is on our team?

Led by Lu Hu and Carl Seielstad at the University of Montana, the FSS Team also includes:

• Robert Yokelson (UM)
• Robert Walker (MSU)
• Xiaobing Zhou (Montana Tech)
• 6 graduate students
• 8 undergraduate students

Together, we bring expertise in fire ecology, atmospheric chemistry, remote sensing, and field deployment.

Why do smoke and fire science matter?

Smoke from wildfires and prescribed burns contains particulate matter (PM), ozone (O₃), and hazardous air pollutants (HAPs)—some of which are poorly understood and difficult to monitor. Our work helps:

• Improve air quality models by providing better data on emissions and smoke behavior
• Support safer prescribed burns by identifying when and where to burn for minimal smoke impact
• Protect public health by understanding exposure risks in communities and firelines
• Validate and enhance smart sensors used across SMART FIRES research

What are some highlights of our impact?

• Developed a mobile smoke lab with 3D aerosol imaging and gas-phase pollutant sensors
• Constructed and tested the CERS instrument for high-sensitivity smoke analysis
• Created a prescribed fire classification framework to generalize emissions data across landscapes
• Sampled smoke from multiple prescribed burns to establish baseline emissions data
• Provided critical data for improving regional air quality models and fire management strategies

Who are our collaborators?

We work closely with:

• The Smart Optical Sensors (SOS) team to co-deploy instruments like ASPI and lidar
• The AI/ML team to integrate smoke data into predictive models
• The Cyberinfrastructure team to ensure our data is accessible and usable across SMART FIRES