Small-diameter timber alchemy: can utilization pay the way toward fire-resistant forests

Treesearch

Jeremy S. Fried; R. Jamie Barbour; Roger D. Fight; Glenn Christensen; Guy Pinjuv

2008-01-01

There is growing interest in using biomass removed from hazardous fuels reduction treatments in wood-fired electrical generation facilities. An application of FIA BioSum to southwest Oregon’s Klamath ecoregion assessed the financial feasibility of fuel treatment and biomass generation under a range of product prices and fire hazard-motivated silvicultural prescriptions...

Can private land conservation reduce wildfire risk to homes? A case study in San Diego County, California, USA

USGS Publications Warehouse

Butsic, Van; Syphard, Alexandra D.; Keeley, Jon E.; Bar-Massada, Avi

2017-01-01

The purchase of private land for conservation purposes is a common way to prevent the exploitation of sensitive ecological areas. However, private land conservation can also provide other benefits, one of these being natural hazard reduction. Here, we investigated the impacts of private land conservation on fire risk to homes in San Diego County, California. We coupled an econometric land use change model with a model that estimates the probability of house loss due to fire in order to compare fire risk at the county and municipality scale under alternative private land purchasing schemes and over a 20 year time horizon. We found that conservation purchases could reduce fire risk on this landscape, and the amount of risk reduction was related to the targeting approach used to choose which parcels were conserved. Conservation land purchases that targeted parcels designated as high fire hazard resulted in lower fire risk to homes than purchases that targeted low costs or high likelihood to subdivide. This result was driven by (1) preventing home placement in fire prone areas and (2) taking land off the market, and hence increasing development densities in other areas. These results raise the possibility that resource conservation and fire hazard reduction may benefit from combining efforts. With adequate planning, future conservation purchases could have synergistic effects beyond just protecting ecologically sensitive areas.

The homeowner view of thinning methods for fire hazard reduction: more positive than many think

Treesearch

Sarah McCaffrey

2008-01-01

With the focus of the National Fire Plan on decreasing fire risk in the wildland-urban interface, fire managers are increasingly tasked with reducing the fuel load in areas where mixed public and private ownership and a growing number of homes can make most fuel reduction methods problematic at best. In many of these intermix areas, use of prescribed burning will be...

The influence of market proximity on national forest hazardous fuels treatments

Treesearch

Max Nielsen-Pincus; Susan Charnley; Cassandra Moseley

2013-01-01

The US Department of Agriculture Forest Service’s focus on hazardous fuels reduction has increased since the adoption of the National Fire Plan in 2001. However, appropriations for hazardous fuels reduction still lag behind wildfire suppression spending. Offsetting fuels treatment costs through biomass utilization or by using innovative administrative mechanisms such...

The effects of prescribed burning on fire hazard in the chaparral: toward a new conceptual synthesis

Treesearch

Anthony T. Dunn

1989-01-01

Prescribed burning for fire hazard reduction in the chaparral is predicated on the belief that young fuels (20 years old and less) are highly resistant to burning. To test this belief, a data base search of large fires in San Diego County between 1940 and 1985 was conducted to locate reburns of young chaparral fuels greater than 1000 acres (400 ha) in extent. Of the...

Understory vegetation response in longleaf pine forests to fire and fire surrogate treatments for wildfire hazard reduction and ecological restoration

Treesearch

Dale G. Brockway; Kenneth W Outcalt

2005-01-01

The principal objective is to quantify the responses of the understory plant community to fire and fire surrogate treatments, specifically plant species composition, foliar cover, species richness, diversity, and evenness changes resulting from (1) fire exclusion in the untreated control, (2) prescribed fire, (3) thinning, (4) thinning plus prescribed fire, and (5)...

A basic approach to fire injury of tree stems

Treesearch

R. E. Martin

1963-01-01

Fire has come to be widely used as a tool in wildland management, particularly in the South. Its usefulness in fire hazard reduction, removal of undesirable trees, and changing of cover types has been demonstrated. We are continually trying to improve fire use, however, by learning more of the specific effects of fire on different species of plants.

Learning from escaped prescribed fires - lessons for high reliability

Treesearch

Deirdre Dether; Anne Black

2006-01-01

Meeting national goals for hazardous fuels reduction and ecosystem restoration would be difficult - if not impossible - without utilizing prescribed fire. Suspension of prescribed fire programs, as often happens following an escape, limits Federal capacity to meet programmatic, social, and ecological goals.

76 FR 62755 - Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-10-11

... wild land urban interface homeowners. The information collected will help wildland fire managers and... a currently valid OMB control number. Forest Service Title: Overcoming Barriers to Wildland Fire... information regarding barriers to participating in fire hazard reduction programs in the wildland urban...

Spatially explicit modeling of mixed-severity fire regimes and landscape dynamics

Treesearch

Michael C. Wimberly; Rebecca S.H. Kennedy

2008-01-01

Simulation models of disturbance and succession are being increasingly applied to characterize landscape composition and dynamics under natural fire regimes, and to evaluate alternative management strategies for ecological restoration and fire hazard reduction. However, we have a limited understanding of how landscapes respond to changes in fire frequency, and about...

Fire Safety: Any Time, Any Place. First Grade. Fire Safety for Texans: Fire and Burn Prevention Curriculum Guide.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Texas State Commission on Fire Protection, Austin.

This booklet comprises the first grade component of a series of curriculum guides on fire and burn prevention. Designed to meet the age-specific needs of first grade students, its objectives include acquiring basic knowledge of fire and burn hazards, developing a basic understanding of simple injury reduction, and encouraging parent involvement.…

Fuel reduction and coarse woody debris dynamics with early season and late season prescribed fires in a Sierra Nevada mixed conifer forest

Treesearch

Eric E. Knapp; Jon E. Keeley; Elizabeth A. Ballenger; Teresa J. Brennan

2005-01-01

Fire exclusion has led to an unnatural accumulation and greater spatial continuity of organic material on the ground in many forests. This material serves both as potential fuel for forest fires and habitat for a large array of forest species. Managers must balance fuel reduction to reduce wildfire hazard with fuel retention targets to maintain other forest functions....

Fuel accumulation and forest structure change following hazardous fuel reduction treatments throughout California

Treesearch

Nicole M. Vaillant; Erin K. Noonan-Wright; Alicia L. Reiner; Carol M. Ewell; Benjamin M. Rau; Josephine A. Fites-Kaufman; Scott N. Dailey

2015-01-01

Altered fuel conditions coupled with changing climate have disrupted fire regimes of forests historically characterised by high-frequency and low-to-moderate-severity fire. Managers use fuel treatments to abate undesirable fire behaviour and effects. Short-term effectiveness of fuel treatments to alter fire behaviour and effects is well documented; however, long-term...

Economic Impact of Fire Weather Forecasts

Treesearch

Don Gunasekera; Graham Mills; Mark Williams

2006-01-01

Southeastern Australia, where the State of Victoria is located is regarded as one of the most fire prone areas in the world. The Australian Bureau of Meteorology provides fire weather services in Victoria as part of a national framework for the provision of such services. These services range from fire weather warnings to special forecasts for hazard reduction burns....

Quantifying the effect of fuel reduction treatments on fire behavior in boreal forests

Treesearch

B.W. Butler; R.D. Ottmar; T.S. Rupp; R. Jandt; E. Miller; K. Howard; R. Schmoll; S. Theisen; R.E. Vihnanek; D. Jimenez

2013-01-01

Mechanical (e.g., shearblading) and manual (e.g., thinning) fuel treatments have become the preferred strategy of many fire managers and agencies for reducing fire hazard in boreal forests. This study attempts to characterize the effectiveness of four fuel treatments through direct measurement of fire intensity and forest floor consumption during a single prescribed...

Fire, fuel treatments, and ecological restoration: Conference proceedings; 2002 16-18 April; Fort Collins, CO

Treesearch

Philip N. Omi; Linda A. Joyce

2003-01-01

Recent fires have spawned intense interest in fuel treatment and ecological restoration activities. Scientists and land managers have been advocating these activities for years, and the recent fires have provided incentives for federal, state, and local entities to move ahead with ambitious hazard reduction and restoration projects. Recent fires also have increased...

Chapter 3: Simulating fire hazard across landscapes through time: integrating state-and-transition models with the Fuel Characteristic Classification System

Treesearch

Jessica E. Halofsky; Stephanie K. Hart; Miles A. Hemstrom; Joshua S. Halofsky; Morris C. Johnson

2014-01-01

Information on the effects of management activities such as fuel reduction treatments and of processes such as vegetation growth and disturbance on fire hazard can help land managers prioritize treatments across a landscape to best meet management goals. State-and-transition models (STMs) allow landscape-scale simulations that incorporate effects of succession,...

Finding balance between fire hazard reduction and erosion control in the Lake Tahoe Basin, California–Nevada

Treesearch

Nicolas M. Harrison; Andrew P. Stubblefield; J. Morgan Varner; Eric E. Knapp

2016-01-01

The 2007 Angora Fire served as a stark reminder of the need for fuel reduction treatments in the Lake Tahoe Basin, California–Nevada, USA. Concerns exist, however, that the corresponding removal of forest floor fuels could increase erosion rates, negatively affecting the clarity of Lake Tahoe. To quantify trade-offs between fuel reduction and erosion, we conducted...

Prescribed fire in upland harwood forests

Treesearch

T.L. Keyser; C.H. Greenberg; H. McNab

2014-01-01

In upland hardwood forests of the Southeastern U.S.,prescribed fire is increasingly used by land managers citing objectives that include hazardous fuels reduction, wildlife habitat improvement, promoting oak regeneration, or restoring forest composition or structure to an historic condition. Research suggests that prescribed fire effects on hardwood forests and...

Catalytic Destruction of a Surrogate Organic Hazardous Air Pollutant as a Potential Co-benefit for Coal-fired Selective Catalyst Reduction Systems

EPA Science Inventory

Catalytic destruction of benzene (C6H6), a surrogate for organic hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) produced from coal combustion, was investigated using a commercial selective catalytic reduction (SCR) catalyst for evaluating the potential co-benefit of the SCR technology for reduc...

A Collaborative Approach to Community Wildfire Hazard Reduction

Treesearch

Marc Titus; Jennifer Hinderman

2006-01-01

This paper highlights the very successful collaborative approach to community wildfire hazard reduction being used in the 5 county NW Region of the Washington State Department of Natural Resources. NW Region cooperators have created a successful model to help affected communities reduce their risks to wildland fire. Identified high risk communities have been approached...

Predicting mortality of ponderosa pine regeneration after prescribed fire in the Black Hills, South Dakota, USA

Treesearch

Mike Battaglia; Frederick W. Smith; Wayne D. Shepperd

2009-01-01

Reduction of crown fire hazard in Pinus ponderosa forests in the Black Hills, SD, often focuses on the removal of overstorey trees to reduce crown bulk density. Dense ponderosa pine regeneration establishes several years after treatment and eventually increases crown fire risk if allowed to grow. Using prescribed fire to control this regeneration is...

Response of Reptiles and Amphibians to Repeated Fuel Reduction Treatments

Treesearch

Charlotte E. Matthews; Christopher E. Moorman; Cathryn H. Greenberg; Thomas A. Waldrop

2010-01-01

Recent use of prescribed fire and fire surrogates to reduce fuel hazards has spurred interest in their effects on wildlife. Studies of fire in the southern Appalachian Mountains (USA) have documented few effects on reptiles and amphibians. However, these studies were conducted after only one fire and for only a short time (1–3 yr) after the fire. From mid-May to mid-...

Understanding of urban hazards, fire, and tsunamis

USGS Publications Warehouse

Hays, Walter W.; ,

1997-01-01

Understanding of the causes and solutions of an urban area's (e.g., Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, Oakland, Seattle, Portland, Anchorage, Salt Lake City, Memphis, St. Louis, Charleston, Boston, San Juan) vulnerability to earthquakes, fire, and tsunamis has increased significantly during the past 50 years, and during the current International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR). Vulnerability is caused by flaws in planning, siting, design, construction, and use. It is fundamentally dependent upon the hazard, built, and policy environments of the urban area. Reduction of vulnerability is directly related to the decision-making process that calls for the adoption and enforcement of risk management programs (e.g., mitigation, preparedness, emergency response, and recovery measures) that are designed to make the urban area resilient to earthquakes, fires, and, as appropriate, tsunamis.

Efficacy of mechanical fuel treatments for reducing wildfire hazard

Treesearch

Robert J. Jr. Huggett; Karen L. Abt; Wayne Shepperd

2008-01-01

Mechanical fuel treatments are increasingly being used for wildfire hazard reduction in the western U.S. However, the efficacy of these treatments for reducing wildfire hazard at a landscape scale is difficult to quantify, especially when including growth following treatment. A set of uneven- and even-aged treatments designed to reduce fire hazard were simulated on 0.8...

Focus on...The right tools: Managing for fire using FIA inventory data.

Treesearch

USDA Forest Service

2003-01-01

The relative severity of recent fire seasons has led to numerous debates about the health, associated fire hazards, and effectiveness of fuel reduction treatments in forests across the United States. Scientific analyses of forest inventories offer policy makers and other interested parties objective information with which to make crucial forest management decisions....

Initial results from a field experiment to support the assessment of fuel treatment effectiveness in reducing wildfire intensity and spread rate

Treesearch

Eric Mueller; Nicholas Skowronski; Kenneth Clark; Robert Kremens; Michael Gallagher; Jan Thomas; Mohamad El Houssami; Alexander Filkod; Bret Butler; John Hom; William Mell; Albert Simeoni

2015-01-01

Hazardous fuel reduction treatments conducted both through prescribed fire and mechanical means are a critical part of the mitigation of wildland fire risk in the United States. The US Federal Government has spent an average of $500t million each year on fuel reduction, from 2002-2012 (Gorte 2011). At present, however, rigorous experimental measurement of the...

The role of nongovernmental organizations in fire education, fuels reduction, and forest restoration: a call for collaboration

Treesearch

Timothy Ingalsbee; Daniel Henry; Oshana Catranides; Todd Schulke

2008-01-01

Successfully educating homeowners and communities about wildland fire ecology and management, reducing hazardous fuels, and restoring fire-adapted forest ecosystems will place enormous demands on the budgets, resources, and staff of federal agencies for several decades to come. This work can be aided by collaboration with non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that are...

Prescribed burning in southwestern ponderosa pine

Treesearch

Stephen S Sackett; Sally M Haase; Michael G Harrington

1996-01-01

Prescribed burning is an effective way of restoring the fire process to ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa Dougl. ex Laws.) ecosystems of the Southwest. If used judiciously, fire can provide valuable effects for hazard reduction, natural regeneration, thinning, vegetation revitalization, and in general, better forest health. Relatively short burning...

Fire management of California shrubland landscapes

USGS Publications Warehouse

Keeley, Jon E.

2002-01-01

Fire management of California shrublands has been heavily influenced by policies designed for coniferous forests, however, fire suppression has not effectively excluded fire from chaparral and coastal sage scrub landscapes and catastrophic wildfires are not the result of unnatural fuel accumulation. There is no evidence that prescribed burning in these shrublands provides any resource benefit and in some areas may negatively impact shrublands by increasing fire frequency. Therefore, fire hazard reduction is the primary justification for prescription burning, but it is doubtful that rotational burning to create landscape age mosaics is a cost effective method of controlling catastrophic wildfires. There are problems with prescription burning in this crown-fire ecosystem that are not shared by forests with a natural surface-fire regime. Prescription weather conditions preclude burning at rotation intervals sufficient to effect the control of fires ignited under severe weather conditions. Fire management should focus on strategic placement of prescription burns to both insure the most efficient fire hazard reduction and to minimize the amount of landscape exposed to unnaturally high fire frequency. A major contributor to increased fire suppression costs and increased loss of property and lives is the continued urban sprawl into wildlands naturally subjected to high intensity crown fires. Differences in shrubland fire history suggest there may be a need for different fire management tactics between central coastal and southern California. Much less is known about shrubland fire history in the Sierra Nevada foothills and interior North Coast Ranges, and thus it would be prudent to not transfer these ideas too broadly across the range of chaparral until we have a clearer understanding of the extent of regional variation in shrubland fire regimes.

Fire management of California shrubland landscapes.

PubMed

Keeley, Jon E

2002-03-01

Fire management of California shrublands has been heavily influenced by policies designed for coniferous forests, however, fire suppression has not effectively excluded fire from chaparral and coastal sage scrub landscapes and catastrophic wildfires are not the result of unnatural fuel accumulation. There is no evidence that prescribed burning in these shrublands provides any resource benefit and in some areas may negatively impact shrublands by increasing fire frequency. Therefore, fire hazard reduction is the primary justification for prescription burning, but it is doubtful that rotational burning to create landscape age mosaics is a cost effective method of controlling catastrophic wildfires. There are problems with prescription burning in this crown-fire ecosystem that are not shared by forests with a natural surface-fire regime. Prescription weather conditions preclude burning at rotation intervals sufficient to effect the control of fires ignited under severe weather conditions. Fire management should focus on strategic placement of prescription burns to both insure the most efficient fire hazard reduction and to minimize the amount of landscape exposed to unnaturally high fire frequency. A major contributor to increased fire suppression costs and increased loss of property and lives is the continued urban sprawl into wildlands naturally subjected to high intensity crown fires. Differences in shrubland fire history suggest there may be a need for different fire management tactics between central coastal and southern California. Much less is known about shrubland fire history in the Sierra Nevada foothills and interior North Coast Ranges, and thus it would be prudent to not transfer these ideas too broadly across the range of chaparral until we have a clearer understanding of the extent of regional variation in shrubland fire regimes.

77 FR 33158 - Plumas National Forest, California, Sugarloaf Hazardous Fuels Reduction Project

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-06-05

... to the economic stability of rural communities through: fuels treatments; group selections (GS); area... (DFPZs), modify fire behavior, promote forest and watershed health, while contributing to the economic stability of rural communities in Plumas County, CA. Fire behavior needs to be modified in selected forest...

Organizational barriers

Treesearch

Kenneth S. Blonski

1995-01-01

One of the traditional roles that prescribed fire has played in the fire management arena is reduction of hazardous fuel buildups under controlled, well-defined environmental conditions. However, our ability to use this tool effectively is blocked by many barriers. The preceding panel discussion about the causes of limited success in implementing prescribed burning...

National Fire Plan Research and Development 2004-2005 accomplishment report

Treesearch

Michael W. Hilbruner; Paul Keller

2007-01-01

This report highlights accomplishments achieved by USDA Forest Service National Fire Plan Research and Development projects from 2004 through 2005 in four key areas: firefighting, rehabilitation and restoration, hazardous fuels reduction, and community assistance. These highlights illustrate the broad range of knowledge and tools introduced and generated by the...

Fire hazard reduction of hollow glass microspheres in thermoplastic polyurethane composites.

PubMed

Jiao, Chuanmei; Wang, Hongzhi; Li, Shaoxiang; Chen, Xilei

2017-06-15

Nowadays, reducing the fire hazard of thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) is an important research direction in the fields of fire safety materials. In this article, hollow glass microsphere (HGM) was used to reduce the fire hazard of TPU in combustion process. The fire characteristics including smoke and heat production of TPU composites were evaluated using smoke density test (SDT) and cone calorimeter test (CCT). And the thermal decomposition and flammable properties were further studied using thermogravimetric analysis/infrared spectrometry (TG-IR) and limiting oxygen index (LOI), etc. The SDT results showed that the luminous flux (LF) of TPU4 containing 2.00wt% HGM was up to 24% at the end of test without flame, which is much higher than that of TPU0 (5%). And, the CCT results indicated that 2.00wt% HGM could make the total smoke release (TSR) decrease from 1019m 2 /m 2 (TPU0) to 757m 2 /m 2 (TPU4), reduced by 26%. The TG-IR results confirmed that HGM could improve the thermal stability of composites and reduce the production of some toxic gases. The above results illustrated HGM had a good prospect in reducing the fire hazard for TPU. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Mastication and prescribed fire impacts on fuels in a 25-year old ponderosa pine plantation, southern Sierra Nevada

Treesearch

Alicia L. Reiner; Nicole M. Vaillant; JoAnn Fites-Kaufman; Scott N. Dailey

2009-01-01

Due to increases in tree density and hazardous fuel loading in Sierra Nevadan forests, land management is focusing on fuel reduction treatments to moderate the risk of catastrophic fires. Fuel treatments involving mechanical and prescribed fire methods can reduce surface as well as canopy fuel loads. Mastication is a mechanical method which shreds smaller trees and...

Fuel mapping for the future

Treesearch

C.W. Woodall; G.R. Holden; J.S. Vissage

2004-01-01

The large wildland fires that raged during the 2000 and 2002 fire seasons highlighted the need for a nationwide strategic assessment of forest fuels. The lack of a nationally consistent and comprehensive inventory of forest fuels has hindered large-scale assessments- essential for effective fuel hazard management and monitoring reduction treatments. Data from the USDA...

Risk reduction in road and rail LPG transportation by passive fire protection.

PubMed

Paltrinieri, Nicola; Landucci, Gabriele; Molag, Menso; Bonvicini, Sarah; Spadoni, Gigliola; Cozzani, Valerio

2009-08-15

The potential reduction of risk in LPG (Liquefied Petroleum Gas) road transport due to the adoption of passive fire protections was investigated. Experimental data available for small scale vessels fully engulfed by a fire were extended to real scale road and rail tankers through a finite elements model. The results of mathematical simulations of real scale fire engulfment scenarios that may follow accidents involving LPG tankers proved the effectiveness of the thermal protections in preventing the "fired" BLEVE (Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapour Explosion) scenario. The presence of a thermal coating greatly increases the "time to failure", providing a time lapse that in the European experience may be considered sufficient to allow the start of effective mitigation actions by fire brigades. The results obtained were used to calculate the expected reduction of individual and societal risk due to LPG transportation in real case scenarios. The analysis confirmed that the introduction of passive fire protections turns out in a significant reduction of risk, up to an order of magnitude in the case of individual risk and of about 50% if the expectation value is considered. Thus, the adoption of passive fire protections, not compulsory in European regulations, may be an effective technical measure for risk reduction, and may contribute to achieve the control of "major accidents hazards" cited by the European legislation.

Setting priorities for private land conservation in fire-prone landscapes: Are fire risk reduction and biodiversity conservation competing or compatible objectives?

USGS Publications Warehouse

Syphard, Alexandra D.; Butsic, Van; Bar-Massada, Avi; Keeley, Jon E.; Tracey, Jeff A.; Fisher, Robert N.

2016-01-01

Although wildfire plays an important role in maintaining biodiversity in many ecosystems, fire management to protect human assets is often carried out by different agencies than those tasked for conserving biodiversity. In fact, fire risk reduction and biodiversity conservation are often viewed as competing objectives. Here we explored the role of management through private land conservation and asked whether we could identify private land acquisition strategies that fulfill the mutual objectives of biodiversity conservation and fire risk reduction, or whether the maximization of one objective comes at a detriment to the other. Using a fixed budget and number of homes slated for development, we simulated 20 years of housing growth under alternative conservation selection strategies, and then projected the mean risk of fires destroying structures and the area and configuration of important habitat types in San Diego County, California, USA. We found clear differences in both fire risk projections and biodiversity impacts based on the way conservation lands are prioritized for selection, but these differences were split between two distinct groupings. If no conservation lands were purchased, or if purchases were prioritized based on cost or likelihood of development, both the projected fire risk and biodiversity impacts were much higher than if conservation lands were purchased in areas with high fire hazard or high species richness. Thus, conserving land focused on either of the two objectives resulted in nearly equivalent mutual benefits for both. These benefits not only resulted from preventing development in sensitive areas, but they were also due to the different housing patterns and arrangements that occurred as development was displaced from those areas. Although biodiversity conflicts may still arise using other fire management strategies, this study shows that mutual objectives can be attained through land-use planning in this region. These results likely generalize to any place where high species richness overlaps with hazardous wildland vegetation.

Commercial Jet Transport Crashworthiness

DTIC Science & Technology

1982-04-01

airports is another area for improved safety. The avoidance of collisions between aircraft and with ground vehicles should be attainable. Reduction of...hazards such as drainage ditches, poles, trees, columns, outbuildings, and birds from airports is a matter of concern. In addition the short/overrun areas...071191 DCC DENVER X 122 17 0 LOG FIRE YES 011961 DC8 JFK X 106 4 ? TO FIRE PAR 061561 707 LISBON 103 0 2 LDG FIRE YES 122161 CMT ANKARA X 34 27 6 CLI

Striving for balance: maintaining marten habitat while reducing fuels

Treesearch

John Kirkland; Katie Moriarty

2016-01-01

Martens are small forest carnivores associated with dense, mature forests. These important indicators of a forest’s biodiversity are vulnerable to management activities that open the forest canopy or remove downed debris. Many fuel reduction treatment do just that: dense stands of trees are thinned to minimize fire hazard and future fire severity. Until recently, the...

Use of financial and economic analyses by federal forest managers for woody biomass removal

Treesearch

Todd A. Morgan; Jason P. Brandt; John D. Baldridge; Dan R. Loeffler

2011-01-01

This study was sponsored by the Joint Fire Science Program to understand and enhance the ability of federal land managers to address financial and economic (F&E) aspects of woody biomass removal as a component of fire hazard reduction. Focus groups were conducted with nearly 100 federal land managers throughout the western United States. Several issues and...

Wildfire mitigation strategies affect soil enzyme activity and soil organic carbon in loblolly pine (Pinus taeda) forests

Treesearch

R.E.J. Boerner; T.A. Waldrop; V.B. Shelburne

2006-01-01

We quantified the effects of three wildfire hazard reduction treatments (prescribed fire, thinning from below, and the combination of fire and thinning), and passive management (control) on mineral soil organic C, and enzyme activity in loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) forests on the Piedmont of South Carolina. Soil organic C was reduced by thinning,...

Assessing the impacts of federal forest planning on wildfire risk-mitigation in the Pacific Northwest, USA

Treesearch

Alan A. Ager; Michelle A. Day; Karen C. Short; Cody R. Evers

2016-01-01

We analyzed the impact of amenity and biodiversity protection as mandated in national forest plans on the implementation of hazardous fuel reduction treatments aimed at protecting the wildland urban interface (WUI) and restoring fire resilient forests. We used simulation modeling to delineate areas on national forests that can potentially transmit fires to...

