Fire Suppression Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

In remote areas, wild-fires often must be controlled by applying fire-retardants and suppressants dropped from small aircraft. However, impacts of these chemicals on natural stream ecosystems are poorly known. Unintentional aerial... more

In remote areas, wild-fires often must be controlled by applying fire-retardants and suppressants dropped from small aircraft. However, impacts of these chemicals on natural stream ecosystems are poorly known. Unintentional aerial application of fire-fighting chemicals (Phos-Chek WD-881 and ForExspan S) onto two small streams during a natural wildfire on Kangaroo Island, South Australia, provided an opportunity to study the short-term

Road tunnels are critical components of most transportation systems around the world. Ensuring fire safety in road tunnels is more challenging than ever due to the specific features of the tunnels, increased traffic and inadequate safety... more

Road tunnels are critical components of most transportation systems around the world. Ensuring fire safety in road tunnels is more challenging than ever due to the specific features of the tunnels, increased traffic and inadequate safety rules. The analysis of actual fire incidents has indicated that fires in tunnels tend to be hotter, last longer, and to be more destructive than was generally expected. This made rescue operations and fire extinguishment by the fire services more difficult. Les tunnels routiers sont des éléments critiques de la plupart des réseaux de transport dans le monde. Or, il est plus problématique que jamais d'assurer la sécurité incendie dans ces tunnels, en raison des caractéristiques propres à ces ouvrages, de l'augmentation de la circulation routière et de l'inadéquation des règles de sécurité. L?analyse d'incendies réels nous apprend que les incendies dans les tunnels ont tendance à présenter une combustion plus vive, à brûler plus longte...

... BOX 2. MAKING THE CASE. BOX 3. SIUC FIRE CREW. LITERATURE CITED. Fire's importance in the development and maintenance of oak forests has been well established across much of the eastern deciduous biome. ... Box 3. SIUC Fire Crew.... more

... BOX 2. MAKING THE CASE. BOX 3. SIUC FIRE CREW. LITERATURE CITED. Fire's importance in the development and maintenance of oak forests has been well established across much of the eastern deciduous biome. ... Box 3. SIUC Fire Crew. ...

Every year worldwide some extraordinary wildfires occur, overwhelming suppression capabilities, causing substantial damages, and often resulting in fatalities. Given their increasing frequency, there is a debate about how to address these... more

Every year worldwide some extraordinary wildfires occur, overwhelming suppression capabilities, causing substantial damages, and often resulting in fatalities. Given their increasing frequency, there is a debate about how to address these wildfires with significant social impacts, but there is no agreement upon terminology to describe them. The concept of extreme wildfire event (EWE) has emerged to bring some coherence on this kind of events. It is increasingly used, often as a synonym of other terms related to wildfires of high intensity and size, but its definition remains elusive. The goal of this paper is to go beyond drawing on distinct disciplinary perspectives to develop a holistic view of EWE as a social-ecological phenomenon. Based on literature review and using a transdisciplinary approach, this paper proposes a definition of EWE as a process and an outcome. Considering the lack of a consistent " scale of gravity " to leverage extreme wildfire events such as in natural hazards (e.g., tornados, hurricanes and earthquakes) we present a proposal of wildfire classification with seven categories based on measurable fire spread and behavior parameters and suppression difficulty. The categories 5 to 7 are labeled as EWE.

Classic ecological concepts and forestry language regarding old growth are not well suited to frequent-fire landscapes. In frequent-fire, old-growth landscapes, there is a symbiotic relationship between the trees, the understory... more

Classic ecological concepts and forestry language regarding old growth are not well suited to frequent-fire landscapes. In frequent-fire, old-growth landscapes, there is a symbiotic relationship between the trees, the understory graminoids, and fire that results in a healthy ecosystem. Patches of old growth interspersed with younger growth and open, grassy areas provide a wide variety of habitats for animals, and

Indonesia's fire and haze problem is increasingly being ascribed to large-scale forest conversion and land clearing activities making way for pulpwood, rubber and oil palm plantations. Fire is the cheapest tool available to small holders... more

Indonesia's fire and haze problem is increasingly being ascribed to large-scale forest conversion and land clearing activities making way for pulpwood, rubber and oil palm plantations. Fire is the cheapest tool available to small holders and plantation owners to reduce vegetation cover and prepare and fertilize extremely poor soils. Fires that escaped from agricultural burns have ravaged East Kalimantan forests on the island of Borneo during extreme drought periods in 1982–1983, 1987, 1991, 1994 and 1997–1998. Estimates based on satellite data and ground observations are that more than five million hectares were burned in East Kalimantan during the 1997/1998 dry season. Not only were the economic losses and ecological damage from these surface fires enormous, they ignited coal seams exposed at the ground surface along their outcrops.Coal fires now threaten Indonesia's shrinking ecological resources in Kutai National Park and Sungai Wain Nature Reserve. Sungai Wain has one of the last areas of unburned primary rainforest in the Balikpapan–Samarinda area with an extremely rich biodiversity. Although fires in 1997/1998 damaged nearly 50% of this Reserve and ignited 76 coal fires, it remains the most valuable water catchment area in the region and it has been used as a reintroduction site for the endangered orangutan.The Office of Surface Mining provided Indonesia with the capability to take quick action on coal fires that presented threats to public health and safety, infrastructure or the environment. The US Department of State's Southeast Asia Environmental Protection Initiative through the US Agency for International Development funded the project. Technical assistance and training transferred skills in coal fire management through the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resource's Training Agency to the regional offices; giving the regions the long-term capability to manage coal fires. Funding was also included to extinguish coal fires as demonstrations to the Indonesian Government. Successful demonstrations obtained visible benefits for a large number of local interests and received overwhelmingly favorable public response. This built the public and political support needed to continue this work.These successes encouraged the Ministry to officially assume the responsibility for coal fire management by Decree 1539/20/MPE/1999. The Ministry reallocated internal funds to support portions of the immediate suppression projects and committed a portion of the Coal Royalty Fund to provide long-term support for coal fire suppression activities. Coal fires continue to present a serious risk to Indonesia's ecosystems, population and forest resources. The Ministry and local governments in East Kalimantan are still working on the coal fire inventory. It presently contains 164 coal fires, but it is far from complete. Unless these coal fires are managed or extinguished, they will add to the already catastrophic cycle of anthropogenic forest fires that further reduce Indonesia's forest resources and endangered species while contributing unnecessarily to global carbon emissions.

