Smoke management programs have three main objectives. Identify and avoid smoke sensitive areas 2. Reduce emissions 3. Disperse and dilute smoke before it reaches smoke sensitive areas. The key to an effective smoke management program lies in the land manager's ability to combine favorable weather conditions with a variety of prescribed fire techniques to keep smoke emissions to a minimum.
Land managers use three techniques to manage smoke emissions from prescribed fires.
Burning during periods of good vertical dispersion or burning at slower rates will dilute smoke through greater volumes of air. Emission reduction - Effective firing techniques and the proper scheduling of burns can minimize smoke output per unit area burned. Winds and atmospheric stability are the two most important meteorological factors in an effective smoke management program. Smoke management forecasts usually include forecasts of transport winds and mixing heights. Many NWS offices forecast transport winds, which are defined as the mean wind speed and direction of all winds within the mixing layer.