Physical and chemical characteristics of surface fuels in masticated mixed-conifer stands of the U.S. Rocky Mountains

Treesearch

Robert E. Keane; Pamela G. Sikkink; Theresa B. Jain

2018-01-01

Mastication is a wildland fuel treatment technique that is rapidly becoming the preferred method for many fire hazard reduction projects, especially in areas where reducing fuels with prescribed fire is particularly challenging. Mastication is the process of mechanically modifying the live and dead surface and canopy biomass by chopping and shredding vegetation to...

The effects of fepeated prescribed burning on Pinus ponderosa growth

Treesearch

David L. Peterson; Stephen S. Sackett; Lindsay J. Robinson; Sally M. Haase

1994-01-01

The effect of repeated prescribed burning on long term growth of Pinus ponderosa in northern Arizona was examined. Fire treatments for hazard reduction were initiated in 1976,and growthwas evaluated in 1988 for fire rotations of 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 years. Dendroecological analysis shows that there were only small changes in treegrowth (compared tocontrols) in the...

Mechanical restoration of California mixed-conifer forests: does it matter which trees are cut?

Treesearch

Jessica Miesel; Ralph Boerner; Carl Skinner

2009-01-01

The montane ecosystems of northern California have been subjected to repeated manipulation and active fire suppression for over a century, resulting in changes in community structure that contribute to increased wildfire hazard. Ecosystem restoration via reduction of stand density for wildfire hazard mitigation has received substantial attention in recent years;...

A burning problem: social dynamics of disaster risk reduction through wildfire mitigation

Treesearch

Susan Charnley; Melissa R. Poe; Alan A. Ager; Thomas A. Spies; Emily K. Platt; Keith A. Olsen

2015-01-01

Disasters result from hazards affecting vulnerable people. Most disasters research by anthropologists focuses on vulnerability; this article focuses on natural hazards. We use the case of wildfire mitigation on United States Forest Service lands in the northwestern United States to examine social, political, and economic variables at multiple scales that influence fire...

A non-ideal model for predicting the effect of dissolved salt on the flash point of solvent mixtures.

PubMed

Liaw, Horng-Jang; Wang, Tzu-Ai

2007-03-06

Flash point is one of the major quantities used to characterize the fire and explosion hazard of liquids. Herein, a liquid with dissolved salt is presented in a salt-distillation process for separating close-boiling or azeotropic systems. The addition of salts to a liquid may reduce fire and explosion hazard. In this study, we have modified a previously proposed model for predicting the flash point of miscible mixtures to extend its application to solvent/salt mixtures. This modified model was verified by comparison with the experimental data for organic solvent/salt and aqueous-organic solvent/salt mixtures to confirm its efficacy in terms of prediction of the flash points of these mixtures. The experimental results confirm marked increases in liquid flash point increment with addition of inorganic salts relative to supplementation with equivalent quantities of water. Based on this evidence, it appears reasonable to suggest potential application for the model in assessment of the fire and explosion hazard for solvent/salt mixtures and, further, that addition of inorganic salts may prove useful for hazard reduction in flammable liquids.

Riparian fuel treatments in the western USA: Challenges and considerations

Treesearch

Kathleen A. Dwire; Kristen E. Meyer; Gregg Riegel; Timothy Burton

2016-01-01

Fuel reduction treatments are being conducted throughout watersheds of the western United States to reduce hazardous fuels in efforts to decrease the risk of high-severity fire. The number of fuel reduction projects that include near-stream environments is increasing, bringing new challenges to riparian management. Riparian areas are protected by administrative...

Changes in downed wood and forest structure after prescribed fire in ponderosa pine forests

Treesearch

Victoria Saab; Lisa Bate; John Lehmkuhl; Brett Dickson; Scott Story; Stephanie Jentsch; William Block

2006-01-01

Most prescribed fire plans focus on reducing wildfire hazards with little consideration given to effects on wildlife populations and their habitats. To evaluate effectiveness of prescribed burning in reducing fuels and to assess effects of fuels reduction on wildlife, we began a large-scale study known as the Birds and Burns Network in 2002. In this paper we analyze...

A mixed logit model of homeowner preferences for wildfire hazard reduction

Treesearch

Thomas P. Holmes; John Loomis; Armando González-Cabán

2009-01-01

People living in the wildland-urban interface (WUI) are at greater risk of suffering major losses of property and life from wildfires. Over the past several decades the prevailing view has been that wildfire risk in rural areas was exogenous to the activities of homeowners. In response to catastrophic fires in the WUI over the past few years, recent approaches to fire...

A Mixed Logit Model of Homeowner Preferences for Wildfire Hazard Reduction

Treesearch

Thomas P. Holmes; John Loomis; Armando Gonzalez-Caban

2010-01-01

People living in the wildland-urban interface (WUI) are at greater risk of suffering major losses of property and life from wildfires. Over the past several decades the prevailing view has been that wildfire risk in rural areas was exogenous to the activities of homeowners. In response to catastrophic fires in the WUI over the past few years, recent approaches to fire...

Behavior of Steel-Sheathed Shear Walls Subjected to Seismic and Fire Loads.

PubMed

Hoehler, Matthew S; Smith, Christopher M; Hutchinson, Tara C; Wang, Xiang; Meacham, Brian J; Kamath, Praveen

2017-07-01

A series of tests was conducted on six 2.7 m × 3.7 m shear wall specimens consisting of cold-formed steel framing sheathed on one side with sheet steel adhered to gypsum board and on the opposite side with plain gypsum board. The specimens were subjected to various sequences of simulated seismic shear deformation and fire exposure to study the influence of multi-hazard interactions on the lateral load resistance of the walls. The test program was designed to complement a parallel effort at the University of California, San Diego to investigate a six-story building subjected to earthquakes and fires. The test results reported here indicate that the fire exposure caused a shift in the failure mode of the walls from local buckling of the sheet steel in cases without fire exposure, to global buckling of the sheet steel with an accompanying 35 % reduction in lateral load capacity after the wall had been exposed to fire. This behavior appears to be predictable, which is encouraging from the standpoint of residual lateral load capacity under these severe multi-hazard actions.

Wildlife and invertebrate response to fuel reduction treatments in dry coniferous forests of the Western United States: a synthesis

Treesearch

David S. Pilliod; Evelyn L. Bull; Jane L. Hayes; Barbara C. Wales

2006-01-01

This paper synthesizes available information on the effects of hazardous fuel reduction treatments on terrestrial wildlife and invertebrates in dry coniferous forest types in the West. We focused on thinning and/or prescribed fire studies in ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa) and dry-type Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii),...

A Combined Hazard Index Fire Test Methodology for Aircraft Cabin Materials. Volume II.

DTIC Science & Technology

1982-04-01

Technical Center. The report was divided into two parts: Part I described the improved technology investigated to upgrade existin methods for testing...proper implementation of the computerized data acquisition and reduction programs will improve materials hazards measurement precision. Thus, other...the hold chamber before and after injection of a sample, will improve precision and repeatability of measurement. The listed data acquisition and

A method for mapping fire hazard and risk across multiple scales and its application in fire management

Treesearch

Robert E. Keane; Stacy A. Drury; Eva C. Karau; Paul F. Hessburg; Keith M. Reynolds

2010-01-01

This paper presents modeling methods for mapping fire hazard and fire risk using a research model called FIREHARM (FIRE Hazard and Risk Model) that computes common measures of fire behavior, fire danger, and fire effects to spatially portray fire hazard over space. FIREHARM can compute a measure of risk associated with the distribution of these measures over time using...

Mulching machines for pre-commercial thinning and fuel reduction

Treesearch

Jason D. Thompson

2002-01-01

Wildfires in the western United States and Florida over the last several years have highlighted the vulnerability of dense overstocked stands to fire. As a result, landowners, land managers, and researchers alike are interest ed in methods to reduce hazardous fuels in forest stands. Mechanical reduction of under-story and mid-story fuels by mulching or chipping is an...

Cost-benefit analysis of passive fire protections in road LPG transportation.

PubMed

Paltrinieri, Nicola; Bonvicini, Sarah; Spadoni, Gigliola; Cozzani, Valerio

2012-02-01

The cost-benefit evaluation of passive fire protection adoption in the road transport of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) was investigated. In a previous study, mathematical simulations of real scale fire scenarios proved the effectiveness of passive fire protections in preventing the "fired" boiling liquid expanding vapor explosion (BLEVE), thus providing a significant risk reduction. In the present study the economical aspects of the adoption of fire protections are analyzed and an approach to cost-benefit analysis (CBA) is proposed. The CBA model is based on the comparison of the risk reduction due to fire protections (expressed in monetary terms by the value of a statistical life) and the cost of the application of fire protections to a fleet of tankers. Different types of fire protections were considered, as well as the possibility to apply protections to the entire fleet or only to a part of it. The application of the proposed model to a real-life case study is presented and discussed. Results demonstrate that the adoption of passive fire protections on road tankers, though not compulsory in Europe, can be economically feasible, thus representing a concrete measure to achieve control of the "major hazard accidents" cited by the European legislation. © 2011 Society for Risk Analysis.

Weather Observation Systems and Efficiency of Fighting Forest Fires

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khabarov, N.; Moltchanova, E.; Obersteiner, M.

2007-12-01

Weather observation is an essential component of modern forest fire management systems. Satellite and in-situ based weather observation systems might help to reduce forest loss, human casualties and destruction of economic capital. In this paper, we develop and apply a methodology to assess the benefits of various weather observation systems on reductions of burned area due to early fire detection. In particular, we consider a model where the air patrolling schedule is determined by a fire hazard index. The index is computed from gridded daily weather data for the area covering parts Spain and Portugal. We conduct a number of simulation experiments. First, the resolution of the original data set is artificially reduced. The reduction of the total forest burned area associated with air patrolling based on a finer weather grid indicates the benefit of using higher spatially resolved weather observations. Second, we consider a stochastic model to simulate forest fires and explore the sensitivity of the model with respect to the quality of input data. The analysis of combination of satellite and ground monitoring reveals potential cost saving due to a "system of systems effect" and substantial reduction in burned area. Finally, we estimate the marginal improvement schedule for loss of life and economic capital as a function of the improved fire observing system.

Wildfire Policy in Mediterranean France: How Far is it Efficient and Sustainable?

PubMed

Curt, Thomas; Frejaville, Thibaut

2018-03-01

A new fire policy reinforcing aggressive fire suppression was established in Mediterranean France in response to the devastating wildfires of the 1990s, but to what extent this has changed fire activity yet remains poorly understood. For this purpose, we compared the number and location of ignitions and of burned areas between two 20-year periods (1975-1994 vs. 1995-2014), in parallel to the changes in fuel covering, human activity promoting ignitions, and fire weather. The number of fires decreased almost continuously since 1975, but sharply after 1994, suggesting an effect of better fire prevention due to the new policy. But the major change in fire activity is a considerable reduction in fire size and burned areas after 1994, especially during summer and in the most fire-prone places, in response to massive efforts put into fire suppression. These reductions have occurred while the covering by fuel biomass, the human pressure on ignition, and the fire weather index increased, thus making the study area more hazardous. Our results suggest that a strategy of aggressive fire suppression has great potential for counterbalancing the effects of climate changes and human activities and for controlling fire activity in the short term. However, we discuss whether such a suppression-oriented approach is sustainable in the context of global changes, which cast new fire challenges as demonstrated by the devastative fires of 2003 and 2016. We advocate for a more comprehensive fire policy to come. © 2017 Society for Risk Analysis.

46 CFR 71.25-45 - Fire hazards.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 46 Shipping 3 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Fire hazards. 71.25-45 Section 71.25-45 Shipping COAST... Inspection § 71.25-45 Fire hazards. (a) At each annual inspection, the inspector shall examine the tank tons... fire hazard. (b) [Reserved] ...

75 FR 32960 - Hazardous Fire Risk Reduction, East Bay Hills, CA

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-06-10

... program. The Strawberry Canyon Vegetation Management Project involves the removal of eucalyptus and other... tree sprouts from the area. The Claremont Canyon Vegetation Management Project involves the removal of... the Strawberry Canyon Vegetation Management Project for public comment. The draft environmental...

Effects of wildland fire on regional and global carbon stocks in a changing environment

Treesearch

Allen M. Solomon

2009-01-01

Every year tens of millions of hectares of forests, woodlands, and grasslands burn globally. Some are burned intentionally for land conversion, pasture renewal or hazard reduction, or wildlife habitat improvement, but most are burned by uncontrolled wildfire. Estimates of...

Noise exposure assessment and abatement strategies at an indoor firing range.

PubMed

Kardous, Chucri A; Willson, Robert D; Hayden, Charles S; Szlapa, Piotr; Murphy, William J; Reeves, Efrem R

2003-08-01

Exposure to hazardous impulse noise is common during the firing of weapons at indoor firing ranges. The aims of this study were to characterize the impulse noise environment at a law enforcement firing range; document the insufficiencies found at the range from a health and safety standpoint; and provide noise abatement recommendations to reduce the overall health hazard to the auditory system. Ten shooters conducted a typical live-fire exercise using three different weapons--the Beretta.40 caliber pistol, the Remington.308 caliber shotgun, and the M4.223 caliber assault rifle. Measurements were obtained at 12 different positions throughout the firing range and adjacent areas using dosimeters and sound level meters. Personal and area measurements were recorded to a digital audio tape (DAT) recorder for further spectral analysis. Peak pressure levels inside the firing range reached 163 decibels (dB) in peak pressure. Equivalent sound levels (Leq) ranged from 78 decibels, A-weighted (dBA), in office area adjacent to the range to 122 dBA inside the range. Noise reductions from wall structures ranged from 29-44 dB. Noise abatement strategies ranged from simple noise control measures (such as sealing construction joints and leaks) to elaborate design modifications to eliminate structural-borne sounds using acoustical treatments. Further studies are needed to better characterize the effects of firing weapons in enclosed spaces on hearing and health in general.

Housing arrangement and location determine the likelihood of housing loss due to wildfire

USGS Publications Warehouse

Syphard, Alexandra D.; Keeley, Jon E.; Massada, Avi Bar; Brennan, Teresa J.; Radeloff, Volker C.

2012-01-01

Surging wildfires across the globe are contributing to escalating residential losses and have major social, economic, and ecological consequences. The highest losses in the U.S. occur in southern California, where nearly 1000 homes per year have been destroyed by wildfires since 2000. Wildfire risk reduction efforts focus primarily on fuel reduction and, to a lesser degree, on house characteristics and homeowner responsibility. However, the extent to which land use planning could alleviate wildfire risk has been largely missing from the debate despite large numbers of homes being placed in the most hazardous parts of the landscape. Our goal was to examine how housing location and arrangement affects the likelihood that a home will be lost when a wildfire occurs. We developed an extensive geographic dataset of structure locations, including more than 5500 structures that were destroyed or damaged by wildfire since 2001, and identified the main contributors to property loss in two extensive, fire-prone regions in southern California. The arrangement and location of structures strongly affected their susceptibility to wildfire, with property loss most likely at low to intermediate structure densities and in areas with a history of frequent fire. Rates of structure loss were higher when structures were surrounded by wildland vegetation, but were generally higher in herbaceous fuel types than in higher fuel-volume woody types. Empirically based maps developed using housing pattern and location performed better in distinguishing hazardous from non-hazardous areas than maps based on fuel distribution. The strong importance of housing arrangement and location indicate that land use planning may be a critical tool for reducing fire risk, but it will require reliable delineations of the most hazardous locations.

The Road To The Objective Force. Armaments for the Army Transformation

DTIC Science & Technology

2001-06-18

Vehicle Fire Support Vehicle •TOW 2B Anti-Tank Capability Under Armor •Detection of NBC Hazards Mortar Carrier •Dismounted M121 120mm MRT Initially...engaged from under armor M6 Launchers (x4) Staring Array Thermal Sight Height reduction for air transport Day Camera Target Acq Sight Armament Remote...PM BCT ANTI-TANK GUIDED MISSILE VEHICLE • TOWII • ITAS (Raytheon) - 2 Missiles • IBAS Day Camera • Missile is Remotely Fired Under Armor • M6 Smoke

A life cycle hazard assessment (LCHA) framework to address fire hazards at the wildland-urban interface

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lindquist, Eric; Pierce, Jen; Wuerzer, Thomas; Glenn, Nancy; Dialani, Jijay; Gibble, Katie; Frazier, Tim; Strand, Eva

2015-04-01

The stages of planning for and responding to natural hazards, such as wildfires and related events, are often conducted as discrete (and often not connected) efforts. Disaster response often takes precedence, exhausting agency and stakeholder resources, and the planning stages are conducted by different agencies or entities with different and often competing agendas and jurisdictions. The result is that evaluation after a disaster can be minimal or even non-existent as resources are expended and interest moves on to the next event. Natural disasters and hazards, however, have a tendency to cascade and multiply: wildfires impact the vulnerability of hillslopes, for example, which may result in landslides, flooding and debris flows long after the initial event has occurred. Connecting decisions across multiple events and time scales is ignored, yet these connections could lead to better policy making at all stages of disaster risk reduction. Considering this situation, we present an adapted life cycle analysis (LCA) approach to examine fire-related hazards at the Wildland-Urban Interface in the American West. The LCHA focuses on the temporal integration of : 1) the 'pre-fire' set of physical conditions (e.g. fuel loads) and human conditions (e.g. hazard awareness), 2) the 'fire event', focusing on computational analysis of the communication patterns and responsibility for response to the event, and 3) the 'post-event' analysis of the landscape susceptibility to fire-related debris flows. The approach of the LCHA follows other models used by governmental agencies to prepare for disasters through 1) preparation and prevention, 2) response and 3) recovery. As an overlay are the diverse agencies and policies associated with these stages and their respective resource and management decisions over time. LCAs have evolved from a business-centric consideration of the environmental impact of a specific product over the products life. This approach takes several phases to end up with an assessment of the impact of the product on the environment over time and is being considered beyond the business and logistics communities in such areas as biodiversity and ecosystem impacts. From our perspective, we consider wildfire as the "product" and want to understand how it impacts the environment (spatially, temporally, across the bio-physical and social domains). Through development of this LCHA we adapt the LCA approach with a focus on the inputs (from fire and pre-fire efforts) outputs (from post fire conditions) and how they evolve and are responded to by the responsible agencies and stakeholders responsible. A Life Cycle Hazard Assessment (LCHA) approach extends and integrates the understanding of hazards over much longer periods of time than previously considered. The LCHA also provides an integrated platform for the necessary interdisciplinary approach to understanding decision and environmental change across the life cycle of the fire event. This presentation will discuss our theoretical and empirical framework for developing a longitudinal LCHA and contribute to the overall goals of the NH7.1 session.

Fuels planning: science synthesis and integration; forest structure and fire hazard fact sheet 02: fire hazard

Treesearch

Rocky Mountain Research Station USDA Forest Service

2004-01-01

Fire hazard reflects the potential fire behavior and magnitude of effects as a function of fuel conditions. This fact sheet discusses crown fuels, surface fuels, and ground fuels and their contribution and involvement in wildland fire.Other publications in this series...

Data and Summaries for Catalytic Destruction of a Surrogate Organic Hazardous Air Pollutant as a Potential Co-benefit for Coal-Fired Selective Catalytic Reduction Systems

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Table 1 summarizes and explanis the Operating Conditions of the SCR Reactor used in the Benzene-Destruction.Table 2 summarizes and explains the Experimental Design and Test Results.Table 3 summarizes and explains the Estimates for Individual Effects and Cross Effects Obtained from the Linear Regression Models for Destruction of C6H6 and Reduction of NO.Fig. 1 shows the Down-flow SCR reactor system in detail.Fig. 2 shows the graphical summary of the Effect of the inlet C6H6 concentration to the SCR reactor on the destruction of C6H6.Fig.3 shows the summary of Carbon mass balance for C6H6 destruction promoted by the V2O5-WO3/TiO2 catalyst.This dataset is associated with the following publication:Lee , C., Y. Zhao, S. Lu, and W.R. Stevens. Catalytic Destruction of a Surrogate Organic Hazardous Air Polutant as a Potential Co-benefit for Coal-fired Selective Catalyst Reduction Systems. AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY. American Chemical Society, Washington, DC, USA, 30(3): 2240-2247, (2016).

Climate change and wildland firefighter health and safety.

PubMed

Withen, Patrick

2015-02-01

The author examines how climate change is impacting wildland firefighters. Climate change has made wildland fires more frequent and more intense. The increase in frequency and intensity of fires has pushed the number of fatalities and injuries higher in recent decades. The most common hazards on fires follow the trend of fire in general in that these hazards become more frequent and intense. Burnovers, heat exhaustion, tree hazards, and many other common fire hazards are more likely. The fire suppression agencies are making every effort to improve health and safety on fires by improving communication, weather forecasting, mapping, fire shelters, decision making and more. Despite these efforts, wildfires are becoming ever more hazardous because of climate change and the increasing frequency and intensity of wildfires. © 2015 SAGE Publications.

46 CFR 91.25-45 - Fire hazards.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 46 Shipping 4 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Fire hazards. 91.25-45 Section 91.25-45 Shipping COAST... CERTIFICATION Inspection for Certification § 91.25-45 Fire hazards. (a) At each inspection for certification and... that there is no accumulation of oil which might create a fire hazard. [CGFR 65-50, 30 FR 16974, Dec...

46 CFR 189.25-45 - Fire hazards.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 46 Shipping 7 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Fire hazards. 189.25-45 Section 189.25-45 Shipping COAST... CERTIFICATION Inspection for Certification § 189.25-45 Fire hazards. At each inspection for certification and... that there is no accumulation of oil which might create a fire hazard. [CGFR 67-83, 33 FR 1118, Jan. 27...

Managing smoke from wildfires and prescribed burning in southern Australia

Treesearch

Alan Wain; Graham Mills; Lachlan McCaw; Timothy Brown

2009-01-01

In Australia the responsibility for management of forests and other public lands rests largely with state governments, and multiple government agencies may be involved in fire management. Whether resulting from wildfire, fuel reduction, or silvicultural operations, biomass burning often stimulates community concerns about hazards from fine particulates and chemical...

Estimating Value Contribution of Tree and Stand Condition

Treesearch

R. Joss Hanna; Richard P. Thompson; Douglas D. Piirto; Jay E. Noel

1997-01-01

Key issues in encouraging forest management at the interface level in the oak woodlands are fire abatement, stand improvement, infection reduction, and hazard tree removal. The development of effective management prescriptions for stand improvement and economic returns provide guidance for homeowners, appraisers, and realtors. The purpose of this research project was...

46 CFR 190.05-3 - Fire hazards to be minimized.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... Shipping COAST GUARD, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY (CONTINUED) OCEANOGRAPHIC RESEARCH VESSELS CONSTRUCTION AND ARRANGEMENT General Fire Protection § 190.05-3 Fire hazards to be minimized. (a) The general construction of the vessel shall be such as to minimize fire hazards. ...

From leaves to landscape: A multiscale approach to assess fire hazard in wildland-urban interface areas.

PubMed

Ghermandi, Luciana; Beletzky, Natacha A; de Torres Curth, Mónica I; Oddi, Facundo J

2016-12-01

The overlapping zone between urbanization and wildland vegetation, known as the wildland urban interface (WUI), is often at high risk of wildfire. Human activities increase the likelihood of wildfires, which can have disastrous consequences for property and land use, and can pose a serious threat to lives. Fire hazard assessments depend strongly on the spatial scale of analysis. We assessed the fire hazard in a WUI area of a Patagonian city by working at three scales: landscape, community and species. Fire is a complex phenomenon, so we used a large number of variables that correlate a priori with the fire hazard. Consequently, we analyzed environmental variables together with fuel load and leaf flammability variables and integrated all the information in a fire hazard map with four fire hazard categories. The Nothofagus dombeyi forest had the highest fire hazard while grasslands had the lowest. Our work highlights the vulnerability of the wildland-urban interface to fire in this region and our suggested methodology could be applied in other wildland-urban interface areas. Particularly in high hazard areas, our work could help in spatial delimitation policies, urban planning and development of plans for the protection of human lives and assets. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Fuels planning: science synthesis and integration; forest structure and fire hazard fact sheet 01: forest structure and fire hazard overview

Treesearch

Rocky Mountain Research Station USDA Forest Service

2004-01-01

Many managers and policymakers guided by the National Environmental Policy Act process want to understand the scientific principles on which they can base fuel treatments for reducing the size and severity of wildfires. These Forest Structure and Fire Hazard fact sheets discuss how to estimate fire hazard, how to visualize fuel treatments, and how the role of...

Estimating forest fuels in the Southwest using forest inventory data

Treesearch

Krista M. Gebert; Ervin G. Schuster; Sharon Woudenberg; Renee O' Brien

2008-01-01

Catastrophic wildfires occurring over the last several years have led land management agencies to focus on reducing hazardous fuels. These wildland fuel reduction projects will likely be concentrated in shorter interval, fire-adapted ecosystems that have been moderately or significantly altered from their historical range. But where are these situations located? What...

Integrating stand density management with fuel reduction

Treesearch

Joseph W. Sherlock

2007-01-01

The widespread effort to reduce fuel hazards in western forested ecosystems places significant emphasis on surface and small ladder fuels. Changes in canopy density, for purposes of either reducing potential crown fire impacts or insect/pathogen-related mortality, are less frequently considered. Providing a sound basis for treating more than surface and small ladder...

Forest fuel reduction and biomass supply: perspectives from southern private landowners

Treesearch

Jianbang Gan; Adam Jarrett; Cassandra Johnson Gaither

2013-01-01

Removing excess biomass from fire-hazardous forests can serve dual purposes: enhancing the health and sustainability of forest ecosystems and supplying feedstock for energy production. The physical availability of this biomass is fairly well-known, yet availability does not necessarily translate into actual supply. We assess the perception and behavior of private...

Fuel Treatment Effects on Water Use Efficiency in Western Pine Forests Under Fire Suppression Evaluated Using Tree Ring Carbon Isotopes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Taylor, A. H.; Belmecheri, S.; Harris, L. B.

2016-12-01

We identified variation on water use efficiency interpreted from carbon 13 in tree ring cellulose in dense ponderosa pines forests in Washington and Arizona. Historically, these forests burned every decade until fires were suppressed beginning in the early twentieth century. The reduction in fire caused large increases in forest density and forest biomass and potential for intense fire. Forests with hazardous fuels are common in the western United States and these types of forests are treated with mechanical thinning and mechanical thinning and burning to reduce hazardous fuels and fire intensity. At each site we extracted tree ring samples from five trees in each treatment type and a control to identify the effects of fuel treatment of concentration of carbon 13 in tree ring cellulose. Water use efficiency as measured by carbon 13 increased after fuel treatments. Treatment effects were larger for the mechanical plus burn treatment than for the mechanical treatment in each study area compared to the control stands Our results suggest that fuel treatments reduce sensitivity of tree growth to climate and increase water use efficiency. Since tree ring carbon 13 is related to plant productivity, carbon 13 in tree rings can be used as a metric of change in ecosystem function for evaluating fuel treatments.

