Lynx and Rattlesnake Fires Smoke Management at ICP 2025

A conversation between a Wapiti Fire Plans Section Chief and a Regional Risk Management Officer about air quality conditions at Incident Command Posts (ICP) sparks the creation of a Smoke Action Team. Over the winter, the team researches options and formulates a plan for field testing them.

To explore these options, in September 2025, the Smoke Action Team for the U.S. Forest Service Intermountain Region set up 11 portable “Air Scrubbers” in office trailers and office tents at the Incident Command Post for the Lynx and Rattlesnake fires in Washington state.

This field test showed that these Air Scrubbers were very effective at reducing fine particulate matter (PM2.5) concentrations in the office spaces—up to an 89 percent improvement over the outside air. Even in yurts, which are porous by nature, the AQI did not reach “Unhealthy” with a scrubber in use.

In addition, the Smoke Action Team found that some ICP personnel observed improvements in their respiratory irritation and decreases in the spread of camp crud.

Based on these results, the Smoke Action Team encourages the continued use of Air Scrubbers in ICPs and increasing the awareness and accessibility of this equipment as one part of an exposure reduction strategy.