Wildfire Severity Expected to Continue Increasing

A recent map, developed by IDV Solutions, portrays the past decade of massive fires in the United States. The map only reveals fires that reached at least 100 mega watts for the purpose of capturing the most significant fires. The most threatening wildfires are concentrated in the Western part of the United States, while the Northeast poses the least threat.

According to research professor William Sommers of George Mason University’s EastFIRE Laboratory, fire activity has had a drastic increase in overall activity, as well as in acreage burned. He also states that this is not just happening in the United States, but worldwide.

Reports from the Huffington Post suggest that the overall increase in wildfires is caused by three main components. These include climate change, increasingly plentiful fuel for fires, and growing urbanization of wild areas.

Sommers goes on to say that with more individuals moving into fire prone areas, not only are more people at risk, but there are also more houses to feed wildfires.
According to the United States Forest Service, the number of acres destroyed by wildfire burns annually has doubled since 1960, and fire seasons are likely to become longer and more severe in the future. They believe climate change is mainly responsible for this increase.

“At EMSL Analytical, we have the expertise and advanced instrumentation required to perform complex testing services for identification of particles related to a combustion event,” states EMSL’s Materials Testing Laboratory Manager, Eugenia Mirica, Ph. D. “We are the nation’s leading provider of smoke damage testing services and offers fire debris analysis to help settle insurance claims for property damage caused by wildfires.”

To learn more about testing for smoke damage, char, carbon black, soot, indoor air quality (IAQ), or other environmental issues, please visit www.EMSL.com, call (800) 220-3675, or email info@EMSL.com .

About EMSL Analytical, Inc.
EMSL Analytical is a nationally recognized and locally focused provider of consumer product, environmental, industrial hygiene, food, and materials testing services to professionals and the general public. In addition, the company offers a large variety of air sampling equipment, sampling cassettes, and monitoring equipment. The company has an extensive list of accreditations from leading organizations, as well as state and federal regulating bodies. They include, but are not limited to AIHA IHLAP, AIHA EMLAP, AIHA ELLAP, A2LA, NVLAP, CDC Elite, CPSC (Consumer Product Safety Commission), CA ELAP, NY ELAP, TX Department of State Health Services, and multiple other state accrediting agencies.

Contact Information

Joseph Frasca

Senior Vice President of Marketing

EMSL Analytical

(1) 1-800-220-3675

jfrasca@emsl.com