24 CFR 200.86 - Covenant for fire and other hazard insurance.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... Covenant for fire and other hazard insurance. The mortgage shall contain a covenant binding the mortgagor to maintain fire and extended coverage insurance on the property in accordance with terms and... 24 Housing and Urban Development 2 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Covenant for fire and other hazard...

32 CFR 935.161 - Fire hazards.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... 32 National Defense 6 2011-07-01 2011-07-01 false Fire hazards. 935.161 Section 935.161 National... WAKE ISLAND CODE Public Safety § 935.161 Fire hazards. (a) Each person engaged in a business or other activity on Wake Island shall, at his expense, provide and maintain (in an accessible location) fire...

32 CFR 935.161 - Fire hazards.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 32 National Defense 6 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Fire hazards. 935.161 Section 935.161 National... WAKE ISLAND CODE Public Safety § 935.161 Fire hazards. (a) Each person engaged in a business or other activity on Wake Island shall, at his expense, provide and maintain (in an accessible location) fire...

32 CFR 935.161 - Fire hazards.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... 32 National Defense 6 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Fire hazards. 935.161 Section 935.161 National... WAKE ISLAND CODE Public Safety § 935.161 Fire hazards. (a) Each person engaged in a business or other activity on Wake Island shall, at his expense, provide and maintain (in an accessible location) fire...

32 CFR 935.161 - Fire hazards.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... 32 National Defense 6 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false Fire hazards. 935.161 Section 935.161 National... WAKE ISLAND CODE Public Safety § 935.161 Fire hazards. (a) Each person engaged in a business or other activity on Wake Island shall, at his expense, provide and maintain (in an accessible location) fire...

32 CFR 935.161 - Fire hazards.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... 32 National Defense 6 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false Fire hazards. 935.161 Section 935.161 National... WAKE ISLAND CODE Public Safety § 935.161 Fire hazards. (a) Each person engaged in a business or other activity on Wake Island shall, at his expense, provide and maintain (in an accessible location) fire...

Fire hazard after prescribed burning in a gorse shrubland: implications for fuel management.

PubMed

Marino, Eva; Guijarro, Mercedes; Hernando, Carmen; Madrigal, Javier; Díez, Carmen

2011-03-01

Prescribed burning is commonly used to prevent accumulation of biomass in fire-prone shrubland in NW Spain. However, there is a lack of knowledge about the efficacy of the technique in reducing fire hazard in these ecosystems. Fire hazard in burned shrubland areas will depend on the initial capacity of woody vegetation to recover and on the fine ground fuels existing after fire. To explore the effect that time since burning has on fire hazard, experimental tests were performed with two fuel complexes (fine ground fuels and regenerated shrubs) resulting from previous prescribed burnings conducted in a gorse shrubland (Ulex europaeus L.) one, three and five years earlier. A point-ignition source was used in burning experiments to assess ignition and initial propagation success separately for each fuel complex. The effect of wind speed was also studied for shrub fuels, and several flammability parameters were measured. Results showed that both ignition and initial propagation success of fine ground fuels mainly depended on fuel depth and were independent of time since burning, although flammability parameters indicated higher fire hazard three years after burning. In contrast, time since burning increased ignition and initial propagation success of regenerated shrub fuels, as well as the flammability parameters assessed, but wind speed had no significant effect. The combination of results of fire hazard for fine ground fuels and regenerated shrubs according to the variation in relative coverage of each fuel type after prescribed burning enabled an assessment of integrated fire hazard in treated areas. The present results suggest that prescribed burning is a very effective technique to reduce fire hazard in the study area, but that fire hazard will be significantly increased by the third year after burning. These results are valuable for fire prevention and fuel management planning in gorse shrubland areas. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Southwestern Oregon's Biscuit Fire: An Analysis of Forest Resources, Fire Severity, and Fire Hazard

Treesearch

David L. Azuma; Glenn A. Christensen

2005-01-01

This study compares pre-fire field inventory data (collected from 1993 to 1997) in relation to post-fire mapped fire severity classes and the Fire and Fuels Extension of the Forest Vegetation Simulator growth and yield model measures of fire hazard for the portion of the Siskiyou National Forest in the 2002 Biscuit fire perimeter of southwestern Oregon. Post-fire...

Workshop held on natural disasters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rundle, John; Klein, W.; Turcotte, D.

Natural hazards such as earthquakes and floods are a menace to the population worldwide. The United Nations focused attention on this global problem by declaring the 1990s the Decade of Natural Hazard Reduction. In addition to threatening human life, natural hazards can cause severe economic hardship locally and, in an ever more complex and interactive world economy, dislocations that are felt in areas far beyond the site of a disaster.Recent catastrophic earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, and fires have called into question the ability of private insurers to cover economic losses. Unlimited liability is a necessity for confidence in insurance coverage, but these events have stretched the resources of even the largest insurers.

Fire fighting aboard ships. Volume 1: Hazard analysis and behavior of combustible materials

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Stavitskiy, M.G.; Kortunov, M.F.; Sidoryuk, V.M.

1983-01-01

The volume zeros in on fire hazards on ships afloat or under construction/repair. It examines fire hazards peculiar to ships carrying particular cargoes, such as dry-cargo ships, tankers, and factory and fishing vessels. This volume examines specific features of fire-fighting equipment, along with the thermal behavior of materials used in shipbuilding.

ERTS-1 imagery and high flight photographs as aids to fire hazard appraisal at the NASA San Pablo Reservoir test site

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Colwell, R. N.

1973-01-01

The identification of fire hazards at the San Pablo Reservoir Test Site in California using ERTS-1 data is discussed. It is stated that the two primary fire hazards in the area are caused by wild oat plants and eucalyptus trees. The types of imagery used in conducting the study are reported. Aerial photographs of specific areas are included to show the extent of the fire hazards.

The effects of thinning and similar stand treatments on fire behavior in Western forests.

Treesearch

Russell T. Graham; Alan E. Harvey; Theresa B. Jain; Jonalea R. Tonn

1999-01-01

In the West, thinning and partial cuttings are being considered for treating millions of forested acres that are overstocked and prone to wildfire. The objectives of these treatments include tree growth redistribution, tree species regulation, timber harvest, wildlife habitat improvement, and wildfire-hazard reduction. Depending on the forest type and its structure,...

A report on conceptual advances in roll on/off technology in forestry

Treesearch

Dave Atkins; Robert Rummer; Beth Dodson; Craig E. Thomas; Andy Horcher; Ed Messerlie; Craig Rawlings; David Haston

2007-01-01

Over the last two decades, increasingly severe fire seasons have led policymakers to recognize the need for thinning overgrown stands of trees.However, thinning presents a financial challenge. The problem is that hazardous fuel reduction projects —especially projects in the Wildland/Urban Interface— contain mostly smaller trees, which have...

Control of Materials Flammability Hazards

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Griffin, Dennis E.

2003-01-01

This viewgraph presentation provides information on selecting, using, and configuring spacecraft materials in such a way as to minimize the ability of fire to spread onboard a spacecraft. The presentation gives an overview of the flammability requirements of NASA-STD-6001, listing specific tests and evaluation criteria it requires. The presentation then gives flammability reduction methods for specific spacecraft items and materials.

Community Wildfire Protection Planning: The Importance of Framing, Scale, and Building Sustainable Capacity

Treesearch

Daniel R. Williams; Pamela J. Jakes; Sam Burns; Antony S. Cheng; Kristen C. Nelson; Victoria Sturtevant; Rachel F. Brummel; Emily Staychock; Stephanie G. Souter

2012-01-01

Community wildfire protection planning has become an important tool for engaging wildland-urban interface residents and other stakeholders in efforts to address their mutual concerns about wildland fire management, prioritize hazardous fuel reduction projects, and improve forest health. Drawing from 13 case studies from across the United States, this article describes...

Forestry-based biomass economic and financial information and tools: An annotated bibliography

Treesearch

Dan Loeffler; Jason Brandt; Todd Morgan; Greg Jones

2010-01-01

This annotated bibliography is a synthesis of information products available to land managers in the western United States regarding economic and financial aspects of forestry-based woody biomass removal, a component of fire hazard and/or fuel reduction treatments. This publication contains over 200 forestry-based biomass papers, financial models, sources of biomass...

Quantifying Ladder Fuels: A New Approach Using LiDAR

Treesearch

Heather Kramer; Brandon Collins; Maggi Kelly; Scott Stephens

2014-01-01

We investigated the relationship between LiDAR and ladder fuels in the northern Sierra Nevada, California USA. Ladder fuels are often targeted in hazardous fuel reduction treatments due to their role in propagating fire from the forest floor to tree crowns. Despite their importance, ladder fuels are difficult to quantify. One common approach is to calculate canopy base...

40 CFR 63.8800 - What performance tests and other procedures must I use to demonstrate compliance with the...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants: Flexible Polyurethane Foam Fabrication Operations Testing... paragraphs (e)(1) through (3) of this section. (1) If you use chlorinated fire retardant foams, determine the... retardant foams, determine the percent reduction of HCN to represent HAP emissions from the source. (2...

40 CFR 63.8800 - What performance tests and other procedures must I use to demonstrate compliance with the...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants: Flexible Polyurethane Foam Fabrication Operations Testing... paragraphs (e)(1) through (3) of this section. (1) If you use chlorinated fire retardant foams, determine the... retardant foams, determine the percent reduction of HCN to represent HAP emissions from the source. (2...

40 CFR 63.8800 - What performance tests and other procedures must I use to demonstrate compliance with the...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants: Flexible Polyurethane Foam Fabrication Operations Testing... paragraphs (e)(1) through (3) of this section. (1) If you use chlorinated fire retardant foams, determine the... retardant foams, determine the percent reduction of HCN to represent HAP emissions from the source. (2...

40 CFR 63.8800 - What performance tests and other procedures must I use to demonstrate compliance with the...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants: Flexible Polyurethane Foam Fabrication Operations Testing... paragraphs (e)(1) through (3) of this section. (1) If you use chlorinated fire retardant foams, determine the... retardant foams, determine the percent reduction of HCN to represent HAP emissions from the source. (2...

40 CFR 63.8800 - What performance tests and other procedures must I use to demonstrate compliance with the...

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants: Flexible Polyurethane Foam Fabrication Operations Testing... paragraphs (e)(1) through (3) of this section. (1) If you use chlorinated fire retardant foams, determine the... retardant foams, determine the percent reduction of HCN to represent HAP emissions from the source. (2...

Reducing fire hazard: balancing costs and outcomes.

Treesearch

Valerie Rapp

2004-01-01

Massive wildfires in recent years have given urgency to questions of how to reduce fire hazard in Western forests, how to finance the work, and how to use the wood, especially in forests crowded with small trees. Scientists have already developed tools that estimate fire hazard in a forest stand. But hazard is more difficult to estimate at a landscape scale, involving...

Assessing crown fire potential by linking models of surface and crown fire behavior

Treesearch

Joe H. Scott; Elizabeth D. Reinhardt

2001-01-01

Fire managers are increasingly concerned about the threat of crown fires, yet only now are quantitative methods for assessing crown fire hazard being developed. Links among existing mathematical models of fire behavior are used to develop two indices of crown fire hazard-the Torching Index and Crowning Index. These indices can be used to ordinate different forest...

Potential Operating Room Fire Hazard of Bone Cement.

PubMed

Sibia, Udai S; Connors, Kevin; Dyckman, Sarah; Zahiri, Hamid R; George, Ivan; Park, Adrian E; MacDonald, James H

Approximately 600 cases of operating room (OR) fires are reported annually. Despite extensive fire safety education and training, complete elimination of OR fires still has not been achieved. Each fire requires an ignition source, a fuel source, and an oxidizer. In this case report, we describe the potential fire hazard of bone cement in the OR. A total knee arthroplasty was performed with a standard medial parapatellar arthrotomy. Tourniquet control was used. After bone cement was applied to the prepared tibial surface, the surgeon used an electrocautery device to resect residual lateral meniscus tissue-and started a fire in the operative field. The surgeon suffocated the fire with a dry towel and prevented injury to the patient. We performed a PubMed search with a cross-reference search for relevant papers and found no case reports outlining bone cement as a potential fire hazard in the OR. To our knowledge, this is the first case report identifying bone cement as a fire hazard. OR fires related to bone cement can be eliminated by correctly assessing the setting time of the cement and avoiding application sites during electrocautery.

The Zoning of Forest Fire Potential of Gulestan Province Forests Using Granular Computing and MODIS Images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jalilzadeh Shadlouei, A.; Delavar, M. R.

2013-09-01

There are many vegetation in Iran. This is because of extent of Iran and its width. One of these vegetation is forest vegetation most prevalent in Northern provinces named Guilan, Mazandaran, Gulestan, Ardebil as well as East Azerbaijan. These forests are always threatened by natural forest fires so much so that there have been reports of tens of fires in recent years. Forest fires are one of the major environmental as well as economic, social and security concerns in the world causing much damages. According to climatology, forest fires are one of the important factors in the formation and dispersion of vegetation. Also, regarding the environment, forest fires cause the emission of considerable amounts of greenhouse gases, smoke and dust into the atmosphere which in turn causes the earth temperature to rise up and are unhealthy to humans, animals and vegetation. In agriculture droughts are the usual side effects of these fires. The causes of forest fires could be categorized as either Human or Natural Causes. Naturally, it is impossible to completely contain forest fires; however, areas with high potentials of fire could be designated and analysed to decrease the risk of fires. The zoning of forest fire potential is a multi-criteria problem always accompanied by inherent uncertainty like other multi-criteria problems. So far, various methods and algorithm for zoning hazardous areas via Remote Sensing (RS) and Geospatial Information System (GIS) have been offered. This paper aims at zoning forest fire potential of Gulestan Province of Iran forests utilizing Remote Sensing, Geospatial Information System, meteorological data, MODIS images and granular computing method. Granular computing is part of granular mathematical and one way of solving multi-criteria problems such forest fire potential zoning supervised by one expert or some experts , and it offers rules for classification with the least inconsistencies. On the basis of the experts' opinion, 6 determinative criterias contributing to forest fires have been designated as follows: vegetation (NDVI), slope, aspect, temperature, humidity and proximity to roadways. By applying these variables on several tentatively selected areas and formation information tables and producing granular decision tree and extraction of rules, the zoning rules (for the areas in question) were extracted. According to them the zoning of the entire area has been conducted. The zoned areas have been classified into 5 categories: high hazard, medium hazard (high), medium hazard (low), low hazard (high), low hazard (low). According to the map, the zoning of most of the areas fall into the low hazard (high) class while the least number of areas have been classified as low hazard (low). Comparing the forest fires in these regions in 2010 with the MODIS data base for forest fires, it is concluded that areas with high hazards of forest fire have been classified with a 64 percent precision. In other word 64 percent of pixels that are in high hazard classification are classified according to MODIS data base. Using this method we obtain a good range of Perception. Manager will reduce forest fire concern using precautionary proceeding on hazardous area.

Geographic variation in social acceptability of wildland fuels management in the western United States

USGS Publications Warehouse

Brunson, M.; Schindler, Bruce A.

2004-01-01

Contemporary natural resource management requires consideration of the social acceptability of management practices and conditions. Agencies wishing to measure, respond to, and influence social acceptability must understand the nuances of public perception regarding controversial issues. This study explores social acceptability judgments about one such issue: reduction of wildland fuel hazards on federal lands in the western United States. Citizens were surveyed in four locations where fire has been a significant ecological disturbance agent and public land agencies propose to reduce wildland fuel levels and wildfire hazards via prescribed burning, thinning, brush removal, and/or livestock grazing. Respondents in different locations differed in their knowledge about fire and fuel issues as well in their acceptability judgments. Differences are associated with location-specific social and environmental factors as well as individual beliefs. Results argue against using a??one-size-fits-alla?? policies or information strategies about fuels management.

Firefighter safety and photovoltaic installations research project

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Backstrom, Robert; Dini, Dave

2012-10-01

Under the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Assistance to Fire Fighters grant, UL LLC examined fire service concerns of photovoltaic (PV) systems. These concerns included firefighter vulnerability to electrical and casualty hazards when mitigating a fire involving photovoltaic (PV) modules systems. Findings include: 1. The electric shock hazard due to application of water is dependent on voltage, water conductivity, distance and spray pattern of the suppression stream. 2. Outdoor weather exposure rated electrical enclosures are not resistant to water penetration by fire hose streams. 3. Firefighter's gloves and boots afford limited protection against electrical shock provided the insulating surface is intact and dry. 4. "Turning off" an array is not a simple matter of opening a disconnect switch. 5. Tarps offer varying degrees of effectiveness. 6. Fire equipment scene lighting and exposure fires may illuminate PV systems sufficiently to cause a lock-on hazard. 7. Severely damaged PV arrays are capable of producing hazardous conditions. 8. Damage to modules from tools may result in both electrical and fire hazards. 9. Severing of conductors in both metal and plastic conduit results in electrical and fire hazards. 10. Responding personnel must stay away from the roofline in the event of modules or sections of an array sliding off the roof. 11. Fires under an array but above the roof may breach roofing materials and decking allowing fire to propagate into the attic space. Several tactical considerations were developed utilizing the data from the experiments.

Fire Safety's My Job. Eighth Grade. Fire Safety for Texans: Fire and Burn Prevention Curriculum Guide.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Texas State Commission on Fire Protection, Austin.

This booklet comprises the eighth grade component of a series of curriculum guides on fire and burn prevention. Designed to meet the age-specific needs of eighth grade students, its objectives include: (1) focusing on technical aspects of fire hazards and detection, and (2) exploring fire hazards outside the home. Texas essential elements of…

Evaluation of fire hazard inspection procedures in Butte County, California

Treesearch

William S. Folkman

1967-01-01

To assess effectiveness of fire hazard inspection procedures in securing compliance with fire safety requirements, effects of different types and combinations of contacts and timing were determined, and the production capacity of inspectors measured. It was demonstrated that fire law inspection is as much fire prevention education and engineering as it is law...

Wildfire risk and optimal investments in watershed protection

Treesearch

Travis Warziniack; Matthew Thompson

2013-01-01

Following what was then one of the most destructive fire years on record, President Bush signed into law the Healthy Forests Restoration Act of 2003. The law requires no less than fifty percent of all funds allocated for hazardous fuels reductions to occur in the wildland-urban interface (WUI), with the aim of enhancing the protection of homes and reducing the costs of...

Multi-objective optimization to evaluate tradeoffs among forest ecosystem services following fire hazard reduction in the Deschutes National Forest, USA

Treesearch

Svetlana A. (Kushch) Schroder; Sandor F. Toth; Robert L. Deal; Gregory J. Ettl

2016-01-01

Forest owners worldwide are increasingly interested in managing forests to provide a broad suite of Ecosystem services, balancing multiple objectives and evaluating management activities in terms of Potential tradeoffs. We describe a multi-objective mathematical programming model to quantify tradeoffs in expected sediment delivery and the preservation of Northern...

The East Bay Vegetation Management Consortium:\\ta subregional approach to resource management and planning

Treesearch

Tony Acosta

1995-01-01

Formed in response to the October 20, 1991, Oakland/Berkeley hills firestorm, the East Bay Vegetation Management Consortium (EBVMC) is a voluntary association of public agencies concerned with vegetation management and planning related to fire hazard reduction in the Oakland/ Berkeley hills. To date, a total of nine agencies are participating in the EBVMC, including...

Fighting Tomorrows Fire Today: Leveraging Intelligence for Scenario-Based Exercise Design

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-03-01

Management and Budget, Paperwork Reduction Project (0704–0188) Washington, DC 20503. 1. AGENCY USE ONLY (Leave blank) 2. REPORT DATE March 2014 3...IPG Improvised Projected Grenade IT information technology LLIS Lessons Learned Information Sharing MEP Master Exercise Practitioner MOU...Disaster?” Natural Hazards 18, no. 1 (1998): 87–88. xvii THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK xviii

Fuel reduction in residential and scenic forests: A comparison of three treatments in a western Montana ponderosa pine stand

Treesearch

Joe H. Scott

1998-01-01

Three contrasting thinning treatments to reduce fire hazard were implemented in a 100-year-old ponderosa pine/Douglas-fir (Pinus ponderosa/Pseudotsuga menzesii) stand on the Lolo National Forest, MT. All treatments included a commercial thinning designed to reduce crown fuels and provide revenue to offset costs. The treatments are...

Fate of hazardous air pollutants in oxygen-fired coal combustion with different flue gas recycling.

PubMed

Zhuang, Ye; Pavlish, John H

2012-04-17

Experiments were performed to characterize transformation and speciation of hazardous air pollutants (HAPs), including SO(2)/SO(3), NO(x), HCl, particulate matter, mercury, and other trace elements in oxygen-firing bituminous coal with recirculation flue gas (RFG) from 1) an electrostatic precipitator outlet or 2) a wet scrubber outlet. The experimental results showed that oxycombustion with RFG generated a flue gas with less volume and containing HAPs at higher levels, while the actual emissions of HAPs per unit of energy produced were much less than that of air-blown combustion. NO(x) reduction was achieved in oxycombustion because of the elimination of nitrogen and the destruction of NO in the RFG. The elevated SO(2)/SO(3) in flue gas improved sulfur self-retention. SO(3) vapor could reach its dew point in the flue gas with high moisture, which limits the amount of SO(3) vapor in flue gas and possibly induces material corrosion. Most nonvolatile trace elements were less enriched in fly ash in oxycombustion than air-firing because of lower oxycombustion temperatures occurring in the present study. Meanwhile, Hg and Se were found to be enriched on submicrometer fly ash at higher levels in oxy-firing than in air-blown combustion.

Wildfire air pollution hazard during the 21st century

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Knorr, Wolfgang; Dentener, Frank; Lamarque, Jean-François; Jiang, Leiwen; Arneth, Almut

2017-07-01

Wildfires pose a significant risk to human livelihoods and are a substantial health hazard due to emissions of toxic smoke. Previous studies have shown that climate change, increasing atmospheric CO2, and human demographic dynamics can lead to substantially altered wildfire risk in the future, with fire activity increasing in some regions and decreasing in others. The present study re-examines these results from the perspective of air pollution risk, focussing on emissions of airborne particulate matter (PM2. 5), combining an existing ensemble of simulations using a coupled fire-dynamic vegetation model with current observation-based estimates of wildfire emissions and simulations with a chemical transport model. Currently, wildfire PM2. 5 emissions exceed those from anthropogenic sources in large parts of the world. We further analyse two extreme sets of future wildfire emissions in a socio-economic, demographic climate change context and compare them to anthropogenic emission scenarios reflecting current and ambitious air pollution legislation. In most regions of the world, ambitious reductions of anthropogenic air pollutant emissions have the potential to limit mean annual pollutant PM2. 5 levels to comply with World Health Organization (WHO) air quality guidelines for PM2. 5. Worst-case future wildfire emissions are not likely to interfere with these annual goals, largely due to fire seasonality, as well as a tendency of wildfire sources to be situated in areas of intermediate population density, as opposed to anthropogenic sources that tend to be highest at the highest population densities. However, during the high-fire season, we find many regions where future PM2. 5 pollution levels can reach dangerous levels even for a scenario of aggressive reduction of anthropogenic emissions.

An evaluation of the relative fire hazards of jet A and jet B for commercial flight

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hibbard, R. R.; Hacker, P. T.

1973-01-01

The relative fire hazards of Jet A and Jet B aircraft fuels are evaluated. The evaluation is based on a consideration of the presence of and/or the generation of flammable mixtures in fuel systems, the ignition characteristics, and the flame propagation rates for the two fuel types. Three distinct aircraft operating regimes where fuel type may be a factor in fire hazards are considered. These are: (1) ground handling and refueling, (2) flight, and (3) crash. The evaluation indicates that the overall fire hazards for Jet A are less than for Jet B fuel.

Experimental Study of Fire Hazards of Thermal-Insulation Material in Diesel Locomotive: Aluminum-Polyurethane.

PubMed

Zhang, Taolin; Zhou, Xiaodong; Yang, Lizhong

2016-03-05

This work investigated experimentally and theoretically the fire hazards of thermal-insulation materials used in diesel locomotives under different radiation heat fluxes. Based on the experimental results, the critical heat flux for ignition was determined to be 6.15 kW/m² and 16.39 kW/m² for pure polyurethane and aluminum-polyurethane respectively. A theoretical model was established for both to predict the fire behaviors under different circumstances. The fire behavior of the materials was evaluated based on the flashover and the total heat release rate (HRR). The fire hazards levels were classified based on different experimental results. It was found that the fire resistance performance of aluminum-polyurethane is much better than that of pure-polyurethane under various external heat fluxes. The concentration of toxic pyrolysis volatiles generated from aluminum-polyurethane materials is much higher than that of pure polyurethane materials, especially when the heat flux is below 50 kW/m². The hazard index HI during peak width time was proposed based on the comprehensive impact of time and concentrations. The predicted HI in this model coincides with the existed N-gas and FED models which are generally used to evaluate the fire gas hazard in previous researches. The integrated model named HNF was proposed as well to estimate the fire hazards of materials by interpolation and weighted average calculation.

Experimental Study of Fire Hazards of Thermal-Insulation Material in Diesel Locomotive: Aluminum-Polyurethane

PubMed Central

Zhang, Taolin; Zhou, Xiaodong; Yang, Lizhong

2016-01-01

This work investigated experimentally and theoretically the fire hazards of thermal-insulation materials used in diesel locomotives under different radiation heat fluxes. Based on the experimental results, the critical heat flux for ignition was determined to be 6.15 kW/m2 and 16.39 kW/m2 for pure polyurethane and aluminum-polyurethane respectively. A theoretical model was established for both to predict the fire behaviors under different circumstances. The fire behavior of the materials was evaluated based on the flashover and the total heat release rate (HRR). The fire hazards levels were classified based on different experimental results. It was found that the fire resistance performance of aluminum-polyurethane is much better than that of pure-polyurethane under various external heat fluxes. The concentration of toxic pyrolysis volatiles generated from aluminum-polyurethane materials is much higher than that of pure polyurethane materials, especially when the heat flux is below 50 kW/m2. The hazard index HI during peak width time was proposed based on the comprehensive impact of time and concentrations. The predicted HI in this model coincides with the existed N-gas and FED models which are generally used to evaluate the fire gas hazard in previous researches. The integrated model named HNF was proposed as well to estimate the fire hazards of materials by interpolation and weighted average calculation. PMID:28773295

Butt rot defect and potential hazard in lodgepole pine on selected California recreational areas

Treesearch

Lee A. Paine

1966-01-01

Within the area sampled, potentially hazardous lodgepole pine were common on recreational sites. The incidence of decayed and mechanically weak trees was correlated with fire damage. Two-thirds of fire-scarred trees were decayed; one-third were rated potentially hazardous. Fire scars occurred roughly in proportion to level of plot recreational use.