Due to increased fuel loading as a result of fire suppression, land managers in the American west are in need of precise information about the fuels they manage, including canopy fuels. Canopy fuel metrics such as canopy height (CH),... more

Due to increased fuel loading as a result of fire suppression, land managers in the American west are in need of precise information about the fuels they manage, including canopy fuels. Canopy fuel metrics such as canopy height (CH), canopy base height (CBH), canopy bulk density (CBD) and available canopy fuel (ACF) are specific inputs for wildfire behavior models such as FARSITE and emission models such as FOFEM. With finer spatial resolution data, accurate quantification of these metrics with detailed spatial heterogeneity can be accomplished. Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) and color near-infrared imagery are active and passive systems, respectively, that have been utilized for measuring a range of forest structure characteristics at high resolution. The objective of this research was to determine which remote sensing dataset can estimate canopy fuels more accurately and whether a fusion of these datasets produces more accurate estimates. Regression models were developed for ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) stand representative of eastern Washington State using field data collected in the Ahtanum State Forest and metrics derived from LiDAR and imagery. Strong relationships were found with LiDAR alone and LiDAR was found to increase canopy fuel accuracy compared to imagery. Fusing LiDAR with imagery and/or LiDAR intensity led to small increases in estimation accuracy over LiDAR alone. By improving the ability to estimate canopy fuels at higher spatial resolutions, spatially explicit fuel layers can be created and used in wildfire behavior and smoke emission models leading to more accurate estimations of crown fire risk and smoke related emissions.

Collaborative efforts between indigenous peoples and government land managers are gaining recognition as important elements of forest restoration. Unique land allocations, such as the Research Natural Area (RNA) system of the US Forest... more

Collaborative efforts between indigenous peoples and government land managers are gaining recognition as important elements of forest restoration. Unique land allocations, such as the Research Natural Area (RNA) system of the US Forest Service, necessitate novel approaches to achieve desired outcomes among stakeholders. We describe a Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) framework that integrates efforts among resource managers, tribal representatives, scientists, and a tribal youth intern program to conduct ecological restoration in a Jeffrey pine (Pinus jeffreyi) forest ecosystem of the western United States with a history of frequent fires. Reintroduction of TEK-based practices provided some moderation of fire effects during an unplanned wildfire event, benefiting both ecological conditions and a traditional Paiute Indian food source, piagi, the larvae of the Pandora moth (Coloradia pandora). Tribal youth learned about traditional food collection and land management practices, and federal managers discovered that TEK helped achieve ecological restoration goals. Our collaborative framework increased confidence in the mutual benefits of western science-and TEK-based forest management practices, creating a foundation for long-term partnership in ecosystem restoration.

Halon 1301 concentration measurement based on Beer–Lambert law is proposed. Positive correlation is obtained between measured value and actual concentration. Effect of temperature and relative humidity of gas to the calibration is... more

Halon 1301 concentration measurement based on Beer–Lambert law is proposed. Positive correlation is obtained between measured value and actual concentration. Effect of temperature and relative humidity of gas to the calibration is evaluated. The Beer–Lambert law IR intensity ratio Temperature Relative humidity a b s t r a c t Halon 1301 has attached much interest because of its pervasive use as an effective fire suppressant agent in aircraft related fires, and the study of fire suppressant agent concentration measurement is especially of interest. In this work, a Halon 1301 concentration measurement method based on the Beer–Lambert law is developed. IR light is transmitted through mixed gas, and the light intensity with and without the agent present is measured. The intensity ratio is a function of the volume percentage of Halon 1301, and the voltage output of the detector is proportional to light intensity. As such, the relationship between the volume percentage and voltage ratio can be established. The concentration measurement system shows a relative error of the system less than ±2.50%, and a full scale error within 1.20%. This work also discusses the effect of temperature and relative humidity (RH) on the calibration. The experimental results of voltage ratio versus Halon 1301 volume percentage relationship show that the voltage ratio drops significantly as temperature rises from 25 to 100 °C, and it decreases as RH rises from 0% to 100%.

Growing accumulations of fuel, changing climates, and residential development in forested landscapes have accelerated the risk of wildland fire, particularly in the western United States. The magnifying level of risk of fire in the... more

Growing accumulations of fuel, changing climates, and residential development in forested landscapes have accelerated the risk of wildland fire, particularly in the western United States. The magnifying level of risk of fire in the urban–wildland interface requires multiple actors implementing coordinated fuel anagement, fire suppression, and community protection activities. The successful implementation of such actions is built upon trusting relationships in fire protection planning process. Trust is fundamental to cooperative human relationships and natural resource planning literature increasingly cites lack of trust as a major issue for plan implementation. This study of two community wildland fire protection planning processes revealed the importance of transparency in decisions, effective leadership, consensus on the framing of risk, and planning scale in affecting trust. Based on these results, five suggestions are offered as necessary conditions to promote effective communit...