Combustion Processes in the Aerospace Environment

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Huggett, Clayton

1969-01-01

The aerospace environment introduces new and enhanced fire hazards because the special atmosphere employed may increase the frequency and intensity of fires, because the confinement associated with aerospace systems adversely affects the dynamics of fire development and control, and because the hostile external environments limit fire control and rescue operations. Oxygen enriched atmospheres contribute to the fire hazard in aerospace systems by extending the list of combustible fuels, increasing the probability of ignition, and increasing the rates of fire spread and energy release. A system for classifying atmospheres according to the degree of fire hazard, based on the heat capacity of the atmosphere per mole of oxygen, is suggested. A brief exploration of the dynamics of chamber fires shows that such fires will exhibit an exponential growth rate and may grow to dangerous size in a very short time. Relatively small quantities of fuel and oxygen can produce a catastrophic fire in a closed chamber.

Utilization of geoinformation tools for the development of forest fire hazard mapping system: example of Pekan fire, Malaysia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mahmud, Ahmad Rodzi; Setiawan, Iwan; Mansor, Shattri; Shariff, Abdul Rashid Mohamed; Pradhan, Biswajeet; Nuruddin, Ahmed

2009-12-01

A study in modeling fire hazard assessment will be essential in establishing an effective forest fire management system especially in controlling and preventing peat fire. In this paper, we have used geographic information system (GIS), in combination with other geoinformation technologies such as remote sensing and computer modeling, for all aspects of wild land fire management. Identifying areas that have a high probability of burning is an important component of fire management planning. The development of spatially explicit GIS models has greatly facilitated this process by allowing managers to map and analyze variables contributing to fire occurrence across large, unique geographic units. Using the model and its associated software engine, the fire hazard map was produced. Extensive avenue programming scripts were written to provide additional capabilities in the development of these interfaces to meet the full complement of operational software considering various users requirements. The system developed not only possesses user friendly step by step operations to deliver the fire vulnerability mapping but also allows authorized users to edit, add or modify parameters whenever necessary. Results from the model can support fire hazard mapping in the forest and enhance alert system function by simulating and visualizing forest fire and helps for contingency planning.

24 CFR 242.33 - Covenant for malpractice, fire, and other hazard insurance.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... for malpractice, fire, and other hazard insurance. The mortgage shall contain a covenant binding the mortgagor to maintain adequate liability, fire, and extended coverage insurance on the property. The... 24 Housing and Urban Development 2 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Covenant for malpractice, fire, and...

Fire Hazard Assessment in Supporting Fire Protection System Design of a Chemical Process Facility

DTIC Science & Technology

1996-08-01

CSDP/Studies/FireHaz –i– 3/28/97 FIRE HAZARD ASSESSMENT IN SUPPORTING FIRE PROTECTION SYSTEM DESIGN OF A CHEMICAL PROCESS FACILITY Ali Pezeshk...Joseph Chang, Dwight Hunt, and Peter Jahn Parsons Infrastructure & Technology Group, Inc. Pasadena, California 91124 ABSTRACT Because fires in a chemical ...Assessment in Supporting Fire Protection System Design of a Chemical Process Facility 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER 5b. GRANT NUMBER 5c. PROGRAM ELEMENT NUMBER 6

Fire Safety Power. Sixth Grade. Fire Safety for Texans: Fire and Burn Prevention Curriculum Guide.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Texas State Commission on Fire Protection, Austin.

This booklet comprises the sixth grade component of a series of curriculum guides on fire and burn prevention. Designed to meet the age-specific needs of sixth grade students, its objectives include: (1) developing a comprehensive understanding of fire physics, (2) evaluating electrical hazards and how to respond to those hazards, and (3)…

[Forest fire risk assessment for China under different climate scenarios.

PubMed

Tian, Xiao Rui; Dai, Xuan; Wang, Ming Yu; Zhao, Feng Jun; Shu, Li Fu

2016-03-01

Forest fire risk depends on the hazard factors, affected body, and hazard prevention and reduction ability. The integrated risk assessment is the foundation for developing scientific fire mana-gement policies and carrying out the forest fire prevention measures. A forest fire risk assessment model and index system were established based on the classic natural disaster risk model and available data, and the model was used to assess the forest fire risks in past and future. The future climate scenario data included outputs from five global climate models (GFDL-ESM2M, HadGEM2-ES, IPSL-CM5A-LR, MIROC-ESM-CHEM and NorESM1-M) for RCP 2.6, RCP 4.5, RCP 6.0 and RCP 8.5, respectively. Each component index of Fire Weather Index (FWI) system was calculated daily for each grid in 1987-2050 for the historical observations and future climate scenarios according to the maximum temperature, minimum relative humidity, wind speed and daily precipitation. The results showed that areas with high and very high fire danger ratings in 1987-2010 accounted for 21.2% and 6.2%, respectively, which were distributed in Greater Xing'an Mountains and the Changbai Mountain area, most parts of Yunnan, and many fragment areas in southern China. The areas with high and very high burn possibilities were mainly distributed in the northeast and southwest region, accounting for 13.1% and 4.0%, respectively. Compared with the observation period, the areas with high and very high fire danger ratings in 2021-2050 would increase by 0.6%, 5.5%, 2.3%, and 3.5% under RCP 2.6, RCP 4.5, RCP 6.0, and RCP 8.5 respectively, and North China would show significant increase. The regions with high-risk forest fires would also increase due to climate change, with the most significant increase under RCP 8.5 scenario (+1.6%).

Response of soricid populations to repeated fire and fuel reduction treatments in the southern Appalachain Mountains

Treesearch

Charlotte E Matthews; Christopher E Moorman; Cathryn H Greenberg

2009-01-01

Fuel hazards have increased in forests across the United States because offire exclusion during the 20th century. Treatments used to reduce fuel buildup Illay affect wildlife. such as shrews. living 011 the forest floor. especially when treatments are applied repeatedly. From mid-May to mid-August 2006 and 2007.  we used drift fences...

Managing slash to minimize colonization of residual leave trees by Ips and other bark beetle species following thinning in southwestern ponderosa pine

Treesearch

T. DeGomez; C.J. Fettig; J.D. McMillin; J.A. Anhold; C.J. Hayes

2008-01-01

Due to high fire hazard and perceived reductions in forest health, thinning of small diameter trees has become a prevalent management activity particularly in dense stands. Creation of large amounts of logging slash, however, has created large quantities of habitat for bark beetles primarily in the Ips genus (Coleoptera: Curculionidae,...

Mechanical thinning impacts on runoff, infiltration, and sediment yield following fuel reduction treatments in southwestern dry mixed conifer forest

Treesearch

D.S. Cram; T.T. Baker; A.G. Fernald; A. Madrid; B. Rummer

2007-01-01

Increasing densities of small diameter trees have changed ecological processes and negatively impacted conservation of soil and water resources in western forests. Thinning treatments are commonplace to reduce stem density and potential fire hazard. We evaluated the impacts of using a specialized heavy piece of equipment to reduce he1 loads on intermediate and steep...

Science You Can Use Bulletin: Revisiting disturbance: A new guide for keeping dry mixed conifer forests healthy through fuel management

Treesearch

Sue Miller; Theresa Jain; Mike A. Battaglia; Han-Sup Han; Russell T. Graham; Christopher R. Keyes; Jeremy S. Fried; Jonathan E. Sandquist

2014-01-01

Planning for hazardous fuels reduction can be challenging, given that land managers must balance multiple resource objectives. To help managers with planning and implementing fuel treatments, the Rocky Mountain Research Station, with support from the Joint Fire Science Program, has published A Comprehensive Guide to Fuel Management Practices for Dry Mixed Conifer...

Effects of slash, machine passes, and soil moisture on penetration resistance in a cut-to-length harvesting

Treesearch

Han-Sup Han; Debbie Page-Dumroese; Sang-Kyun Han; Joanne Tirocke

2006-01-01

Multiple entries into forest stands are often needed for fire hazard reduction and ecosystem restoration treatments in the Inland-Northwest U.S.A. region. However, soil compaction occurring from mechanized harvesting operations often remains for many years and may contribute to a decline in long-term site productivity. A controlled experiment on a silt loam soil was...

Modeling hazardous fire potential within a completed fuel treatment network in the northern Sierra Nevada

Treesearch

Brandon M. Collins; Heather A. Kramer; Kurt Menning; Colin Dillingham; David Saah; Peter A. Stine; Scott L. Stephens

2013-01-01

We built on previous work by performing a more in-depth examination of a completed landscape fuel treatment network. Our specific objectives were: (1) model hazardous fire potential with and without the treatment network, (2) project hazardous fire potential over several decades to assess fuel treatment network longevity, and (3) assess fuel treatment effectiveness and...

Experimental Studies on the Flammability and Fire Hazards of Photovoltaic Modules

PubMed Central

Yang, Hong-Yun; Zhou, Xiao-Dong; Yang, Li-Zhong; Zhang, Tao-Lin

2015-01-01

Many of the photovoltaic (PV) systems on buildings are of sufficiently high voltages, with potential to cause or promote fires. However, research about photovoltaic fires is insufficient. This paper focuses on the flammability and fire hazards of photovoltaic modules. Bench-scale experiments based on polycrystalline silicon PV modules have been conducted using a cone calorimeter. Several parameters including ignition time (tig), mass loss, heat release rate (HRR), carbon monoxide (CO) and carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration, were investigated. The fire behaviours, fire hazards and toxicity of gases released by PV modules are assessed based on experimental results. The results show that PV modules under tests are inflammable with the critical heat flux of 26 kW/m2. This work will lead to better understanding on photovoltaic fires and how to help authorities determine the appropriate fire safety provisions for controlling photovoltaic fires. PMID:28793434

Experimental Studies on the Flammability and Fire Hazards of Photovoltaic Modules.

PubMed

Yang, Hong-Yun; Zhou, Xiao-Dong; Yang, Li-Zhong; Zhang, Tao-Lin

2015-07-09

Many of the photovoltaic (PV) systems on buildings are of sufficiently high voltages, with potential to cause or promote fires. However, research about photovoltaic fires is insufficient. This paper focuses on the flammability and fire hazards of photovoltaic modules. Bench-scale experiments based on polycrystalline silicon PV modules have been conducted using a cone calorimeter. Several parameters including ignition time ( t ig ), mass loss, heat release rate (HRR), carbon monoxide (CO) and carbon dioxide (CO₂) concentration, were investigated. The fire behaviours, fire hazards and toxicity of gases released by PV modules are assessed based on experimental results. The results show that PV modules under tests are inflammable with the critical heat flux of 26 kW/m². This work will lead to better understanding on photovoltaic fires and how to help authorities determine the appropriate fire safety provisions for controlling photovoltaic fires.

The potential for LiDAR technology to map fire fuel hazard over large areas of Australian forest.

PubMed

Price, Owen F; Gordon, Christopher E

2016-10-01

Fuel load is a primary determinant of fire spread in Australian forests. In east Australian forests, litter and canopy fuel loads and hence fire hazard are thought to be highest at and beyond steady-state fuel loads 15-20 years post-fire. Current methods used to predict fuel loads often rely on course-scale vegetation maps and simple time-since-fire relationships which mask fine-scale processes influencing fuel loads. Here we use Light Detecting and Remote Sensing technology (LiDAR) and field surveys to quantify post-fire mid-story and crown canopy fuel accumulation and fire hazard in Dry Sclerophyll Forests of the Sydney Basin (Australia) at fine spatial-scales (20 × 20 m cell resolution). Fuel cover was quantified in three strata important for crown fire propagation (0.5-4 m, 4-15 m, >15 m) over a 144 km(2) area subject to varying fire fuel ages. Our results show that 1) LiDAR provided a precise measurement of fuel cover in each strata and a less precise but still useful predictor of surface fuels, 2) cover varied greatly within a mapped vegetation class of the same fuel age, particularly for elevated fuel, 3) time-since-fire was a poor predictor of fuel cover and crown fire hazard because fuel loads important for crown fire propagation were variable over a range of fire fuel ages between 2 and 38 years post-fire, and 4) fuel loads and fire hazard can be high in the years immediately following fire. Our results show the benefits of spatially and temporally specific in situ fuel sampling methods such as LiDAR, and are widely applicable for fire management actions which aim to decrease human and environmental losses due to wildfire. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Fire hazards at the urban-wildland interface: What the public expects

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cortner, Hanna J.; Gardner, Philip D.; Taylor, Jonathan G.

1990-01-01

Urban-wildland issues have become among the most contentious and problematic issues for forest managers. Using data drawn from surveys conducted by the authors and others, this article discusses how public knowledge and perceptions of fire policies and fire hazards change over time, the kinds of policy responses homeowners prefer as a way of preventing fire hazards at the urban-wildland interface, and how citizens view their own obligations as participants in interface issues. These data show that public attitudes toward fire have changed significantly over the past two decades and that educating the public about fire and the managers' use of fire can have positive effects on behavior. Yet, modifying the individual's behavior in regard to interface fire risks must also deal with important issues of individual incentives, the distribution of costs, and unanticipated policy impacts.

Fire hazards at the urban-wildland interface: what the public expects

USGS Publications Warehouse

Cortner, Hanna J.; Gardner, Philip D.; Taylor, Jonathan G.

1990-01-01

Urban-wildland issues have become among the most contentious and problematic issues for forest managers. Using data drawn from surveys conducted by the authors and others, this article discusses how public knowledge and perceptions of fire policies and fire hazards change over time, the kinds of policy responses homeowners prefer as a way of preventing fire hazards at the urban-wildland interface, and how citizens view their own obligations as participants in interface issues. These data show that public attitudes toward fire have changed significantly over the past two decades and that educating the public about fire and the managers' use of fire can have positive effects on behavior. Yet, modifying the individual's behavior in regard to interface fire risks must also deal with important issues of individual incentives, the distribution of costs, and unanticipated policy impacts.

Understanding the long-term fire risks in forests affected by sudden oak death

Treesearch

Yana Valachovic; Chris Lee; Radoslaw Glebocki; Hugh Scanlon; J. Morgan Varner; David Rizzo

2010-01-01

It is assumed that large numbers of dead and down tanoak in forests infested by Phytophthora ramorum contribute to increased fire hazard risk and fuel loading. We studied the impact of P. ramorum infestation on surface fuel loading, potential fire hazard, and potential fire behavior in Douglas-fir- (Pseudotsuga...

Thinning and prescribed fire and projected trends in wood product potential, financial return, and fire hazard in New Mexico.

Treesearch

Roger D. Fight; R. James Barbour; Glenn Christensen; Guy L. Pinjuv; Rao V. Nagubadi

2004-01-01

This work was undertaken under a joint fire science project "Assessing the need, costs, and potential benefits of prescribed fire and mechanical treatments to reduce fire hazard." This paper compares the future mix of timber projects under two treatment scenarios for New Mexico.We developed and demonstrated an analytical method that uses readily available...

Thinning and prescribed fire and projected trends in wood product potential, financial return, and fire hazard in Montana.

Treesearch

R. James Barbour; Roger D. Fight; Glenn A. Christensen; Guy L. Pinjuv; Rao V. Nagubadi

2004-01-01

This work was undertaken under a joint fire science project "Assessing the need, costs, and potential benefits of prescribed fire and mechanical treatments to reduce fire hazard." This paper compares the future mix of timber products under two treatment scenarios for the state of Montana. We developed and demonstrated an analytical method that uses readily...

29 CFR 1915.501 - General provisions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... safety plan including hazards, controls, fire safety and health rules, and emergency procedures; (ii... (CONTINUED) OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH STANDARDS FOR SHIPYARD EMPLOYMENT Fire Protection in Shipyard... require employers to protect all employees from fire hazards in shipyard employment, including employees...

29 CFR 1915.501 - General provisions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... safety plan including hazards, controls, fire safety and health rules, and emergency procedures; (ii... (CONTINUED) OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH STANDARDS FOR SHIPYARD EMPLOYMENT Fire Protection in Shipyard... require employers to protect all employees from fire hazards in shipyard employment, including employees...

29 CFR 1915.501 - General provisions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... safety plan including hazards, controls, fire safety and health rules, and emergency procedures; (ii... (CONTINUED) OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH STANDARDS FOR SHIPYARD EMPLOYMENT Fire Protection in Shipyard... require employers to protect all employees from fire hazards in shipyard employment, including employees...

Safety in the SEM laboratory--1981 update

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Bance, G.N.; Barber, V.C.; Sholdice, J.A.

1981-01-01

The article reviews recent information on hazards as they relate to safety in SEM laboratories. The first section lists the safety equipment that should be available in a SEM laboratory. Flammable and combustible liquids are discussed, and particular warnings are given concerning the fire and explosion risks associated with diethyl ether and diisopropyl ether. The possible hazards associated with electrical equipment, and the risk of X-ray emissions from EM's are briefly outlined. The hazards associated with acute and chronic toxicity of chemicals used in the EM laboratory are discussed. The need to reduce exposure to a growing list of recognizablemore » hazardous chemicals is emphasized. This reduction can be accomplished by more extensive use of functioning fume hoods, and the use of more appropriate and effective protective gloves. Allergies and the hazards of dangerous pathogens in the SEM laboratory are discussed. The explosion and other hazards associated with cryogens, vacuum evaporators, critical point dryers, and compressed gas cylinders are emphasized.« less

Some relevant parameters for assessing fire hazards of combustible mine materials using laboratory scale experiments

PubMed Central

Litton, Charles D.; Perera, Inoka E.; Harteis, Samuel P.; Teacoach, Kara A.; DeRosa, Maria I.; Thomas, Richard A.; Smith, Alex C.

2018-01-01

When combustible materials ignite and burn, the potential for fire growth and flame spread represents an obvious hazard, but during these processes of ignition and flaming, other life hazards present themselves and should be included to ensure an effective overall analysis of the relevant fire hazards. In particular, the gases and smoke produced both during the smoldering stages of fires leading to ignition and during the advanced flaming stages of a developing fire serve to contaminate the surrounding atmosphere, potentially producing elevated levels of toxicity and high levels of smoke obscuration that render the environment untenable. In underground mines, these hazards may be exacerbated by the existing forced ventilation that can carry the gases and smoke to locations far-removed from the fire location. Clearly, materials that require high temperatures (above 1400 K) and that exhibit low mass loss during thermal decomposition, or that require high heat fluxes or heat transfer rates to ignite represent less of a hazard than materials that decompose at low temperatures or ignite at low levels of heat flux. In order to define and quantify some possible parameters that can be used to assess these hazards, small-scale laboratory experiments were conducted in a number of configurations to measure: 1) the toxic gases and smoke produced both during non-flaming and flaming combustion; 2) mass loss rates as a function of temperature to determine ease of thermal decomposition; and 3) mass loss rates and times to ignition as a function of incident heat flux. This paper describes the experiments that were conducted, their results, and the development of a set of parameters that could possibly be used to assess the overall fire hazard of combustible materials using small scale laboratory experiments. PMID:29599565

Some relevant parameters for assessing fire hazards of combustible mine materials using laboratory scale experiments.

PubMed

Litton, Charles D; Perera, Inoka E; Harteis, Samuel P; Teacoach, Kara A; DeRosa, Maria I; Thomas, Richard A; Smith, Alex C

2018-04-15

When combustible materials ignite and burn, the potential for fire growth and flame spread represents an obvious hazard, but during these processes of ignition and flaming, other life hazards present themselves and should be included to ensure an effective overall analysis of the relevant fire hazards. In particular, the gases and smoke produced both during the smoldering stages of fires leading to ignition and during the advanced flaming stages of a developing fire serve to contaminate the surrounding atmosphere, potentially producing elevated levels of toxicity and high levels of smoke obscuration that render the environment untenable. In underground mines, these hazards may be exacerbated by the existing forced ventilation that can carry the gases and smoke to locations far-removed from the fire location. Clearly, materials that require high temperatures (above 1400 K) and that exhibit low mass loss during thermal decomposition, or that require high heat fluxes or heat transfer rates to ignite represent less of a hazard than materials that decompose at low temperatures or ignite at low levels of heat flux. In order to define and quantify some possible parameters that can be used to assess these hazards, small-scale laboratory experiments were conducted in a number of configurations to measure: 1) the toxic gases and smoke produced both during non-flaming and flaming combustion; 2) mass loss rates as a function of temperature to determine ease of thermal decomposition; and 3) mass loss rates and times to ignition as a function of incident heat flux. This paper describes the experiments that were conducted, their results, and the development of a set of parameters that could possibly be used to assess the overall fire hazard of combustible materials using small scale laboratory experiments.

Low-volume and slow-burning vegetation for planting on clearings in California chaparral

Treesearch

Eamor C. Nord; Lisle R. Green

1977-01-01

Vegetation that is low-growing and either low in volume, slow burning, or both, is needed for reduction of fire hazard on fuelbreaks and other brush cleared areas in California. Of over 50 shrub species and many grass species that were test planted, about 20 shrubs and an equal number of grasses were chosen for plot and field trials. Creeping sage, a few saltbushes,...

Means of atmospheric air pollution reduction during drilling wells

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shkitsa, L.; Yatsyshyn, T.; Lyakh, M.; Sydorenko, O.

2016-08-01

The process of drilling oil and gas wells is the source of air pollution through drilling mud evaporation containing hazardous chemical substances. The constructive solution for cleaning device of downhole tool that contains elements covering tube and clean the surface from the mud in the process of rising from the well is offered. Inside the device is filled with magnetic fluid containing the substance neutralizing hazardous substances. The use of the equipment proposed will make it possible to avoid penetration of harmful substances into the environment and to escape the harmful effects of aggressive substances for staff health and increase rig's fire safety.

Evaluation of silvicultural treatments and biomass use for reducing fire hazard in western states

Treesearch

Kenneth E. Skog; R. James Barbour; Karen L. Abt; E.M. (Ted) Bilek; Frank Burch; Roger D. Fight; Robert J. Hugget; Patrick D. Miles; Elizabeth D. Reinhardt; Wayne D. Shepperd

2006-01-01

Several analyses have shown that fire hazard is a concern for substantial areas of forestland, shrubland, grassland, and range in the western United States. In response, broadscale management strategies, such as the National Fire Plan, established actions to reduce the threat of undesirable fire. Available budgets are insufficient to pay for vegetative management on...

Forest fuels and landscape-level fire risk assessment of the ozark highlands, Missouri

Treesearch

Michael C. Stambaugh; Richard P. Guyette; Daniel C. Dey

2007-01-01

In this paper we describe a fire risk assessment of the Ozark Highlands. Fire risk is rated using information on ignition potential and fuel hazard. Fuel loading, a component of the fire hazard module, is weakly predicted (r2 = 0.19) by site- and landscape-level attributes. Fuel loading does not significantly differ between Ozark ecological...

Carbon Emission from Forest Fires on Scots Pine Logging Sites in the Angara Region of Central Siberia

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ivanova, G. A.; Conard, S. G.; McRae, D. J.; Kukavskaya, E. A.; Bogorodskaya, A. V.; Kovaleva, N. M.

2010-12-01

Wildfire and large-scale forest harvesting are the two major disturbances in the Russian boreal forests. Non-recovered logged sites total about a million hectares in Siberia. Logged sites are characterized by higher fire hazard than forest sites due to the presence of generally untreated logging slash (i.e., available fuel) which dries out much more rapidly compared to understory fuels. Moreover, most logging sites can be easily accessed by local population; this increases the risk for fire ignition. Fire impacts on the overstory trees, subcanopy woody layer, and ground vegetation biomass were estimated on 14 logged and unlogged comparison sites in the Lower Angara Region in 2009-2010 as part of the NASA-funded NEESPI project, The Influence of Changing Forestry Practices on the Effects of Wildfire and on Interactions Between Fire and Changing Climate in Central Siberia. Based on calculated fuel consumption, we estimated carbon emission from fires on both logged and unlogged burned sites. Carbon emission from fires on logged sites appeared to be twice that on unlogged sites. Soil respiration decreased on both site types after fires. This reduction may partially offset fire-produced carbon emissions. Carbon emissions from fire and post-fire ecosystem damage on logged sites are expected to increase under changing climate conditions and as a result of anticipated increases in future forest harvesting in Siberia.

Chemical Safety Alert: Fire Hazard from Carbon Adsorption Deodorizing Systems

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

Activated carbon systems used to adsorb vapors for odor control may pose a fire hazard when used for certain types of substances, such as crude sulfate turpentine. Facilities should take precautions and proper procedures to avoid or mitigate these hazards.

Ecotoxicity of waste water from industrial fires fighting

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dobes, P.; Danihelka, P.; Janickova, S.; Marek, J.; Bernatikova, S.; Suchankova, J.; Baudisova, B.; Sikorova, L.; Soldan, P.

2012-04-01

As shown at several case studies, waste waters from extinguishing of industrial fires involving hazardous chemicals could be serious threat primary for surrounding environmental compartments (e.g. surface water, underground water, soil) and secondary for human beings, animals and plants. The negative impacts of the fire waters on the environment attracted public attention since the chemical accident in the Sandoz (Schweizerhalle) in November 1986 and this process continues. Last October, special Seminary on this topic has been organized by UNECE in Bonn. Mode of interaction of fire waters with the environment and potential transport mechanisms are still discussed. However, in many cases waste water polluted by extinguishing foam (always with high COD values), flammable or toxic dangerous substances as heavy metals, pesticides or POPs, are released to surface water or soil without proper decontamination, which can lead to environmental accident. For better understanding of this type of hazard and better coordination of firemen brigades and other responders, the ecotoxicity of such type of waste water should be evaluated in both laboratory tests and in water samples collected during real cases of industrial fires. Case studies, theoretical analysis of problem and toxicity tests on laboratory model samples (e.g. on bacteria, mustard seeds, daphnia and fishes) will provide additional necessary information. Preliminary analysis of waters from industrial fires (polymer material storage and galvanic plating facility) in the Czech Republic has already confirmed high toxicity. In first case the toxicity may be attributed to decomposition of burned material and extinguishing foams, in the latter case it can be related to cyanides in original electroplating baths. On the beginning of the year 2012, two years R&D project focused on reduction of extinguish waste water risk for the environment, was approved by Technology Agency of the Czech Republic.

Ignorance and Hazards in Academe: The Dilemma of Fire Safety in American Higher Education.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Crnkovich, John J.; Dye, Charles M.

An examination was made of five major campus fires between 1971 and 1983 in an attempt to better understand the fire hazards associated with the operation of a modern U.S. college or university campus. Overall research revealed a general lack of interest in campus fire safety by colleges and universities in the United States and Canada. Analysis…

Fuel and fire behavior in high-elevation five-needle pines affected by mountain pine beetle

Treesearch

Michael J. Jenkins

2011-01-01

Bark beetle-caused tree mortality in conifer forests affects the quantity and quality of forest fuels and has long been assumed to increase fire hazard and potential fire behavior. In reality, bark beetles and their effects on fuel accumulation and subsequent fire hazard have only recently been described. We have extensively sampled fuels in three conifer forest types...

An assessment of the crash fire hazard of liquid hydrogen fueled aircraft

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1982-01-01

The crash fire hazards of liquid hydrogen fueled aircraft relative to those of mission equivalent aircraft fueled either with conventional fuel or with liquefied methane were evaluated. The aircraft evaluated were based on Lockheed Corporation design for 400 passenger, Mach 0.85, 5500 n. mile aircraft. Four crash scenarios were considered ranging from a minor incident causing some loss of fuel system integrity to a catastrophic crash. Major tasks included a review of hazardous properties of the alternate fuels and of historic crash fire data; a comparative hazard evluation for each of the three fuels under four crash scenarios a comprehensive review and analysis and an identification of areas further development work. The conclusion was that the crash fire hazards are not significantly different when compared in general for the three fuels, although some fuels showed minor advantages in one respect or another.

Hypophosphite/Graphitic Carbon Nitride Hybrids: Preparation and Flame-Retardant Application in Thermoplastic Polyurethane

PubMed Central

Shi, Yongqian; Fu, Libi; Chen, Xilei; Guo, Jin; Yang, Fuqiang; Wang, Jingui; Zheng, Yuying; Hu, Yuan

2017-01-01

A series of aluminum hypophosphite (AHPi)/graphite-like carbon nitride (g-C3N4) (designated as CAHPi) hybrids were prepared, followed by incorporation into thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU). The introduction of CAHPi hybrids into TPU led to a marked reduction in the peak of the heat release rate (pHRR), total heat release, weight loss rate, smoke production rate and total smoke production (TSP). For instance, pHRR and TSP decreased by 40% and 50% for TPU/CAHPi20. Furthermore, the increasing fire growth index and decreasing fire performance index were obtained for TPU/CAHPi systems, suggesting reduced fire hazards. It was found that improved fire safety of TPU nanocomposites was contributed by condensed phase and gas phase mechanisms. On one hand, g-C3N4 accelerated the thermal decomposition of AHPi for the formation of more char layers. On the other hand, g-C3N4 induced AHPi to generate more free radical capture agents when exposed to flame, besides protecting AHPi against thermal oxidation. PMID:28872606

33 CFR 127.1507 - Water systems for fire protection.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... 33 Navigation and Navigable Waters 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Water systems for fire protection... HAZARDOUS GAS Waterfront Facilities Handling Liquefied Hazardous Gas Firefighting Equipment § 127.1507 Water systems for fire protection. (a) Each waterfront facility handling LHG must have a supply of water and a...

29 CFR 1926.352 - Fire prevention.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... penetration of sparks or heat transfer may introduce a fire hazard to an adjacent area, the same precautions... confine the heat, sparks, and slag, and to protect the immovable fire hazards from them. (c) No welding...-consuming device. (h) Except when the contents are being removed or transferred, drums, pails, and other...

The Elimination of Fire Hazard Due to Back Fires

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Theodorsen, Theodore; Freeman, Ira M

1933-01-01

A critical study was made of the operation of a type of back-fire arrester used to reduce the fire hazard of aircraft engines. A flame arrester consisting of a pack or plug of alternate flat and corrugated plates of thin metal was installed in the intake pipe of a gasoline engines; an auxiliary spark plug inserted in the intake manifold permitted the production of artificial back fires at will. It was found possible to design a plug which prevented all back fires from reaching the carburetor.

Determination of the fire hazards of mine materials using a radiant panel.

PubMed

Harteis, S P; Litton, C D; Thomas, R A

2016-01-01

The objective of this study was to develop a laboratory-scale method to rank the ignition and fire hazards of commonly used underground mine materials and to eliminate the need for the expensive large-scale tests that are currently being used. A radiant-panel apparatus was used to determine the materials' relevant thermal characteristics: time to ignition, critical heat flux for ignition, heat of gasification, and mass-loss rate. Three thermal parameters, TRP , TP1 and TP4 , were derived from the data, then developed and subsequently used to rank the combined ignition and fire hazards of the combustible materials from low hazard to high hazard. The results compared favorably with the thermal and ignition hazards of similar materials reported in the literature and support this approach as a simpler one for quantifying these combustible hazards.

Estimating Woody Biomass Supply From Thinning Treatments to Reduce Fire Hazard in the U.S. West

Treesearch

Kenneth E. Skog; R. James Barbour

2006-01-01

This paper identifies timberland areas in 12 western states where thinning treatments (1) are judged to be needed to reduce fire hazard and (2) may “pay for themselves” at a scale to make investment in forest product processing a realistic option. A web-based tool - Fuel Treatment Evaluator 3.0 - is used to select high-fire-hazard timberland plots from the Forest...

Summaries of BFRL fire research in-house projects and grants, 1993

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jason, Nora H.

1993-09-01

The report describes the fire research projects performed in the Building and Fire Research Laboratory (BFRL) and under its extramural grants program during fiscal year 1993. The BFRL Fire Research Program has directed its efforts under three program thrusts. The in-house priority projects, grants, and externally-funded efforts thus form an integrated, focussed ensemble. The publication is organized along those lines: fire risk and hazard prediction - carbon monoxide prediction, turbulent combustion, soot, engineering analysis, fire hazard assessment, and large fires; fire safety of products and materials - materials combustion, furniture flammability, and wall and ceiling fires; and advanced technologies for fire sensing and control - fire detection and fire suppression. For the convenience of the reader, an alphabetical listing of all grants is contained in Part 2.0.

Prediction and perception of hazards in professional drivers: Does hazard perception skill differ between safe and less-safe fire-appliance drivers?

PubMed

Crundall, David; Kroll, Victoria

2018-05-18

Can hazard perception testing be useful for the emergency services? Previous research has found emergency response drivers' (ERDs) to perform better than controls, however these studies used clips of normal driving. In contrast, the current study filmed footage from a fire-appliance on blue-light training runs through Nottinghamshire, and endeavoured to discriminate between different groups of EDRs based on experience and collision risk. Thirty clips were selected to create two variants of the hazard perception test: a traditional push-button test requiring speeded-responses to hazards, and a prediction test that occludes at hazard onset and provides four possible outcomes for participants to choose between. Three groups of fire-appliance drivers (novices, low-risk experienced and high-risk experienced), and age-matched controls undertook both tests. The hazard perception test only discriminated between controls and all FA drivers, whereas the hazard prediction test was more sensitive, discriminating between high and low-risk experienced fire appliance drivers. Eye movement analyses suggest that the low-risk drivers were better at prioritising the hazardous precursors, leading to better predictive accuracy. These results pave the way for future assessment and training tools to supplement emergency response driver training, while supporting the growing literature that identifies hazard prediction as a more robust measure of driver safety than traditional hazard perception tests. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

75 FR 69032 - Naval Surface Warfare Center, Potomac River, Dahlgren, VA; Danger Zone

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-11-10

... hazardous operations such as firing large and small caliber guns and projectiles, aerial bombing, use of... protect the public from hazardous operations such as firing large and small caliber guns and projectiles... zone to include firing of large or small caliber guns and projectiles, aerial bombing, use of directed...

Coarse woody debris: Managing benefits and fire hazard in the recovering forest

Treesearch

James K. Brown; Elizabeth D. Reinhardt; Kylie A. Kramer

2003-01-01

Management of coarse woody debris following fire requires consideration of its positive and negative values. The ecological benefits of coarse woody debris and fire hazard considerations are summarized. This paper presents recommendations for desired ranges of coarse woody debris. Example simulations illustrate changes in debris over time and with varying management....

Characterizing crown fuel distribution for conifers in the interior western United States

Treesearch

Seth Ex; Frederick W. Smith; Tara Keyser

2015-01-01

Canopy fire hazard evaluation is essential for prioritizing fuel treatments and for assessing potential risk to firefighters during suppression activities. Fire hazard is usually expressed as predicted potential fire behavior, which is sensitive to the methodology used to quantitatively describe fuel profiles: methodologies that assume that fuel is distributed...

NASA technical advances in aircraft occupant safety. [clear air turbulence detectors, fire resistant materials, and crashworthiness

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Enders, J. H.

1978-01-01

NASA's aviation safety technology program examines specific safety problems associated with atmospheric hazards, crash-fire survival, control of aircraft on runways, human factors, terminal area operations hazards, and accident factors simulation. While aircraft occupants are ultimately affected by any of these hazards, their well-being is immediately impacted by three specific events: unexpected turbulence encounters, fire and its effects, and crash impact. NASA research in the application of laser technology to the problem of clear air turbulence detection, the development of fire resistant materials for aircraft construction, and to the improvement of seats and restraint systems to reduce crash injuries are reviewed.

Assessing Surface Fuel Hazard in Coastal Conifer Forests through the Use of LiDAR Remote Sensing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Koulas, Christos

The research problem that this thesis seeks to examine is a method of predicting conventional fire hazards using data drawn from specific regions, namely the Sooke and Goldstream watershed regions in coastal British Columbia. This thesis investigates whether LiDAR data can be used to describe conventional forest stand fire hazard classes. Three objectives guided this thesis: to discuss the variables associated with fire hazard, specifically the distribution and makeup of fuel; to examine the relationship between derived LiDAR biometrics and forest attributes related to hazard assessment factors defined by the Capitol Regional District (CRD); and to assess the viability of the LiDAR biometric decision tree in the CRD based on current frameworks for use. The research method uses quantitative datasets to assess the optimal generalization of these types of fire hazard data through discriminant analysis. Findings illustrate significant LiDAR-derived data limitations, and reflect the literature in that flawed field application of data modelling techniques has led to a disconnect between the ways in which fire hazard models have been intended to be used by scholars and the ways in which they are used by those tasked with prevention of forest fires. It can be concluded that a significant trade-off exists between computational requirements for wildfire simulation models and the algorithms commonly used by field teams to apply these models with remote sensing data, and that CRD forest management practices would need to change to incorporate a decision tree model in order to decrease risk.

Hazard Science in Support of Community Resiliency: The Response of the Multi Hazards Demonstration Project to the 2009 Station Fire in Los Angeles County

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jones, L. M.; Bawden, G. W.; Bowers, J.; Cannon, S.; Cox, D. A.; Fisher, R.; Keeley, J.; Perry, S. C.; Plumlee, G. S.; Wood, N. J.

2009-12-01

The “Station” fire, the largest fire in the history of Los Angeles County in southern California, began on August 26, 2009 and as of the abstract deadline had burned over 150,000 acres of the Angeles National Forest. This fire creates both a demand and an opportunity for hazards science to be used by the communities directly hit by the fire, as well as those downstream of possible postfire impacts. The Multi Hazards Demonstration Project of the USGS is deploying several types of scientific response, including 1) evaluation of potential debris-flow hazards and associated risk, 2) monitoring physical conditions in burned areas and the hydrologic response to rainstorms, 3) increased streamflow monitoring, 4) ash analysis and ground water contamination, 5) ecosystem response and endangered species rescue, 6) lidar data acquisition for evaluations of biomass loss, detailed mapping of the physical processes that lead to debris-flow generation, and other geologic investigations. The Multi Hazards Demonstration Project is working with the southern California community to use the resulting information to better manage the social consequences of the fire and its secondary hazards. In particular, we are working with Los Angeles County to determine what information they need to prioritize recovery efforts. For instance, maps of hazards specific to debris flow potential can help identify the highest priority areas for debris flow mitigation efforts. These same maps together with ecosystem studies will help land managers determine whether individuals from endangered species should be removed to zoos or other refuges during the rainy months. The ash analysis will help water managers prevent contamination to water supplies. Plans are just beginning for a public information campaign with Los Angeles County about the risk posed by potential debris flows that should be underway in December. Activities from the fire response will support the development of the Wildfire Scenario in 2011, which will examine implications of land-use decisions in the frequency of fires in southern California.

An emergency-adaptive routing scheme for wireless sensor networks for building fire hazard monitoring.

PubMed

Zeng, Yuanyuan; Sreenan, Cormac J; Sitanayah, Lanny; Xiong, Naixue; Park, Jong Hyuk; Zheng, Guilin

2011-01-01

Fire hazard monitoring and evacuation for building environments is a novel application area for the deployment of wireless sensor networks. In this context, adaptive routing is essential in order to ensure safe and timely data delivery in building evacuation and fire fighting resource applications. Existing routing mechanisms for wireless sensor networks are not well suited for building fires, especially as they do not consider critical and dynamic network scenarios. In this paper, an emergency-adaptive, real-time and robust routing protocol is presented for emergency situations such as building fire hazard applications. The protocol adapts to handle dynamic emergency scenarios and works well with the routing hole problem. Theoretical analysis and simulation results indicate that our protocol provides a real-time routing mechanism that is well suited for dynamic emergency scenarios in building fires when compared with other related work.

An Emergency-Adaptive Routing Scheme for Wireless Sensor Networks for Building Fire Hazard Monitoring

PubMed Central

Zeng, Yuanyuan; Sreenan, Cormac J.; Sitanayah, Lanny; Xiong, Naixue; Park, Jong Hyuk; Zheng, Guilin

2011-01-01

Fire hazard monitoring and evacuation for building environments is a novel application area for the deployment of wireless sensor networks. In this context, adaptive routing is essential in order to ensure safe and timely data delivery in building evacuation and fire fighting resource applications. Existing routing mechanisms for wireless sensor networks are not well suited for building fires, especially as they do not consider critical and dynamic network scenarios. In this paper, an emergency-adaptive, real-time and robust routing protocol is presented for emergency situations such as building fire hazard applications. The protocol adapts to handle dynamic emergency scenarios and works well with the routing hole problem. Theoretical analysis and simulation results indicate that our protocol provides a real-time routing mechanism that is well suited for dynamic emergency scenarios in building fires when compared with other related work. PMID:22163774

Wildfire risk and hazard: procedures for the first approximation

Treesearch

David E. Calkin; Alan A. Ager; Julie Gilbertson-Day

2010-01-01

This report was designed to meet three broad goals: (1) evaluate wildfire hazard on Federal lands; (2) develop information useful in prioritizing where fuels treatments and mitigation measures might be proposed to address significant fire hazard and risk; and (3) develop risk-based performance measures to document the effectiveness of fire management programs. The...

Evaluating fuel complexes for fire hazard mitigation planning in the southeastern United States

Treesearch

Anne G. Andreu; Dan Shea; Bernard R. Parresol; Roger D. Ottmar

2012-01-01

Fire hazard mitigation planning requires an accurate accounting of fuel complexes to predict potential fire behavior and effects of treatment alternatives. In the southeastern United States, rapid vegetation growth coupled with complex land use history and forest management options requires a dynamic approach to fuel characterization. In this study we assessed...

Integrating remote sensing and terrain data in forest fire modeling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Medler, Michael Johns

Forest fire policies are changing. Managers now face conflicting imperatives to re-establish pre-suppression fire regimes, while simultaneously preventing resource destruction. They must, therefore, understand the spatial patterns of fires. Geographers can facilitate this understanding by developing new techniques for mapping fire behavior. This dissertation develops such techniques for mapping recent fires and using these maps to calibrate models of potential fire hazards. In so doing, it features techniques that strive to address the inherent complexity of modeling the combinations of variables found in most ecological systems. Image processing techniques were used to stratify the elements of terrain, slope, elevation, and aspect. These stratification images were used to assure sample placement considered the role of terrain in fire behavior. Examination of multiple stratification images indicated samples were placed representatively across a controlled range of scales. The incorporation of terrain data also improved preliminary fire hazard classification accuracy by 40%, compared with remotely sensed data alone. A Kauth-Thomas transformation (KT) of pre-fire and post-fire Thematic Mapper (TM) remotely sensed data produced brightness, greenness, and wetness images. Image subtraction indicated fire induced change in brightness, greenness, and wetness. Field data guided a fuzzy classification of these change images. Because fuzzy classification can characterize a continuum of a phenomena where discrete classification may produce artificial borders, fuzzy classification was found to offer a range of fire severity information unavailable with discrete classification. These mapped fire patterns were used to calibrate a model of fire hazards for the entire mountain range. Pre-fire TM, and a digital elevation model produced a set of co-registered images. Training statistics were developed from 30 polygons associated with the previously mapped fire severity. Fuzzy classifications of potential burn patterns were produced from these images. Observed field data values were displayed over the hazard imagery to indicate the effectiveness of the model. Areas that burned without suppression during maximum fire severity are predicted best. Areas with widely spaced trees and grassy understory appear to be misrepresented, perhaps as a consequence of inaccuracies in the initial fire mapping.

Managing forest structure and fire hazard--a tool for planners.

Treesearch

M.C. Johnson; D.L. Peterson; C.L. Raymond

2006-01-01

Fire planners and other resource managers need to examine a range of potential fuel and vegetation treatments to select options that will lead to desired outcomes for fire hazard and natural resource conditions. A new approach to this issue integrates concepts and tools from silviculture and fuel science to quantify outcomes for a large number of treatment options in...

Follow-up evaluation of fire hazard inspection procedures...Butte County, California

Treesearch

William S. Folkman

1968-01-01

A study made in 1966 in Butte County, Calif., to assess the effectiveness of fire hazard inspection procedures was repeated in 1967. Purpose of the inspections is to secure compliance with fire safety requirements. The observed drop in number of violations suggests a carryover effect in 1967 from the first study. In many cases, personal contact was still necessary to...

Compliance with Electrical and Fire Protection Standards of U.S. Controlled and Occupied Facilities in Afghanistan

DTIC Science & Technology

2013-07-18

are subject to damage and abrasion (figure 5). The use of an extension cord instead of fixed wiring creates the possibility of fire , electrical shock...Medical Clinic has an adjacent warehouse that is of a higher hazard and is not separated by 1-hour fire resistance rated construction. KMC 17-May...higher hazard and is not separated by 1-hour fire resistance rated construction. DynCorp NO Awaiting USG Decision DI has not received governmental

Manual fire suppression methods on typical machinery space spray fires

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Carhart, H. W.; Leonard, J. T.; Budnick, E. K.; Ouellette, R. J.; Shanley, J. H., Jr.

1990-07-01

A series of tests was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of Aqueous Film Forming Foam (AFFF), potassium bicarbonate powder (PKP) and Halon 1211, alone and in various combinations, in extinguishing spray fires. The sprays were generated by JP-5 jet fuel issuing from an open sounding tube, and open petcock, a leaking flange or a slit pipe, and contacting an ignition source. The results indicate that typical fuel spray fires, such as those simulated in this series, are very severe. Flame heights ranged from 6.1 m (20 ft) for the split pipe to 15.2 m (50 ft) for the sounding tube scenario. These large flame geometries were accompanied by heat release rates of 6 MW to greater than 50 MW, and hazardous thermal radiation levels in the near field environment, up to 9.1 m (30 ft) away. Successful suppression of these fires requires both a significant reduction in flame radiation and delivery of a suppression agent to shielded areas. Of the nine suppression methods tested, the 95 gpm AFFF hand line and the hand line in conjunction with PKP were particularly effective in reducing the radiant flux.

Fire Control Agent Effectiveness for Hazardous Chemical Fires: Carbon Disulfide.

DTIC Science & Technology

1981-01-01

Fires..................................... 46 12. AFFF Fire Control Data for Carbon Disulfide Fires............................. 47 13. Extinguishment...Disulfide and Hexane Fires ....... 67 22. Comparison of AFFF Fire Control Times for Carbon Disulfide and Hexane Fires ................... 68 23. Comparison of...Data .............. 27 2. Summary of Fluoroprotein Foam Fire Test Data ....... 28 3. Summary of AFFF Fire Test Data ..................... 29 4. Summary

Reducing fire hazard in ponderosa pine thinning slash by mechanical crushing

Treesearch

John R. Dell; Franklin R. Ward

1969-01-01

Precommercial thinning in ponderosa pine stands in the Western United States is a growing practice. Thinning slash can, however, be a serious fire hazard in dry areas. Crushing and compacting this slash may be one way of reducing the hazard. Three types of mechanical crushers were tested on the Deschutes National Forest, Oregon. Results indicate that at least one of...

Fire managers field guide: hazardous fuels management in subtropical pine flatwoods and tropical pine rocklands

Treesearch

Joseph J. O’Brien; Kathryn A. Mordecai; Leslie Wolcott

2010-01-01

This publication is a field guide to tactics and techniques for dealing with hazardous fuels in subtropical pine flatwoods and tropical pine rocklands. The guide covers prescribed fire, mechanical, chemical, and other means for reducing and managing wildland fuels in these systems. Also, a list of exotic plants that contribute to hazardous fuel problems is included...

Landslides, forest fires, and earthquakes: examples of self-organized critical behavior

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Turcotte, Donald L.; Malamud, Bruce D.

2004-09-01

Per Bak conceived self-organized criticality as an explanation for the behavior of the sandpile model. Subsequently, many cellular automata models were found to exhibit similar behavior. Two examples are the forest-fire and slider-block models. Each of these models can be associated with a serious natural hazard: the sandpile model with landslides, the forest-fire model with actual forest fires, and the slider-block model with earthquakes. We examine the noncumulative frequency-area statistics for each natural hazard, and show that each has a robust power-law (fractal) distribution. We propose an inverse-cascade model as a general explanation for the power-law frequency-area statistics of the three cellular-automata models and their ‘associated’ natural hazards.

Institutionalizing fire safety in making land use and development decisions

Treesearch

Marie-Annette Johnson; Marc Mullenix

1995-01-01

Because of three major wildland fires in the past 5 years along the Front Range of the Boulder County area in Colorado, current and potential residents should be told of steps that can reduce the risks of these fire hazards. The Wildfire Hazard Identification and Mitigation System (WHIMS) is used by the county and city to assist in the identification and mitigation of...

A test of the Forest Inventory and Analysis Program’s down woody material indicator for regional fuel estimation in the Southern Appalachian Mountains (PROJECT SO-F-06-01)

Treesearch

G. Geof Wang; Zhi-Ping Wang; Aaron D. Stottlemyer; Thomas A. Waldrop

2013-01-01

Both the National Fire Plan (http://199.134.225.50/nwcc/t2_wa4/ pdf/RuralAssistance.pdf) and the Healthy Forest Initiative (http://www.fs.fed.us/projects/ hfi/2003/august/documents/hfi-fact-sheet. pdf) call for reduction of hazardous fuels. Consequently, estimations of forest fuel loading at various scales become necessary. The Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA)...

Fire hazard analysis for Plutonium Finishing Plant complex

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

MCKINNIS, D.L.

1999-02-23

A fire hazards analysis (FHA) was performed for the Plutonium Finishing Plant (PFP) Complex at the Department of Energy (DOE) Hanford site. The scope of the FHA focuses on the nuclear facilities/structures in the Complex. The analysis was conducted in accordance with RLID 5480.7, [DOE Directive RLID 5480.7, 1/17/94] and DOE Order 5480.7A, ''Fire Protection'' [DOE Order 5480.7A, 2/17/93] and addresses each of the sixteen principle elements outlined in paragraph 9.a(3) of the Order. The elements are addressed in terms of the fire protection objectives stated in paragraph 4 of DOE 5480.7A. In addition, the FHA also complies with WHC-CM-4-41,more » Fire Protection Program Manual, Section 3.4 [1994] and WHC-SD-GN-FHA-30001, Rev. 0 [WHC, 1994]. Objectives of the FHA are to determine: (1) the fire hazards that expose the PFP facilities, or that are inherent in the building operations, (2) the adequacy of the fire safety features currently located in the PFP Complex, and (3) the degree of compliance of the facility with specific fire safety provisions in DOE orders, related engineering codes, and standards.« less

Acacia shrubs respond positively to high severity wildfire: Implications for conservation and fuel hazard management.

PubMed

Gordon, Christopher E; Price, Owen F; Tasker, Elizabeth M; Denham, Andrew J

2017-01-01

High severity wildfires pose threats to human assets, but are also perceived to impact vegetation communities because a small number of species may become dominant immediately after fire. However there are considerable gaps in our knowledge about species-specific responses of plants to different fire severities, and how this influences fuel hazard in the short and long-term. Here we conduct a floristic survey at sites before and two years after a wildfire of unprecedented size and severity in the Warrumbungle National Park (Australia) to explore relationships between post-fire growth of a fire responsive shrub genera (Acacia), total mid-story vegetation cover, fire severity and fuel hazard. We then survey 129 plots surrounding the park to assess relationships between mid-story vegetation cover and time-since-fire. Acacia species richness and cover were 2.3 and 4.3 times greater at plots after than before the fire. However the same common dominant species were present throughout the study. Mid-story vegetation cover was 1.5 times greater after than before the wildfire, and Acacia species contribution to mid-story cover increased from 10 to 40%. Acacia species richness was not affected by fire severity, however strong positive associations were observed between Acacia and total mid-story vegetation cover and severity. Our analysis of mid-story vegetation recovery showed that cover was similarly high between 2 and 30years post-fire, then decreased until 52years. Collectively, our results suggest that Acacia species are extremely resilient to high severity wildfire and drive short to mid-term increases in fuel hazard. Our results are discussed in relation to fire regime management from the twin perspectives of conserving biodiversity and mitigating human losses due to wildfire. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Oxygen Compatibility Assessment of Components and Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stoltzfus, Joel; Sparks, Kyle

2010-01-01

Fire hazards are inherent in oxygen systems and a storied history of fires in rocket engine propulsion components exists. To detect and mitigate these fire hazards requires careful, detailed, and thorough analyses applied during the design process. The oxygen compatibility assessment (OCA) process designed by NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC) White Sands Test Facility (WSTF) can be used to determine the presence of fire hazards in oxygen systems and the likelihood of a fire. This process may be used as both a design guide and during the approval process to ensure proper design features and material selection. The procedure for performing an OCA is a structured step-by-step process to determine the most severe operating conditions; assess the flammability of the system materials at the use conditions; evaluate the presence and efficacy of ignition mechanisms; assess the potential for a fire to breach the system; and determine the reaction effect (the potential loss of life, mission, and system functionality as the result of a fire). This process should be performed for each component in a system. The results of each component assessment, and the overall system assessment, should be recorded in a report that can be used in the short term to communicate hazards and their mitigation and to aid in system/component development and, in the long term, to solve anomalies that occur during engine testing and operation.

Disseminating Childhood Home Injury Risk Reduction Information in Pakistan: Results from a Community-Based Pilot Study

PubMed Central

Chandran, Aruna; Khan, Uzma Rahim; Zia, Nukhba; Feroze, Asher; de Ramirez, Sarah Stewart; Huang, Cheng-Ming; Razzak, Junaid A.; Hyder, Adnan A.

2013-01-01

Background: Most childhood unintentional injuries occur in the home; however, very little home injury prevention information is tailored to developing countries. Utilizing our previously developed information dissemination tools and a hazard assessment checklist tailored to a low-income neighborhood in Pakistan, we pilot tested and compared the effectiveness of two dissemination tools. Methods: Two low-income neighborhoods were mapped, identifying families with a child aged between 12 and 59 months. In June and July 2010, all enrolled households underwent a home hazard assessment at the same time hazard reduction education was being given using an in-home tutorial or a pamphlet. A follow up assessment was conducted 4–5 months later. Results: 503 households were enrolled; 256 received a tutorial and 247 a pamphlet. The two groups differed significantly (p < 0.01) in level of maternal education and relationship of the child to the primary caregiver. However, when controlling for these variables, those receiving an in-home tutorial had a higher odds of hazard reduction than the pamphlet group for uncovered vats of water (OR 2.14, 95% CI: 1.28, 3.58), an open fire within reach of the child (OR 3.55, 95% CI: 1.80, 7.00), and inappropriately labeled cooking fuel containers (OR 1.86, 95% CI: 1.07, 3.25). Conclusions: This pilot project demonstrates the potential utility of using home-visit tutorials to decrease home hazards in a low-income neighborhood in Pakistan. A longer-term randomized study is needed to assess actual effectiveness of the use of allied health workers for home-based injury education and whether this results in decreased home injuries. PMID:23502323

Skin antiseptics and the risk of operating theatre fires.

PubMed

Spigelman, Allan D; Swan, Judith R

2005-07-01

Following press reports of patients catching fire or receiving chemical burns in the operating theatre, a review was conducted on the flammability of skin antiseptics. The purpose of the paper was to clarify confusion regarding povidine-iodine (Betadine), which had been reported as being flammable, and also to determine the use of alcohol-based solutions in the Hunter Area Health Service. A risk assessment was conducted and risk reduction strategies outlined. Risk assessment was made following a literature review and an audit of 10 operating theatres in the Hunter Area Health Service. Risk for operating room fires from alcohol-based skin antiseptics was confirmed. Antiseptics in aqueous solutions only smoulder. The Hunter Health survey indicated that although alcohol-based solutions were not used in operating theatres, they were used in anaesthetic bays for insertion of epidural and central line catheters. Strategies to reduce the risk of fire include discontinuation of use of alcohol-based skin antiseptics in operating theatres; using fire retardant surgical drapes; installing over-current protection devices on electrical equipment; minimizing flammable conditions by avoiding nitrous oxide and using the lowest required concentration of inspired oxygen; use of non-flammable cuffed endotracheal tubes; education and training of operating theatre personnel in fire hazards. Operating theatre fires continue to be a major risk for patient safety. In order to reduce this risk, the strategies outlined here should be followed.

Development of Subscale Fast Cookoff Test (PREPRINT)

DTIC Science & Technology

2006-09-21

The hazards classification procedures have been harmonized with both the UN Test and Criteria Manual for UN Series 1...aimed at the development of a sub-scale alternate test protocol to the external fire test currently required for final hazards classification (HC...external fire test currently required for final hazards classification (HC) of an ordnance system. The specific goal of this part of the task was

Uncertainties in predicting debris flow hazards following wildfire [Chapter 19

Treesearch

Kevin D. Hyde; Karin Riley; Cathelijne Stoof

2017-01-01

Wildfire increases the probability of debris flows posing hazardous conditions where values‐at‐risk exist downstream of burned areas. Conditions and processes leading to postfire debris flows usually follow a general sequence defined here as the postfire debris flow hazard cascade: biophysical setting, fire processes, fire effects, rainfall, debris flow, and values‐at‐...

Paying our way: thinking strategically to offset the cost of reducing fire hazard in western forests.

Treesearch

Rhonda Mazza

2008-01-01

The fire hazard in many western forests is unacceptably high, posing risks to human health and property, wildlife habitat, and air and water quality. Cost is an inhibiting factor for reducing hazardous fuel, given the amount of acreage needing treatment. Thinning overly dense forests is one way to reduce fuel loads. Much of the product removed during these treatments...

Operating room fire prevention: creating an electrosurgical unit fire safety device.

PubMed

Culp, William C; Kimbrough, Bradly A; Luna, Sarah; Maguddayao, Aris J

2014-08-01

To reduce the incidence of surgical fires. Operating room fires represent a potentially life-threatening hazard and are triggered by the electrosurgical unit (ESU) pencil. Carbon dioxide is a fire suppressant and is a routinely used medical gas. We hypothesize that a shroud of protective carbon dioxide covering the tip of the ESU pencil displaces oxygen, thereby preventing fire ignition. Using 3-dimensional modeling techniques, a polymer sleeve was created and attached to an ESU pencil. This sleeve was connected to a carbon dioxide source and directed the gas through multiple precisely angled ports, generating a cone of fire-suppressive carbon dioxide surrounding the active pencil tip. This device was evaluated in a flammability test chamber containing 21%, 50%, and 100% oxygen with sustained ESU activation. The sleeve was tested with and without carbon dioxide (control) until a fuel was ignited or 30 seconds elapsed. Time to ignition was measured by high-speed videography. Fires were ignited with each control trial (15/15 trials). The control group median ± SD ignition time in 21% oxygen was 3.0 ± 2.4 seconds, in 50% oxygen was 0.1 ± 1.8 seconds, and in 100% oxygen was 0.03 ± 0.1 seconds. No fire was observed when the fire safety device was used in all concentrations of oxygen (0/15 trials; P < 0.0001). The exact 95% confidence interval for absolute risk reduction of fire ignition was 76% to 100%. A sleeve creating a cone of protective carbon dioxide gas enshrouding the sparks from an ESU pencil effectively prevents fire in a high-flammability model. Clinical application of this device may reduce the incidence of operating room fires.

Safety issues of high-concentrated hydrogen peroxide production used as rocket propellant

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Romantsova, O. V.; Ulybin, V. B.

2015-04-01

The article dwells on the possibility of production of high-concentrated hydrogen peroxide with the Russian technology of isopropyl alcohol autoxidation. Analysis of fire/explosion hazards and reasons of insufficient quality is conducted for the technology. Modified technology is shown. Non-standard fire/explosion characteristics required for integrated fire/explosion hazards rating for modified hydrogen peroxide production based on the autoxidation of isopropyl alcohol are defined.

Wildfire spread, hazard and exposure metric raster grids for central Catalonia.

PubMed

Alcasena, Fermín J; Ager, Alan A; Salis, Michele; Day, Michelle A; Vega-Garcia, Cristina

2018-04-01

We provide 40 m resolution wildfire spread, hazard and exposure metric raster grids for the 0.13 million ha fire-prone Bages County in central Catalonia (northeastern Spain) corresponding to node influence grid (NIG), crown fraction burned (CFB) and fire transmission to residential houses (TR). Fire spread and behavior data (NIG, CFB and fire perimeters) were generated with fire simulation modeling considering wildfire season extreme fire weather conditions (97 th percentile). Moreover, CFB was also generated for prescribed fire (Rx) mild weather conditions. The TR smoothed grid was obtained with a geospatial analysis considering large fire perimeters and individual residential structures located within the study area. We made these raster grids available to assist in the optimization of wildfire risk management plans within the study area and to help mitigate potential losses from catastrophic events.

Impact of type of the roof rocks on location and range of endogenous fires particular hazard zone by in goaf with caving

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tutak, Magdalena; Brodny, Jarosław

2018-01-01

Hazard of endogenous fires is one of the basic and common presented occupational safety hazards in coal mine in Poland and in the world. This hazard means possibility of coal self-ignition as the result of its self-heating process in mining heading or its surrounding. In underground coal-mining during ventilating of operating longwalls takes place migration of parts of airflow to goaf with caving. In a case when in these goaf a coal susceptible to self-ignition occurs, then the airflow through these goaf may influence on formation of favorable conditions for coal oxidation and subsequently to its self-heating and self-ignition. Endogenous fire formed in such conditions can pose a serious hazards for the crew and for continuity of operation of mining plant. From the practical point of view a very significant meaning has determination of the zone in the goaf with caving, in which necessary conditions for occurence of endogenous fire are fulfilled. In the real conditions determination of such a zone is practically impossible. The main aim of the analysis was to determine the impact of type of the roof rocks forming the goaf on the location and range of endogenous fires particular hazard zone by in these goaf. For determined mining-geological conditions, the critical value of velocity of airflow and oxygen concentration in goaf, conditioning initiation of coal oxidation process were determined.

Influence of long-term storage on fire hazard properties of metal nanopowders

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kyrmakova, O. S.; Sechin, A. I.; Nazarenko, O. B.

2017-08-01

The production and application of nanomaterials is rapidly expanding. Therefore the problem of their properties change during long-term storage becomes essential. The properties of metal nanopowders after long-term storage under ambient conditions were studied and the results are presented in this work. The aluminum, iron, zinc, and copper nanopowders produced by the method of electrical explosion of wires were investigated in this work. The investigation was carried out by X-ray and thermal analysis. The estimation of the flame propagation velocity in the bulk layer of nanopowders was carried out. The characteristics of the nanopowders of nanometals studied are given in terms of their fire hazard. The results can be used for diagnostic of fire hazard of nanomaterials and protection of the enterprises against fire and explosion.

Fuel reduction at a Spanish heathland by prescribed fire and mechanical shredding: effects on seedling emergence.

PubMed

Fernández, Cristina; Vega, José A; Fonturbel, Teresa

2013-11-15

Traditional heathland burning has declined in Spain, leading to fuel accumulation and fuel reduction treatments have become common for severe wildfire hazard reduction. These methods need to maintain the botanical composition of those shrub communities. Prescribed fire has been widely used in the past, but we need to compare mechanical fuel reduction with prescribed fire because it is easier and safer to carry out in a wide range of weather conditions. This information could be particularly useful in flammable ecosystems all over the world where traditional anthropogenic burning has declined. In this study, we compared the effects of prescribed burning and mechanical shredding on the seedling emergence and its relation to the mature vegetation in a fire-prone heathland dominated by Erica australis L. and Pterospartum tridentatum (L.) Willk., in Galicia (NW Spain). We combined a greenhouse experiment with periodic field inventories of seedling emergence. In the greenhouse study, the seedling emergence was significantly higher in the soil samples after burning (383 seedlings m(-2)) than in samples before burning (242 seedlings m(-2)). In contrast, there was no significant difference in seedling density before and after mechanical shredding (243 compared with 261 seedlings m(-2)). Also, the number of seedlings that emerged after burning was significantly higher than that emerged after mechanical shredding. The maximum temperatures at the soil organic layer surface during burning were significantly and positively related to the density of Halimium lasianthum ssp. alyssoides and P. tridentatum seedlings. In the field study, the observed seedling density was very low both after prescribed burning and mechanical shredding. There was a high degree of similarity between emerged seedlings and mature vegetation in both the treated and in the untreated soils, which was probably a consequence of the dominance of resprouting species. Some consequences for the management of these shrublands are also discussed. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

75 FR 34347 - Airworthiness Directives; Honeywell International Inc. Auxiliary Power Unit Models GTCP36-150(R...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-06-17

... lead to ignition of fuel vapor, creating a fire and explosion hazard resulting in injury, and damage to... ignition of fuel vapor, creating a fire and explosion hazard resulting in injury, and damage to the APU and...

40 CFR 68.87 - Contractors.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... ACCIDENT PREVENTION PROVISIONS Program 3 Prevention Program § 68.87 Contractors. (a) Application. This... known potential fire, explosion, or toxic release hazards related to the contractor's work and the... instructed in the known potential fire, explosion, or toxic release hazards related to his/her job and the...

40 CFR 68.87 - Contractors.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... ACCIDENT PREVENTION PROVISIONS Program 3 Prevention Program § 68.87 Contractors. (a) Application. This... known potential fire, explosion, or toxic release hazards related to the contractor's work and the... instructed in the known potential fire, explosion, or toxic release hazards related to his/her job and the...

40 CFR 68.87 - Contractors.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... ACCIDENT PREVENTION PROVISIONS Program 3 Prevention Program § 68.87 Contractors. (a) Application. This... known potential fire, explosion, or toxic release hazards related to the contractor's work and the... instructed in the known potential fire, explosion, or toxic release hazards related to his/her job and the...

40 CFR 68.87 - Contractors.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... ACCIDENT PREVENTION PROVISIONS Program 3 Prevention Program § 68.87 Contractors. (a) Application. This... known potential fire, explosion, or toxic release hazards related to the contractor's work and the... instructed in the known potential fire, explosion, or toxic release hazards related to his/her job and the...

Where's the Fire?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Needham, Dorothy

1977-01-01

National Fire Protection Week is a perfect time for launching a fire safety learning center. The activities described here are intended to help children recognize fire hazards in their homes, play areas and public buildings; learn how to act intelligently in fire emergencies; be able to share their knowledge of fire safety with others and…

Vehicle fires and fire safety in tunnels

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2002-09-20

Tunnels present what is arguably the most hazardous environment, from the point of view of fire safety, that members of the public ever experience. The fire safety design of tunnels is carried out by tunnel engineers on the basis of a potential fire ...

Association between Residential Proximity to Fuel-Fired Power Plants and Hospitalization Rate for Respiratory Diseases

PubMed Central

Liu, Xiaopeng; Lessner, Lawrence

2012-01-01

Background: Air pollution is known to cause respiratory disease. Unlike motor vehicle sources, fuel-fired power plants are stationary. Objective: Using hospitalization data, we examined whether living near a fuel-fired power plant increases the likelihood of hospitalization for respiratory disease. Methods: Rates of hospitalization for asthma, acute respiratory infection (ARI), and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) were estimated using hospitalization data for 1993–2008 from New York State in relation to data for residences near fuel-fired power plants. We also explored data for residential proximity to hazardous waste sites. Results: After adjusting for age, sex, race, median household income, and rural/urban residence, there were significant 11%, 15%, and 17% increases in estimated rates of hospitalization for asthma, ARI, and COPD, respectively, among individuals > 10 years of age living in a ZIP code containing a fuel-fired power plant compared with one that had no power plant. Living in a ZIP code with a fuel-fired power plant was not significantly associated with hospitalization for asthma or ARI among children < 10 years of age. Living in a ZIP code with a hazardous waste site was associated with hospitalization for all outcomes in both age groups, and joint effect estimates were approximately additive for living in a ZIP code that contained a fuel-fired power plant and a hazardous waste site. Conclusions: Our results are consistent with the hypothesis that exposure to air pollution from fuel-fired power plants and volatile compounds coming from hazardous waste sites increases the risk of hospitalization for respiratory diseases. PMID:22370087

Fuels planning: science synthesis and integration; forest structure and fire hazard fact sheet 06: Guide to fuel treatments in dry forests of the Western United States: assessing forest structure and fire hazard

Treesearch

Rocky Mountain Research Station USDA Forest Service

2005-01-01

The Guide to Fuel Treatments analyzes a range of potential silvicultural thinnings and surface fuel treatments for 25 representative dry-forest stands in the Western United States. The guide provides quantitative guidelines and visualization for treatment based on scientific principles identified for reducing potential crown fires. This fact sheet identifies the...

77 FR 45967 - National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants From Coal- and Oil-Fired Electric...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-08-02

... Electric Utility Steam Generating Units and Standards of Performance for Fossil-Fuel-Fired Electric Utility...-fired Electric Utility Steam Generating Units and Standards of Performance for Fossil-Fuel-Fired...

Sleep Quantity and Quality of Ontario Wildland Firefighters Across a Low-Hazard Fire Season

PubMed Central

McGillis, Zachary; Dorman, Sandra C.; Robertson, Ayden; Larivière, Michel; Leduc, Caleb; Eger, Tammy; Oddson, Bruce E.; Larivière, Céline

2017-01-01

Objective: The aim of the study was to assess the sleep quality, quantity, and fatigue levels of Canadian wildland firefighters while on deployment. Methods: Objective and subjective sleep and fatigue measures were collected using actigraphy and questionnaires during non-fire (Base) and fire (Initial Attack and Project) deployments. Results: Suboptimal sleep quality and quantity were more frequently observed during high-intensity, Initial Attack fire deployments. Suboptimal sleep was also exhibited during non-fire (Base) work periods, which increases the risk of prefire deployment sleep debt. Self-reported, morning fatigue scores were low-to-moderate and highest for Initial Attack fire deployments. Conclusions: The study highlights the incidence of suboptimal sleep patterns in wildland firefighters during non-fire and fire suppression work periods. These results have implications for the health and safety practices of firefighters given the link between sleep and fatigue, in a characteristically hazardous occupation. PMID:29216017

Tracking hazardous air pollutants from a refinery fire by applying on-line and off-line air monitoring and back trajectory modeling.

PubMed

Shie, Ruei-Hao; Chan, Chang-Chuan

2013-10-15

The air monitors used by most regulatory authorities are designed to track the daily emissions of conventional pollutants and are not well suited for measuring hazardous air pollutants that are released from accidents such as refinery fires. By applying a wide variety of air-monitoring systems, including on-line Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, gas chromatography with a flame ionization detector, and off-line gas chromatography-mass spectrometry for measuring hazardous air pollutants during and after a fire at a petrochemical complex in central Taiwan on May 12, 2011, we were able to detect significantly higher levels of combustion-related gaseous and particulate pollutants, refinery-related hydrocarbons, and chlorinated hydrocarbons, such as 1,2-dichloroethane, vinyl chloride monomer, and dichloromethane, inside the complex and 10 km downwind from the fire than those measured during the normal operation periods. Both back trajectories and dispersion models further confirmed that high levels of hazardous air pollutants in the neighboring communities were carried by air mass flown from the 22 plants that were shut down by the fire. This study demonstrates that hazardous air pollutants from industrial accidents can successfully be identified and traced back to their emission sources by applying a timely and comprehensive air-monitoring campaign and back trajectory air flow models. Copyright © 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Current status and future needs of the BehavePlus Fire Modeling System

Treesearch

Patricia L. Andrews

2014-01-01

The BehavePlus Fire Modeling System is among the most widely used systems for wildland fire prediction. It is designed for use in a range of tasks including wildfire behaviour prediction, prescribed fire planning, fire investigation, fuel hazard assessment, fire model understanding, communication and research. BehavePlus is based on mathematical models for fire...

Testing a basic assumption of shrubland fire management: Does the hazard of burning increase with the age of fuels?

USGS Publications Warehouse

Moritz, Max A.; Keeley, Jon E.; Johnson, Edward A.; Schaffner, Andrew A.

2004-01-01

This year's catastrophic wildfires in southern California highlight the need for effective planning and management for fire-prone landscapes. Fire frequency analysis of several hundred wildfires over a broad expanse of California shrublands reveals that there is generally not, as is commonly assumed, a strong relationship between fuel age and fire probabilities. Instead, the hazard of burning in most locations increases only moderately with time since the last fire, and a marked age effect of fuels is observed only in limited areas. Results indicate a serious need for a re-evaluation of current fire management and policy, which is based largely on eliminating older stands of shrubland vegetation. In many shrubland ecosystems exposed to extreme fire weather, large and intense wildfires may need to be factored in as inevitable events.

An evaluation of the impact of forest biomass harvest for biofuels on carbon storage in the US west coast states under different management scenarios

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hudiburg, T. M.; Law, B. E.

2009-12-01

Mitigation strategies to reduce fossil fuel emissions of carbon dioxide have lead to investigation of alternative sources of fuels. National and state forest policies have been implemented to both reduce risk of wildfire and promote use of forest biomass as a secondary biofuels energy source. However, the cost and biomass availability have been estimated without quantifying the impact on current and future terrestrial carbon balances. This study uses a combination of Federal Inventory Analysis data (FIA) and supplementary plot data for Washington, Oregon and California to quantify the current forest carbon stocks, net ecosystem production (NEP), and net biome production (NBP = NEP - removals) for the period from 2001-2006. Varying management treatments were applied to determine the net cost, carbon debt, and biofuels energy potential. The treatments were designed to meet multiple objectives emphasizing carbon storage, economic gain, or energy production. The hazardous fuels reduction treatment minimizes carbon loss by only harvesting biomass in forested areas classified by moderate to high risk fire condition classes (FRCC class). This scenario assumes no additional harvest in ecoregions characterized by long fire return intervals (>100 years) such as the Coast Range and the West Cascades and limits removals to an 18 in diameter at breast height (DBH). The energy production treatment maximizes biomass removal by harvesting areas regardless of FRCC class and allows removals up to a 24 inch DBH. Statewide estimates of carbon for 2001-2006 prior to harvest scenarios for California, Oregon, and Washington respectively are as follows: 1) Total land-based carbon stocks (excluding soils) averages 1680, 1663, and 1278 Tg C; 2) NEP is positive in most ecoregions averaging 213, 180, and 191 g C m-2 yr-1; 3) Actual harvest removals averaged 2.7, 6.5, and 5.1 Tg C yr-1 for the same period. In Oregon, the amount of biomass available for biofuels varies from 128 g C m-2 in the hazardous fuels reduction treatment versus 185 g C m-2 in the energy production treatment. Removal of this biomass over the next 20 years is estimated to result in an additional 4 Tg C yr-1 (a 60% increase) in harvest removals for the hazardous fuels reduction treatment and an additional 14 Tg C yr-1 (216% increase) for the energy production treatment. Even in a minimal removals scenario and assuming no other disturbance losses (i.e. insects and fire), Oregon forest NBP will be significantly reduced with the potential to become a carbon source.

Fire! Fire Prevention and Safety: A Teacher's Handbook.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

New York City Board of Education, Brooklyn, NY. Div. of Educational Planning and Support.

In this curriculum guide, guidelines for teaching children about fire safety and related topics and activities representing an interdisciplinary approach to fire safety are outlined. Major fire hazards and methods of dealing with them are described. Possible sites for field trips and films relating to fire are listed. The rules of the New York…

Phytoremediation of Pb in the sediment of a mangrove ecosystem

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Lead (Pb) is a naturally occurring element that poses environmental risks and hazards if present at elevated concentration. It is being released into the environment because of industrial uses, combustion of fossils fuels and from coal-fired power plants. Coal-fired power plants can discharge hazard...

40 CFR 266.102 - Permit standards for burners.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... subpart G (Closure and post-closure), §§ 264.111-264.115; (viii) In subpart H (Financial requirements... prescribed in paragraph (e)(6) of this section; (C) Appropriate controls of the hazardous waste firing system...; (C) Appropriate controls on operation and maintenance of the hazardous waste firing system and any...

40 CFR 266.102 - Permit standards for burners.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... subpart G (Closure and post-closure), §§ 264.111-264.115; (viii) In subpart H (Financial requirements... prescribed in paragraph (e)(6) of this section; (C) Appropriate controls of the hazardous waste firing system...; (C) Appropriate controls on operation and maintenance of the hazardous waste firing system and any...

40 CFR 266.102 - Permit standards for burners.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... subpart G (Closure and post-closure), §§ 264.111-264.115; (viii) In subpart H (Financial requirements... prescribed in paragraph (e)(6) of this section; (C) Appropriate controls of the hazardous waste firing system...; (C) Appropriate controls on operation and maintenance of the hazardous waste firing system and any...

40 CFR 266.102 - Permit standards for burners.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... subpart G (Closure and post-closure), §§ 264.111-264.115; (viii) In subpart H (Financial requirements... prescribed in paragraph (e)(6) of this section; (C) Appropriate controls of the hazardous waste firing system...; (C) Appropriate controls on operation and maintenance of the hazardous waste firing system and any...

40 CFR 266.102 - Permit standards for burners.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... subpart G (Closure and post-closure), §§ 264.111-264.115; (viii) In subpart H (Financial requirements... prescribed in paragraph (e)(6) of this section; (C) Appropriate controls of the hazardous waste firing system...; (C) Appropriate controls on operation and maintenance of the hazardous waste firing system and any...

16 CFR 1500.15 - Labeling of fire extinguishers.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 16 Commercial Practices 2 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Labeling of fire extinguishers. 1500.15 Section 1500.15 Commercial Practices CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY COMMISSION FEDERAL HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES ACT...)(1), the signal word “Danger” and the statement of hazard “Poisonous gases formed when used to...

Overview of major hazards. Part 2: Source term; dispersion; combustion; blast, missiles, venting; fire; radiation; runaway reactions; toxic substances; dust explosions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Vilain, J.

Approaches to major hazard assessment and prediction are reviewed. Source term: (phenomenology/modeling of release, influence on early stages of dispersion); dispersion (atmospheric advection, diffusion and deposition, emphasis on dense/cold gases); combustion (flammable clouds and mists covering flash fires, deflagration, transition to detonation; mostly unconfined/partly confined situations); blast formation, propagation, interaction with structures; catastrophic fires (pool fires, torches and fireballs; highly reactive substances) runaway reactions; features of more general interest; toxic substances, excluding toxicology; and dust explosions (phenomenology and protective measures) are discussed.

Is Fire Safety a Burning Issue for Your Home?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Haines, Jamie E.

1986-01-01

Families can take an active role in protecting their homes and themselves from fire by: (1) keeping their homes free of fire hazards; (2) installing, testing, and maintaining smoke detectors; and (3) developing a fire escape plan. (DF)

Burning in Banksia Woodlands: How Does the Fire-Free Period Influence Reptile Communities?

PubMed Central

Valentine, Leonie E.; Reaveley, Alice; Johnson, Brent; Fisher, Rebecca; Wilson, Barbara A.

2012-01-01

Fire is an important management tool for both hazard reduction burning and maintenance of biodiversity. The impact of time since last fire on fauna is an important factor to understand as land managers often aim for prescribed burning regimes with specific fire-free intervals. However, our current understanding of the impact of time since last fire on fauna is largely unknown and likely dependent on vegetation type. We examined the responses of reptiles to fire age in banksia woodlands, and the interspersed melaleuca damplands among them, north of Perth, Western Australia, where the current prescribed burning regime is targeting a fire-free period of 8–12 years. The response of reptiles to fire was dependent on vegetation type. Reptiles were generally more abundant (e.g. Lerista elegans and Ctenophorus adelaidensis) and specious in banksia sites. Several species (e.g. Menetia greyii, Cryptoblepharus buchananii) preferred long unburnt melaleuca sites (>16 years since last fire, YSLF) compared to recently burnt sites (<12 YSLF). Several of the small elapids (e.g. the WA priority listed species Neelaps calonotus) were only detected in older-aged banksia sites (>16 YSLF). The terrestrial dragon C. adelaidensis and the skink Morethia obscura displayed a strong response to fire in banksia woodlands only. Highest abundances of the dragon were detected in the recently burnt (<7 YSLF) and long unburnt (>35 YSLF) banksia woodlands, while the skink was more abundant in older sites. Habitats from a range of fire ages are required to support the reptiles we detected, especially the longer unburnt (>16 YSLF) melaleuca habitat. Current burning prescriptions are reducing the availability of these older habitats. PMID:22496806

Burning in banksia woodlands: how does the fire-free period influence reptile communities?

PubMed

Valentine, Leonie E; Reaveley, Alice; Johnson, Brent; Fisher, Rebecca; Wilson, Barbara A

2012-01-01

Fire is an important management tool for both hazard reduction burning and maintenance of biodiversity. The impact of time since last fire on fauna is an important factor to understand as land managers often aim for prescribed burning regimes with specific fire-free intervals. However, our current understanding of the impact of time since last fire on fauna is largely unknown and likely dependent on vegetation type. We examined the responses of reptiles to fire age in banksia woodlands, and the interspersed melaleuca damplands among them, north of Perth, Western Australia, where the current prescribed burning regime is targeting a fire-free period of 8-12 years. The response of reptiles to fire was dependent on vegetation type. Reptiles were generally more abundant (e.g. Lerista elegans and Ctenophorus adelaidensis) and specious in banksia sites. Several species (e.g. Menetia greyii, Cryptoblepharus buchananii) preferred long unburnt melaleuca sites (>16 years since last fire, YSLF) compared to recently burnt sites (<12 YSLF). Several of the small elapids (e.g. the WA priority listed species Neelaps calonotus) were only detected in older-aged banksia sites (>16 YSLF). The terrestrial dragon C. adelaidensis and the skink Morethia obscura displayed a strong response to fire in banksia woodlands only. Highest abundances of the dragon were detected in the recently burnt (<7 YSLF) and long unburnt (>35 YSLF) banksia woodlands, while the skink was more abundant in older sites. Habitats from a range of fire ages are required to support the reptiles we detected, especially the longer unburnt (>16 YSLF) melaleuca habitat. Current burning prescriptions are reducing the availability of these older habitats.

Wildfire exposure and fuel management on western US national forests.

PubMed

Ager, Alan A; Day, Michelle A; McHugh, Charles W; Short, Karen; Gilbertson-Day, Julie; Finney, Mark A; Calkin, David E

2014-12-01

Substantial investments in fuel management activities on national forests in the western US are part of a national strategy to reduce human and ecological losses from catastrophic wildfire and create fire resilient landscapes. Prioritizing these investments within and among national forests remains a challenge, partly because a comprehensive assessment that establishes the current wildfire risk and exposure does not exist, making it difficult to identify national priorities and target specific areas for fuel management. To gain a broader understanding of wildfire exposure in the national forest system, we analyzed an array of simulated and empirical data on wildfire activity and fuel treatment investments on the 82 western US national forests. We first summarized recent fire data to examine variation among the Forests in ignition frequency and burned area in relation to investments in fuel reduction treatments. We then used simulation modeling to analyze fine-scale spatial variation in burn probability and intensity. We also estimated the probability of a mega-fire event on each of the Forests, and the transmission of fires ignited on national forests to the surrounding urban interface. The analysis showed a good correspondence between recent area burned and predictions from the simulation models. The modeling also illustrated the magnitude of the variation in both burn probability and intensity among and within Forests. Simulated burn probabilities in most instances were lower than historical, reflecting fire exclusion on many national forests. Simulated wildfire transmission from national forests to the urban interface was highly variable among the Forests. We discuss how the results of the study can be used to prioritize investments in hazardous fuel reduction within a comprehensive multi-scale risk management framework. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Reducing Community Vulnerability to Wildland Fires in Southern California

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Keeley, J. E.

2010-12-01

In the US fires are not treated like other hazards such as earthquakes but rather as preventable through landscape fuel treatments and aggressive fire suppression. In southern California extreme fire weather has made it impossible to control all fires and thus loss of homes and lives is a constant threat to communities. There is growing evidence that indicate we are not likely to ever eliminate fires on these landscapes. Thus, it is time to reframe the fire problem and think of fires like we do with other natural hazards such as earthquakes. We do not attempt to stop earthquakes, rather the primary emphasis is on altering human infrastructure in ways that minimize community vulnerability. In other words we need to change our approach from risk elimination to risk management. This approach means we accept that we cannot eliminate fires but rather learn to live with fire by communities becoming more fire adapted. We potentially can make great strides in reducing community vulnerability by finding those factors with high impacts and are sensitive to changes in management. Presently, decision makers have relatively little guidance about which of these is likely to have the greatest impact. Future reductions in fire risk to communities requires we address both wildland and urban elements that contribute to destructive losses. Damage risk or D is determined by: D = f (I, S, E, G, H) where I = the probability of a fire starting in the landscape S = the probability of the fire reaching a size sufficient to reach the urban environment E = probability of it encroaching into the urban environment G = probability of fire propagating within the built environment H = probability of a fire, once within the built environment, resulting in the destruction of a building. In southern California, reducing I through more strategic fire prevention has potential for reducing fire risk. There are many ignition sources that could be reduced, such as replacing power line ignitions with underground lines, strategically employing arson patrols during Santa Ana wind events, enforcing regulations on power equipment use in wildland areas, k-rail barriers along roads to reduce fire spread into wildland areas etc. S, or the probability of fire reaching urban environments has historically been the primary focus of state and federal fire management activities. There is a need for greater focus on understanding the most strategic application of wildland fuel treatments. E, the probability of fire encroaching into the urban environment, has largely been addressed in the past by attention to wildland-urban interface (WUI) fuel treatments. The one factor that has perhaps the greatest potential for impacting E are patterns of urban growth, both in strategic placement and spatial patterning within communities, and this is an area where alternative future growth scenarios could have huge impacts on fire outcomes. G, the chance of fire propagating within the urban environment is a function of urban fuels, which include both home construction and landscaping. This area has the potential for effecting large changes in fire losses dependent upon future regulations on plantings in the urban environment.

Fire Technology Abstracts, volume 4, issue 1, August, 1981

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Holtschlag, L. J.; Kuvshinoff, B. W.; Jernigan, J. B.

This bibliography contains over 400 citations with abstracts addressing various aspects of fire technology. Subjects cover the dynamics of fire, behavior and properties of materials, fire modeling and test burns, fire protection, fire safety, fire service organization, apparatus and equipment, fire prevention, suppression, planning, human behavior, medical problems, codes and standards, hazard identification, safe handling of materials, insurance, economics of loss and prevention, and more.

High-severity fire: evaluating its key drivers and mapping its probability across western US forests

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Parks, Sean A.; Holsinger, Lisa M.; Panunto, Matthew H.; Jolly, W. Matt; Dobrowski, Solomon Z.; Dillon, Gregory K.

2018-04-01

Wildland fire is a critical process in forests of the western United States (US). Variation in fire behavior, which is heavily influenced by fuel loading, terrain, weather, and vegetation type, leads to heterogeneity in fire severity across landscapes. The relative influence of these factors in driving fire severity, however, is poorly understood. Here, we explore the drivers of high-severity fire for forested ecoregions in the western US over the period 2002–2015. Fire severity was quantified using a satellite-inferred index of severity, the relativized burn ratio. For each ecoregion, we used boosted regression trees to model high-severity fire as a function of live fuel, topography, climate, and fire weather. We found that live fuel, on average, was the most important factor driving high-severity fire among ecoregions (average relative influence = 53.1%) and was the most important factor in 14 of 19 ecoregions. Fire weather was the second most important factor among ecoregions (average relative influence = 22.9%) and was the most important factor in five ecoregions. Climate (13.7%) and topography (10.3%) were less influential. We also predicted the probability of high-severity fire, were a fire to occur, using recent (2016) satellite imagery to characterize live fuel for a subset of ecoregions in which the model skill was deemed acceptable (n = 13). These ‘wall-to-wall’ gridded ecoregional maps provide relevant and up-to-date information for scientists and managers who are tasked with managing fuel and wildland fire. Lastly, we provide an example of the predicted likelihood of high-severity fire under moderate and extreme fire weather before and after fuel reduction treatments, thereby demonstrating how our framework and model predictions can potentially serve as a performance metric for land management agencies tasked with reducing hazardous fuel across large landscapes.

Assessing the Role and Impact of Geospatial Data for Wildland Fire Management Decisions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Klein, E. A.; Lev, S. M.

2016-12-01

The 2015 Wildland and Fire Science and Technology Task Force Final Report, produced by the National Science and Technology Council, Committee on Environment, Natural Resources, and Sustainability, Subcommittee on Disaster Reduction, highlighted the increasing frequency of large wildfires and the growing demand for science to inform critical resource decisions to manage, mitigate, respond to, and recover from wildland fires. Federal spending on fire suppression from 2005-2015 has more than doubled despite policy changes that prioritize the mitigation of fire risks through the use of fuel treatments, prescribed fire, and management of naturally occurring wildfires to protect life and property. Fire suppression policies over the last century have created forests primed for severe fire, and in the face of a changing climate, the benefits of re-introducing fire into once fire-resilient ecosystems are clear. There are a range of complex factors and regional variation associated with wildland fire risk that complicate our understanding and effective management of this hazard. Data derived from Earth-observing (EO) systems and networks are a crucial input for managers when making decisions about fire suppression and fuel management. EO data can also be used to develop pre- and post-fire metrics that can aid in the evaluating the effectiveness of wildland fire management decisions. A value-tree method for mapping the role of EO systems and networks in delivering societal benefit through key Federal objectives related to wildland fire management will be presented. The value-tree methodology utilizes input from subject matter experts to assess the availability and usability of data and data products and to evaluate the impact of individual EO data inputs for achieving wildland fire management objectives. The results provide a qualitative assessment of the value of the data for the objectives described and identify critical gaps and continuity issues associated with improvements to and continuous delivery of societal benefit.

[Research progress in post-fire debris flow].

PubMed

Di, Xue-ying; Tao, Yu-zhu

2013-08-01

The occurrence of the secondary disasters of forest fire has significant impacts on the environment quality and human health and safety. Post-fire debris flow is one of the most hazardous secondary disasters of forest fire. To understand the occurrence conditions of post-fire debris flow and to master its occurrence situation are the critical elements in post-fire hazard assessment. From the viewpoints of vegetation, precipitation threshold and debris flow material sources, this paper elaborated the impacts of forest fire on the debris flow, analyzed the geologic and geomorphic conditions, precipitation and slope condition that caused the post-fire debris flow as well as the primary mechanisms of debris-flow initiation caused by shallow landslide or surface runoff, and reviewed the research progress in the prediction and forecast of post-fire debris flow and the related control measures. In the future research, four aspects to be focused on were proposed, i. e., the quantification of the relationships between the fire behaviors and environmental factors and the post-fire debris flow, the quantitative research on the post-fire debris flow initiation and movement processes, the mechanistic model of post-fire debris flow, and the rapid and efficient control countermeasures of post-fire debris flow.

Fire and worker health and safety: an introduction to the special issue.

PubMed

Campbell, Richard; Levenstein, Charles

2015-02-01

One century ago, the landmark fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York City claimed the lives of 146 garment workers and helped spur the adoption of fire safety measures and laws targeting dangerous working conditions. Since that time, continuing advances have been made to address the threat of fire-in workplace fire safety practices and regulations, in training and safety requirements for firefighters and first responders, and in hazard communication laws that enhance disaster planning and response. Recent high profile events, including the West, Texas fertilizer plant explosion, derailments of fuel cargo trains, and garment factory fires in Bangladesh, have brought renewed attention to fire as a workplace health and safety issue and to the unevenness of safety standards and regulatory enforcement, in the United States as well as internationally. In this article, we provide an overview of fire as a workplace health and safety hazard and an introduction to the essays included in this special issue of New Solutions on fire and work. © 2015 SAGE Publications.

Fire Inspection Guide for Schools.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Virginia State Corp. Commission, Richmond.

A functional explanation of the "School Fire Prevention Inspection Form" is provided for use by local school and fire department personnel in the Virginia School Fire Prevention Inspection Program. Many helpful suggestions are made for safeguarding occupants of public school buildings from fire hazards. Items discussed are--(1) exit doors, (2)…

Teach Children Fire Will Burn.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Children's Bureau (DHEW), Washington, DC.

This handbook, addressed to parents and others responsible for the safety of children, presents information on fire hazards, prevention and protection. Emphasizing an early start to fire safety training, it outlines the basic facts of fire safety education, listing the most frequent causes of fire and suggesting the organization of a Family Fire…

Fire Protection in Educational Occupancies.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gervais, Romeo P.

2000-01-01

Discusses the origins of school fires and the components of the fire protection code called the Life Safety Code (LSC). Three of the following LSC requirements are described: means of egress; protection from hazards; and fire suppression and alarm systems. Information on who starts fires is highlighted along with preventive measures. (GR)

29 CFR 1926.151 - Fire prevention.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... 29 Labor 8 2013-07-01 2013-07-01 false Fire prevention. 1926.151 Section 1926.151 Labor... (CONTINUED) SAFETY AND HEALTH REGULATIONS FOR CONSTRUCTION Fire Protection and Prevention § 1926.151 Fire... at or in the vicinity of operations which constitute a fire hazard, and shall be conspicuously posted...

29 CFR 1926.151 - Fire prevention.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... 29 Labor 8 2014-07-01 2014-07-01 false Fire prevention. 1926.151 Section 1926.151 Labor... (CONTINUED) SAFETY AND HEALTH REGULATIONS FOR CONSTRUCTION Fire Protection and Prevention § 1926.151 Fire... at or in the vicinity of operations which constitute a fire hazard, and shall be conspicuously posted...

29 CFR 1926.151 - Fire prevention.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... 29 Labor 8 2012-07-01 2012-07-01 false Fire prevention. 1926.151 Section 1926.151 Labor... (CONTINUED) SAFETY AND HEALTH REGULATIONS FOR CONSTRUCTION Fire Protection and Prevention § 1926.151 Fire... at or in the vicinity of operations which constitute a fire hazard, and shall be conspicuously posted...

The national Fire and Fire Surrogate study: effects of fuel reduction methods on forest vegetation structure and fuels

Treesearch

Dylan W. Schwilk; Jon E. Keeley; Eric E. Knapp; James Mciver; John D. Bailey; Christopher J. Fettig; Carl E. Fiedler; Richy J. Harrod; Jason J. Moghaddas; Kenneth W. Outcalt; Carl N. Skinner; Scott L. Stephens; Thomas A. Waldrop; Daniel A. Yaussy; Andrew Youngblood

2009-01-01

Changes in vegetation and fuels were evaluated from measurements taken before and after fuel reduction treatments (prescribed fire, mechanical treatments, and the combination of the two) at 12 Fire and Fire Surrogate (FFS) sites located in forests with a surface fire regime across the conterminous United States. To test the relative effectiveness of fuel reduction...

LANDFIRE: A nationally consistent vegetation, wildland fire, and fuel assessment

USGS Publications Warehouse

Rollins, Matthew G.

2009-01-01

LANDFIRE is a 5-year, multipartner project producing consistent and comprehensive maps and data describing vegetation, wildland fuel, fire regimes and ecological departure from historical conditions across the United States. It is a shared project between the wildland fire management and research and development programs of the US Department of Agriculture Forest Service and US Department of the Interior. LANDFIRE meets agency and partner needs for comprehensive, integrated data to support landscape-level fire management planning and prioritization, community and firefighter protection, effective resource allocation, and collaboration between agencies and the public. The LANDFIRE data production framework is interdisciplinary, science-based and fully repeatable, and integrates many geospatial technologies including biophysical gradient analyses, remote sensing, vegetation modelling, ecological simulation, and landscape disturbance and successional modelling. LANDFIRE data products are created as 30-m raster grids and are available over the internet at www.landfire.gov, accessed 22 April 2009. The data products are produced at scales that may be useful for prioritizing and planning individual hazardous fuel reduction and ecosystem restoration projects; however, the applicability of data products varies by location and specific use, and products may need to be adjusted by local users.

Gaseous emissions and toxic hazards associated with plastics in fire situations: A literature review

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Junod, T. L.

1976-01-01

The hazards of plastics in fire situations, the gases emitted, the factors influencing the nature of these emissions, the characteristics of toxic gases, and the results of laboratory studies, are discussed. The literature pertaining to the pyrolysis and oxidation of plastics was reviewed. An effort was made to define the state of the art for determining the toxic gases emitted by plastics under fire conditions. Recommendations are made and research needs defined as a result of this review.

Effects of prescribed burning on ecophysiological, anatomical and stem hydraulic properties in Pinus pinea L.

PubMed

Battipaglia, Giovanna; Savi, Tadeja; Ascoli, Davide; Castagneri, Daniele; Esposito, Assunta; Mayr, Stefan; Nardini, Andrea

2016-08-01

Prescribed burning (PB) is a widespread management technique for wildfire hazard abatement. Understanding PB effects on tree ecophysiology is key to defining burn prescriptions aimed at reducing fire hazard in Mediterranean pine plantations, such as Pinus pinea L. stands. We assessed physiological responses of adult P. pinea trees to PB using a combination of dendroecological, anatomical, hydraulic and isotopic analyses. Tree-ring widths, xylem cell wall thickness, lumen area, hydraulic diameter and tree-ring δ(13)C and δ(18)O were measured in trees on burned and control sites. Vulnerability curves were elaborated to assess tree hydraulic efficiency or safety. Despite the relatively intense thermal treatment (the residence time of temperatures above 50 °C at the stem surface ranged between 242 and 2239 s), burned trees did not suffer mechanical damage to stems, nor significant reduction in radial growth. Moreover, the PB did not affect xylem structure and tree hydraulics. No variations in (13)C-derived water use efficiency were recorded. This confirmed the high resistance of P. pinea to surface fire at the stem base. However, burned trees showed consistently lower δ(18)O values in the PB year, as a likely consequence of reduced competition for water and nutrients due to the understory burning, which increased both photosynthetic activity and stomatal conductance. Our multi-approach analysis offers new perspectives on post-fire survival strategies of P. pinea in an environment where fires are predicted to increase in frequency and severity during the 21st century. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Fuels planning: science synthesis and integration; social issues fact sheet 07: The "laws" of effective public education about fire hazards

Treesearch

Rocky Mountain Research Station USDA Forest Service

2004-01-01

Within the past 10 years, breakthrough research has identified factors that are most important for effectively communicating about wildland fire hazards. This fact sheet discusses seven "Laws" of effective public communication that should be considered in any state-of-the-art education campaign.

Cables and fire hazards

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Zanelli, C.; Philbrick, S.; Beretta, G.

1986-01-01

Besides describing the experiments conducted to develop a nonflammable cable, this article discusses several considerations regarding other hazards which might result from cable fires, particularly the toxicity and opacity of the fumes emitted by the burning cable. In addition, this article examines the effects of using the Oxygen Index as a gauge of quality control during manufacture.

A new tool for fire managers: An electronic duff moisture meter

Treesearch

Peter R. Robichaud; Jim Bilskie

2004-01-01

Prescribed fires are increasingly being used to reduce hazardous fuels, a major objective of the National Fire Plan. Despite advancing technology and ever-improving models, fire managers still find it challenging to determine the right time for a prescribed burn.

Forest soil response to fuel reduction treatments in the Southern Appalachian Mountains

Treesearch

T. Adams Coates; Victor B. Shelburne; Thomas A. Waldrop; Bill R. Smith; Hoke S., Jr. Hill; Dean M. Simon

2010-01-01

The National Fire and Fire Surrogate Study (FFS) was established to monitor the impacts of fuel reduction treatments (prescribed fire-only, mechanical fuel reduction-only, and a combination of prescribed fire and mechanical fuel reduction) on a host of ecosystem properties at 13 sites across the United States. Treatment impacts were monitored on the Southern...

Database for Safety-Oriented Tracking of Chemicals

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Stump, Jacob; Carr, Sandra; Plumlee, Debrah; Slater, Andy; Samson, Thomas M.; Holowaty, Toby L.; Skeete, Darren; Haenz, Mary Alice; Hershman, Scot; Raviprakash, Pushpa

2010-01-01

SafetyChem is a computer program that maintains a relational database for tracking chemicals and associated hazards at Johnson Space Center (JSC) by use of a Web-based graphical user interface. The SafetyChem database is accessible to authorized users via a JSC intranet. All new chemicals pass through a safety office, where information on hazards, required personal protective equipment (PPE), fire-protection warnings, and target organ effects (TOEs) is extracted from material safety data sheets (MSDSs) and recorded in the database. The database facilitates real-time management of inventory with attention to such issues as stability, shelf life, reduction of waste through transfer of unused chemicals to laboratories that need them, quantification of chemical wastes, and identification of chemicals for which disposal is required. Upon searching the database for a chemical, the user receives information on physical properties of the chemical, hazard warnings, required PPE, a link to the MSDS, and references to the applicable International Standards Organization (ISO) 9000 standard work instructions and the applicable job hazard analysis. Also, to reduce the labor hours needed to comply with reporting requirements of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the data can be directly exported into the JSC hazardous- materials database.

Fire hazard considerations for composites in vehicle design

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gordon, Rex B.

1994-01-01

Military ground vehicles fires are a significant cause of system loss, equipment damage, and crew injury in both combat and non-combat situations. During combat, the ability to successfully fight an internal fire, without losing fighting and mobility capabilities, is often the key to crew survival and mission success. In addition to enemy hits in combat, vehicle fires are initiated by electrical system failures, fuel line leaks, munitions mishaps and improper personnel actions. If not controlled, such fires can spread to other areas of the vehicle, causing extensive damage and the potential for personnel injury and death. The inherent fire safety characteristics (i.e. ignitability, compartments of these vehicles play a major roll in determining rather a newly started fire becomes a fizzle or a catastrophe. This paper addresses a systems approach to assuring optimum vehicle fire safety during the design phase of complex vehicle systems utilizing extensive uses of composites, plastic and related materials. It provides practical means for defining the potential fire hazard risks during a conceptual design phase, and criteria for the selection of composite materials based on its fire safety characteristics.

Self-organization, the cascade model, and natural hazards.

PubMed

Turcotte, Donald L; Malamud, Bruce D; Guzzetti, Fausto; Reichenbach, Paola

2002-02-19

We consider the frequency-size statistics of two natural hazards, forest fires and landslides. Both appear to satisfy power-law (fractal) distributions to a good approximation under a wide variety of conditions. Two simple cellular-automata models have been proposed as analogs for this observed behavior, the forest fire model for forest fires and the sand pile model for landslides. The behavior of these models can be understood in terms of a self-similar inverse cascade. For the forest fire model the cascade consists of the coalescence of clusters of trees; for the sand pile model the cascade consists of the coalescence of metastable regions.

Self-organization, the cascade model, and natural hazards

PubMed Central

Turcotte, Donald L.; Malamud, Bruce D.; Guzzetti, Fausto; Reichenbach, Paola

2002-01-01

We consider the frequency-size statistics of two natural hazards, forest fires and landslides. Both appear to satisfy power-law (fractal) distributions to a good approximation under a wide variety of conditions. Two simple cellular-automata models have been proposed as analogs for this observed behavior, the forest fire model for forest fires and the sand pile model for landslides. The behavior of these models can be understood in terms of a self-similar inverse cascade. For the forest fire model the cascade consists of the coalescence of clusters of trees; for the sand pile model the cascade consists of the coalescence of metastable regions. PMID:11875206

Assessing high reliability practices in the wildland fire community

Treesearch

Anne E. Black; Kathleen Sutcliffe; Michelle Barton; Deirdre Dether

2008-01-01

The Office of Inspector General's 2006 audit of Forest Service fire management operations added yet another voice to the growing chorus calling on the Federal wildland fire community to get more fire on the ground (OIG 2006). The 1995 National Fire Plan and the 2001 Implementation Plan identify the critical role of wildland fire use in reducing hazardous fuels...

Space station internal environmental and safety concerns

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Cole, Matthew B.

1987-01-01

Space station environmental and safety concerns, especially those involving fires, are discussed. Several types of space station modules and the particular hazards associated with each are briefly surveyed. A brief history of fire detection and suppression aboard spacecraft is given. Microgravity fire behavior, spacecraft fire detector systems, space station fire suppression equipment and procedures, and fire safety in hyperbaric chambers are discussed.

Responsible for Fire Safety. Seventh Grade. Fire Safety for Texans: Fire and Burn Prevention Curriculum Guide.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Texas State Commission on Fire Protection, Austin.

This booklet comprises the seventh grade component of a series of curriculum guides on fire and burn prevention. Designed to meet the age-specific needs of seventh grade students, its objectives include: (1) practicing responsible decision-making regarding fire and burn hazards, including peer pressure related to fire risks; and (2) practicing…

Establishing a proactive safety and health risk management system in the fire service.

PubMed

Poplin, Gerald S; Pollack, Keshia M; Griffin, Stephanie; Day-Nash, Virginia; Peate, Wayne F; Nied, Ed; Gulotta, John; Burgess, Jefferey L

2015-04-19

Formalized risk management (RM) is an internationally accepted process for reducing hazards in the workplace, with defined steps including hazard scoping, risk assessment, and implementation of controls, all within an iterative process. While required for all industry in the European Union and widely used elsewhere, the United States maintains a compliance-based regulatory structure, rather than one based on systematic, risk-based methodologies. Firefighting is a hazardous profession, with high injury, illness, and fatality rates compared with other occupations, and implementation of RM programs has the potential to greatly improve firefighter safety and health; however, no descriptions of RM implementation are in the peer-reviewed literature for the North American fire service. In this paper we describe the steps used to design and implement the RM process in a moderately-sized fire department, with particular focus on prioritizing and managing injury hazards during patient transport, fireground, and physical exercise procedures. Hazard scoping and formalized risk assessments are described, in addition to the identification of participatory-led injury control strategies. Process evaluation methods were conducted to primarily assess the feasibility of voluntarily instituting the RM approach within the fire service setting. The RM process was well accepted by the fire department and led to development of 45 hazard specific-interventions. Qualitative data documenting the implementation of the RM process revealed that participants emphasized the: value of the RM process, especially the participatory bottom-up approach; usefulness of the RM process for breaking down tasks to identify potential risks; and potential of RM for reducing firefighter injury. As implemented, this risk-based approach used to identify and manage occupational hazards and risks was successful and is deemed feasible for U.S. (and other) fire services. While several barriers and challenges do exist in the implementation of any intervention such as this, recommendations for adopting the process are provided. Additional work will be performed to determine the effectiveness of select controls strategies that were implemented; however participants throughout the organizational structure perceived the RM process to be of high utility while researchers also found the process improved the awareness and engagement in actively enhancing worker safety and health.

Nursing students practice primary fire prevention.

PubMed

Lehna, Carlee; Todd, Julie A; Keller, Rachel; Presley, Lynn; Jackson, Jessica; Davis, Stephanie; Hockman, Kristi; Phillips-Payne, Charles; Sauer, Sarah; Wessemeier, Sarah

2013-09-01

The purpose of this project was to evaluate a standardized, interactive, home fire safety program for elementary school students. Senior baccalaureate nursing students in their pediatric clinical rotation taught burn prevention techniques using Hazard House, a model house filled with common household fire hazards (Hazard House, 2006, Ref. 1). Elementary school students were encouraged to identify the hazards and discuss ways in which the house could be made safer. Local firemen then briefly presented what to do if a fire occurred, how firemen may look during a rescue, and the importance of working smoke alarms in the home. A pretest-posttest design was used to examine the effectiveness of an educational intervention. The three groups of participants included 128 kindergarten students, 311 students in grades 1-2, and 61 students in grades 3-4. The tests and interventions were tailored appropriately for each age group. There was no difference in pre- and post-test scores for the students in kindergarten and grades 3-4 (p>0.05). However, there was a significant difference for students in grades 1-2 (p<0.001). It is important for nurses to assess for and teach about fire injury prevention to prevent potentially devastating irreversible injuries. The results suggest that the educational intervention was effective in improving the understanding of fire safety for students in grades 1-2. Future studies may need to include a larger sample of students for the other grades. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd and ISBI. All rights reserved.

Application of a Novel Liquid Nitrogen Control Technique for Heat Stress and Fire Prevention in Underground Mines.

PubMed

Shi, Bobo; Ma, Lingjun; Dong, Wei; Zhou, Fubao

2015-01-01

With the continually increasing mining depths, heat stress and spontaneous combustion hazards in high-temperature mines are becoming increasingly severe. Mining production risks from natural hazards and exposures to hot and humid environments can cause occupational diseases and other work-related injuries. Liquid nitrogen injection, an engineering control developed to reduce heat stress and spontaneous combustion hazards in mines, was successfully utilized for environmental cooling and combustion prevention in an underground mining site named "Y120205 Working Face" (Y120205 mine) of Yangchangwan colliery. Both localized humidities and temperatures within the Y120205 mine decreased significantly with liquid nitrogen injection. The maximum percentage drop in temperature and humidity of the Y120205 mine were 21.9% and 10.8%, respectively. The liquid nitrogen injection system has the advantages of economical price, process simplicity, energy savings and emission reduction. The optimized heat exchanger used in the liquid nitrogen injection process achieved superior air-cooling results, resulting in considerable economic benefits.

EFFECTS OF CHANGING COALS ON THE EMISSIONS OF METAL HAZARDOUS AIR POLLUTANTS FROM THE COMBUSTION OF PULVERIZED COAL

EPA Science Inventory

The report discusses tests conducted at EPA's Air Pollution Prevention and Control Division to evaluate the effects of changing coals on emissions of metal hazardous air pollutants from coal-fired boilers. Six coals were burned in a 29 kW (100,000 Btu/hr) down-fired combustor und...

Beyond reducing fire hazard: fuel treatment impacts on overstory tree survival

Treesearch

Brandon M. Collins; Adrian J. Das; John J. Battles; Danny L. Fry; Kevin D. Krasnow; Scott L. Stephens

2014-01-01

Fuel treatment implementation in dry forest types throughout the western United States is likely to increase in pace and scale in response to increasing incidence of large wildfires. While it is clear that properly implemented fuel treatments are effective at reducing hazardous fire potential, there are ancillary ecological effects that can impact forest...

No herbicide residues found in smoke from prescribed fires

Treesearch

Charles K. McMahon; Parshall B. Bush

1992-01-01

Some concerns have been expressed by workers conducting prescribed burns on forest lands treated with herbicides.The major concern has based on speculation that hazardous levels of airborne herbicide residues may be present in the smoke near breathing zones of forest workers. Much of this speculation is based on fire hazard caution statements found on product labels...

Broad-Scale Assessment of Fuel Treatment Opportunities

Treesearch

Patrick D. Miles; Kenneth E. Skog; Wayne D. Shepperd; Elizabeth D. Reinhardt; Roger D. Fight

2006-01-01

The Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) program has produced estimates of the extent and composition of the Nation?s forests for several decades. FIA data have been used with a flexible silvicultural thinning option, a fire hazard model for preharvest and postharvest fire hazard assessment, a harvest economics model, and geospatial data to produce a Web-based tool to...

Spatial patterning of fuels and fire hazard across a central U.S. deciduous forest region

Treesearch

Michael C. Stambaugh; Daniel C. Dey; Richard P. Guyette; Hong S. He; Joseph M. Marschall

2011-01-01

Information describing spatial and temporal variability of forest fuel conditions is essential to assessing overall fire hazard and risk. Limited information exists describing spatial characteristics of fuels in the eastern deciduous forest region, particularly in dry oak-dominated regions that historically burned relatively frequently. From an extensive fuels survey...

Smoking and Home Fire Safety

MedlinePlus

... the fires and explosions is failure of the lithium-ion batteries. Learn how e-cigarettes work, about recent fire and explosion incidents, and why the e-cigarette/lithium-ion battery combination presents a new and unique hazard to ...

Fire technology abstracts, volume 4. Cumulative indexes

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

1982-03-01

Cumulative subject, author, publisher, and report number indexes referencing articles, books, reports, and patents are provided. The dynamics of fire, behavior and properties of materials, fire modeling and test burns, fire protection, fire safety, fire service organization, apparatus and equipment, fire prevention suppression, planning, human behavior, medical problems, codes and standards, hazard identification, safe handling of materials, and insurance economics of loss and prevention are among the subjects covered.

Impacts of proposed RCRA regulations and other related federal environmental regulations on fossil fuel-fired facilities: Final report, Volume 3

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Not Available

1987-03-01

Estimation of the costs associated with implementation of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) regulations for non-hazardous and hazardous material disposal in the utility industry are provided. These costs are based on engineering studies at a number of coal-fired power plants in which the costs for hazardous and non-hazardous disposal are compared to the costs developed for the current practice design for each utility. The relationship of the three costs is displayed. The emphasis of this study is on the determination of incremental costs rather than the absolute costs for each case (current practice, non-hazardous, or hazardous). For themore » purpose of this project, the hazardous design cost was determined for both minimum and maximum compliance.« less

Use of prescribed fire to reduce wildfire potential

Treesearch

Robert E. Martin; J. Boone Kauffman

1989-01-01

Fires were a part of our wildlands prehistorically. Prescribed burning reduces fire hazard and potential fire behavior primarily by reducing fuel quantity and continuity. Fuel continuity should be considered on the micro scale within stands, the mid-scale among, and the macro-scale among watersheds or entire forests. Prescribed fire is only one of the tools which can...

Evaluating the ecological benefits of wildfire by integrating fire and ecosystem simulation models

Treesearch

Robert E. Keane; Eva Karau

2010-01-01

Fire managers are now realizing that wildfires can be beneficial because they can reduce hazardous fuels and restore fire-dominated ecosystems. A software tool that assesses potential beneficial and detrimental ecological effects from wildfire would be helpful to fire management. This paper presents a simulation platform called FLEAT (Fire and Landscape Ecology...

A suite of fire, fuels, and smoke management tools

Treesearch

Roger D. Ottmar; Clint S. Wright; Susan J. Prichard

2009-01-01

The Fire and Environmental Research Applications Team (FERA) of the Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station, is an interdisciplinary team of scientists that conduct primary research on wildland fire and provide decision support for fire hazard and smoke management. The team is committed to providing easy-to-use tools that help managers in their fire and...

Fire danger index efficiency as a function of fuel moisture and fire behavior.

PubMed

Torres, Fillipe Tamiozzo Pereira; Romeiro, Joyce Machado Nunes; Santos, Ana Carolina de Albuquerque; de Oliveira Neto, Ricardo Rodrigues; Lima, Gumercindo Souza; Zanuncio, José Cola

2018-08-01

Assessment of the performance of forest fire hazard indices is important for prevention and management strategies, such as planning prescribed burnings, public notifications and firefighting resource allocation. The objective of this study was to evaluate the performance of fire hazard indices considering fire behavior variables and susceptibility expressed by the moisture of combustible material. Controlled burns were carried out at different times and information related to meteorological conditions, characteristics of combustible material and fire behavior variables were recorded. All variables analyzed (fire behavior and fuel moisture content) can be explained by the prediction indices. The Brazilian EVAP/P showed the best performance, both at predicting moisture content of the fuel material and fire behavior variables, and the Canadian system showed the best performance to predicting the rate of spread. The coherence of the correlations between the indices and the variables analyzed makes the methodology, which can be applied anywhere, important for decision-making in regions with no records or with only unreliable forest fire data. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Maximal physical work performance with European standard based fire-protective clothing system and equipment in relation to individual characteristics.

PubMed

Louhevaara, V; Ilmarinen, R; Griefahn, B; Künemund, C; Mäkinen, H

1995-01-01

Every fire fighter needs to wear fire-protective clothing and a self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA) several times a year while carrying out various fire-fighting and rescue operations in hazardous work environments. The aim of the present study was to quantify the effects of a multilayer turnout suit designed to fulfil European standard EN 469 used over standardized (Nordic) clothing and with SCBA (total mass 25.9 kg) on maximal physical work performance, and to evaluate the relationship between individual characteristics and power output with the fire-protective clothing system and SCBA. The subjects were 12 healthy firemen aged 26-46 years. The range of their body mass, body fat and maximal oxygen consumption was 69-101 kg, 10-20% and 2.70-5.86 l.min-1, respectively. The maximal tests without (control) and with the fire-protective clothing system and SCBA were carried out on a treadmill in a thermoneutral environment. When compared to the control test, the decrease in the maximal power output in terms of maximal working time and walking speed averaged 25% (P < 0.001) varying from 18% to 34% with the fire-protective clothing system and SCBA. At maximum, no significant differences were found in pulmonary ventilation, absolute oxygen consumption, the respiratory exchange ratio, heart rate, systolic blood pressure, the rate-pressure product, mechanical efficiency, and the rating of perceived exertion between the tests with and without the fire-protective clothing system and SCBA. The reduction of the power output was related to the extra mass of the fire protective clothing and SCBA.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Late Holocene geomorphic record of fire in ponderosa pine and mixed-conifer forests, Kendrick Mountain, northern Arizona, USA

Treesearch

Sara E. Jenkins; Carolyn Hull Sieg; Diana E. Anderson; Darrell S. Kaufman; Philip A. Pearthree

2011-01-01

Long-term fire history reconstructions enhance our understanding of fire behaviour and associated geomorphic hazards in forested ecosystems. We used 14C ages on charcoal from fire-induced debris-flow deposits to date prehistoric fires on Kendrick Mountain, northern Arizona, USA. Fire-related debris-flow sedimentation dominates Holocene fan deposition in the study area...

Post-fire logging reduces surface woody fuels up to four decades following wildfire

Treesearch

David W. Peterson; Erich Kyle Dodson; Richy J. Harrod

2015-01-01

Severe wildfires create pulses of dead trees that influence future fuel loads, fire behavior, and fire effects as they decay and deposit surface woody fuels. Harvesting fire-killed trees may reduce future surface woody fuels and related fire hazards, but the magnitude and timing of post-fire logging effects on woody fuels have not been fully assessed. To address this...

Investigation of Mechanism of Potential Aircraft Fuel Tank Vent Fires and Explosions Caused by Atmospheric Electricity

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1961-01-01

The nature of the potential fuel tank vent fire and explosion hazard is discussed in relation to present vent exit design practice, available knowledge of atmospheric electricity as a source of ignition energy, and the vent system vapor space environment. Flammable mixtures and possible ignition sources may occur simultaneously as a rare phenomena according to existing knowledge. There is a need to extend the state of science in order to make possible vent design which is aimed specifically at minimizing fire and explosion hazards.

Transformer room fire tests

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fustich, C. D.

1980-03-01

A series of transformer room fire tests are reported to demonstate the shock hazard present when automatic sprinklers operate over energized electrical equipment. Fire protection was provided by standard 0.5 inch pendent automatic sprinklers temperature rated at 135 F and installed to give approximately 150 sq ft per head coverage. A 480 v dry transformer was used in the room to provide a three phase, four wire distribution system. It is shown that the induced currents in the test room during the various tests are relatively small and pose no appreciable personnel shock hazard.

77 FR 9303 - National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants From Coal- and Oil-Fired Electric...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-02-16

... Utility Steam Generating Units and Standards of Performance for Fossil-Fuel-Fired Electric Utility... Performance for Fossil-Fuel-Fired Electric Utility, Industrial-Commercial-Institutional, and Small Industrial... electric utility steam generating units (EGUs) and standards of performance for fossil-fuel-fired electric...

29 CFR 1926.352 - Fire prevention.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... (CONTINUED) SAFETY AND HEALTH REGULATIONS FOR CONSTRUCTION Welding and Cutting § 1926.352 Fire prevention. (a... confine the heat, sparks, and slag, and to protect the immovable fire hazards from them. (c) No welding... for instant use. (e) When the welding, cutting, or heating operation is such that normal fire...

36 CFR 294.21 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

...) Has a geographic feature that aids in creating an effective fire break, such as a road or a ridge top; or (3) Is in condition class 3 as defined by HFRA. Fire hazard and risk: The fuel conditions on the landscape. Fire occurrence: The probability of wildfire ignition based on historic fire occurrence records...

36 CFR 294.21 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

...) Has a geographic feature that aids in creating an effective fire break, such as a road or a ridge top; or (3) Is in condition class 3 as defined by HFRA. Fire hazard and risk: The fuel conditions on the landscape. Fire occurrence: The probability of wildfire ignition based on historic fire occurrence records...

36 CFR 294.21 - Definitions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

...) Has a geographic feature that aids in creating an effective fire break, such as a road or a ridge top; or (3) Is in condition class 3 as defined by HFRA. Fire hazard and risk: The fuel conditions on the landscape. Fire occurrence: The probability of wildfire ignition based on historic fire occurrence records...

49 CFR 397.11 - Fires.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 49 Transportation 5 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Fires. 397.11 Section 397.11 Transportation Other... PARKING RULES General § 397.11 Fires. (a) A motor vehicle containing hazardous materials must not be operated near an open fire unless its driver has first taken precautions to ascertain that the vehicle can...

14 CFR 121.221 - Fire precautions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 14 Aeronautics and Space 3 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Fire precautions. 121.221 Section 121.221..., FLAG, AND SUPPLEMENTAL OPERATIONS Special Airworthiness Requirements § 121.221 Fire precautions. (a... the compartment and so that damage to or failure of the item would not create a fire hazard in the...

Fire Prevention Inspection Procedures.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pribyl, Paul F.

Lesson plans are provided for a fire prevention inspection course of the Wisconsin Fire Service Training program. Objectives for the course are to enable students to describe and conduct fire prevention inspections, to identify and correct hazards common to most occupancies, to understand the types of building construction and occupancy, and to…

Assessing impacts of fire and post-fire mitigation on runoff and erosion from rangelands

USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database

Wildfires are a natural component of rangeland ecosystems, but fires can pose hydrologic hazards for ecological resources, infrastructure, property, and human life. There has been considerable research conducted on the effects of fire on hydrologic processes and erosion on shrublands and woodlands....

29 CFR 1926.352 - Fire prevention.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... (CONTINUED) SAFETY AND HEALTH REGULATIONS FOR CONSTRUCTION Welding and Cutting § 1926.352 Fire prevention. (a... confine the heat, sparks, and slag, and to protect the immovable fire hazards from them. (c) No welding... for instant use. (e) When the welding, cutting, or heating operation is such that normal fire...

29 CFR 1926.352 - Fire prevention.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... (CONTINUED) SAFETY AND HEALTH REGULATIONS FOR CONSTRUCTION Welding and Cutting § 1926.352 Fire prevention. (a... confine the heat, sparks, and slag, and to protect the immovable fire hazards from them. (c) No welding... for instant use. (e) When the welding, cutting, or heating operation is such that normal fire...

29 CFR 1926.352 - Fire prevention.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... (CONTINUED) SAFETY AND HEALTH REGULATIONS FOR CONSTRUCTION Welding and Cutting § 1926.352 Fire prevention. (a... confine the heat, sparks, and slag, and to protect the immovable fire hazards from them. (c) No welding... for instant use. (e) When the welding, cutting, or heating operation is such that normal fire...

49 CFR 176.69 - General stowage requirements for hazardous materials.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... equipped with a fixed fire extinguishing and fire detection system, the freight containers or barges need... by paragraph (a) of this section if fire fighting equipment capable of reaching and piercing the..., their removal from a potentially dangerous situation, and the removal of packages in case of fire. (b...

76 FR 38590 - Proposed National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants From Coal- and Oil-Fired...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-07-01

...- and Oil-Fired Electric Utility Steam Generating Units and Standards of Performance for Fossil-Fuel... Performance for Fossil-Fuel- Fired Electric Utility, Industrial-Commercial-Institutional, and Small Industrial...

33 CFR 127.601 - Fire equipment: General.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

...) WATERFRONT FACILITIES WATERFRONT FACILITIES HANDLING LIQUEFIED NATURAL GAS AND LIQUEFIED HAZARDOUS GAS Waterfront Facilities Handling Liquefied Natural Gas Firefighting § 127.601 Fire equipment: General. (a) Fire... Laboratories, Inc., the Factory Mutual Research Corp., or the Coast Guard. ...

33 CFR 127.601 - Fire equipment: General.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

...) WATERFRONT FACILITIES WATERFRONT FACILITIES HANDLING LIQUEFIED NATURAL GAS AND LIQUEFIED HAZARDOUS GAS Waterfront Facilities Handling Liquefied Natural Gas Firefighting § 127.601 Fire equipment: General. (a) Fire... Laboratories, Inc., the Factory Mutual Research Corp., or the Coast Guard. ...

Moderate Image Spectrometer (MODIS) Fire Radiative Energy: Physics and Applications

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Kaufman, Y.

2004-01-01

MODIS fire channel does not saturate in the presence of fires. The fire channel therefore is used to estimate the fire radiative energy, a measure of the rate of biomass consumption in the fire. We found correlation between the fire radiative energy, the rate of formation of burn scars and the rate of emission of aerosol from the fires. Others found correlations between the fire radiative energy and the rate of biomass consumption. This relationships can be used to estimates the emissions from the fires and to estimate the fire hazards.

Enhancing fire department home visiting programs: results of a community intervention trial.

PubMed

Gielen, Andrea C; Shields, Wendy; Frattaroli, Shannon; McDonald, Eileen; Jones, Vanya; Bishai, David; O'Brocki, Raymond; Perry, Elise C; Bates-Hopkins, Barbara; Tracey, Pat; Parsons, Stephanie

2013-01-01

This study evaluates the impact of an enhanced fire department home visiting program on community participation and installation of smoke alarms, and describes the rate of fire and burn hazards observed in homes. Communities were randomly assigned to receive either a standard or enhanced home visiting program. Before implementing the program, 603 household surveys were completed to determine comparability between the communities. During a 1-year intervention period, 171 home visits took place with 8080 homes. At baseline, 60% of homes did not have working smoke alarms on every level, 44% had unsafe water temperatures, and 72% did not have carbon monoxide alarms. Residents in the enhanced community relative to those in the standard community were significantly more likely to let the fire fighters into their homes (75 vs 62%). Among entered homes, those in the enhanced community were significantly more likely to agree to have smoke alarms installed (95 vs 92%), to be left with a working smoke alarm on every level of the home (84 vs 78%), and to have more smoke alarms installed per home visited (1.89 vs 1.74). The high baseline rates of home hazards suggest that fire department home visiting programs should take an "all hazards" approach. Community health workers and community partnerships can be effective in promoting fire departments' fire and life safety goals. Public health academic centers should partner with the fire service to help generate evidence on program effectiveness that can inform decision making about resource allocation for prevention.

Fuels planning: science synthesis and integration; forest structure and fire hazard fact sheet 05: fuel treatment principles for complex landscapes

Treesearch

Rocky Mountain Research Station USDA Forest Service

2004-01-01

Appropriate types of thinning and surface fuel treatments are clearly useful in reducing surface and crown fire hazards under a wide range of fuels and topographic situations. This paper provides well-established scientific principles and simulation tools that can be used to adjust fuel treatments to attain specific risk levels.

Limiting the immediate and subsequent hazards associated with wildfires

USGS Publications Warehouse

DeGraff, Jerome V.; Cannon, Susan H.; Parise, Mario

2013-01-01

Similarly, our capability to limit impacts from post-fire debris flows is improving. Empirical models for estimating the probability of debris-flow occurrence, the volume of such an event, and mapping the inundated area, linked with improved definitions of the rainfall conditions that trigger debris flows, can be used to provide critical information for post-fire hazard mitigation and emergency-response planning.

PEACETIME RADIATION HAZARDS IN THE FIRE SERVICE, BASIC COURSE, RESOURCE MANUAL.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

BERNDT, WILLIAM

FOR USE BY FIREMEN AND OTHER EMERGENCY PERSONNEL WHO MAY HAVE TO DEAL WITH FIRES OR SIMILAR EMERGENCIES INVOLVING RADIATION HAZARDS, THIS MANUAL IS CORRELATED WITH THE FOLLOWING INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS FOR THE 15-HOUR COURSE -- (1) AN INSTRUCTOR'S GUIDE (VT 002 117), (2) A STUDENT STUDY GUIDE (VT 001 878), AND (3) A SET OF TWENTY-TWO 20- BY…

Landscape-scale fuel treatment and wildfire impacts on carbon stocks and fire hazard in California spotted owl habitat

Treesearch

Lindsay A. Chiono; Danny L. Fry; Brandon M. Collins; Andrea H. Chatfield; Scott L. Stephens

2017-01-01

Forest managers are challenged with meeting numerous demands that often include wildlife habitat and carbon (C) sequestration. We used a probabilistic framework of wildfire occurrence to (1) estimate the potential for fuel treatments to reduce fire risk and hazard across the landscape and within protected California spotted owl (Strix occidentalis...

NASA Hydrogen Peroxide Propellant Hazards Technical Manual

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Baker, David L.; Greene, Ben; Frazier, Wayne

2005-01-01

The Fire, Explosion, Compatibility and Safety Hazards of Hydrogen Peroxide NASA technical manual was developed at the NASA Johnson Space Center White Sands Test Facility. NASA Technical Memorandum TM-2004-213151 covers topics concerning high concentration hydrogen peroxide including fire and explosion hazards, material and fluid reactivity, materials selection information, personnel and environmental hazards, physical and chemical properties, analytical spectroscopy, specifications, analytical methods, and material compatibility data. A summary of hydrogen peroxide-related accidents, incidents, dose calls, mishaps and lessons learned is included. The manual draws from art extensive literature base and includes recent applicable regulatory compliance documentation. The manual may be obtained by United States government agencies from NASA Johnson Space Center and used as a reference source for hazards and safe handling of hydrogen peroxide.

24 CFR 3280.201 - Scope.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-04-01

... MANUFACTURED HOME CONSTRUCTION AND SAFETY STANDARDS Fire Safety § 3280.201 Scope. The purpose of this subpart is to set forth requirements that will assure reasonable fire safety to the occupants by reducing fire hazards and by providing measures for early detection. ...

24 CFR 3280.201 - Scope.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-04-01

... MANUFACTURED HOME CONSTRUCTION AND SAFETY STANDARDS Fire Safety § 3280.201 Scope. The purpose of this subpart is to set forth requirements that will assure reasonable fire safety to the occupants by reducing fire hazards and by providing measures for early detection. ...

24 CFR 3280.201 - Scope.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-04-01

... MANUFACTURED HOME CONSTRUCTION AND SAFETY STANDARDS Fire Safety § 3280.201 Scope. The purpose of this subpart is to set forth requirements that will assure reasonable fire safety to the occupants by reducing fire hazards and by providing measures for early detection. ...

24 CFR 3280.201 - Scope.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-04-01

... MANUFACTURED HOME CONSTRUCTION AND SAFETY STANDARDS Fire Safety § 3280.201 Scope. The purpose of this subpart is to set forth requirements that will assure reasonable fire safety to the occupants by reducing fire hazards and by providing measures for early detection. ...

24 CFR 3280.201 - Scope.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-04-01

... MANUFACTURED HOME CONSTRUCTION AND SAFETY STANDARDS Fire Safety § 3280.201 Scope. The purpose of this subpart is to set forth requirements that will assure reasonable fire safety to the occupants by reducing fire hazards and by providing measures for early detection. ...

Fire danger rating in the United States of America: An evolution since 1916

Treesearch

Colin C. Hardy; Charles E. Hardy

2007-01-01

Fire scientists in the United States began exploring the relationships of fire-danger and hazard with weather, fuel moisture, and ignition probabilities as early as 1916. Many of the relationships identified then persist today in the form of our National Fire-Danger-Rating System. This paper traces the evolution of fire-danger rating in the United States, including...

Positively Fire Safe. Third Grade. Fire Safety for Texans: Fire and Burn Prevention Curriculum Guide.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Texas State Commission on Fire Protection, Austin.

This booklet comprises the third grade component of a series of curriculum guides on fire and burn prevention. Designed to meet the age-specific needs of third grade students, its objectives include: (1) acquiring basic knowledge of hazards and safe storage of flammable liquids; and (2) developing positive actions to prevent fires and burns or to…

Emergency assessment of postwildfire debris-flow hazards for the 2011 Motor Fire, Sierra and Stanislaus National Forests, California

USGS Publications Warehouse

Cannon, Susan H.; Michael, John A.

2011-01-01

This report presents an emergency assessment of potential debris-flow hazards from basins burned by the 2011 Motor fire in the Sierra and Stanislaus National Forests, Calif. Statistical-empirical models are used to estimate the probability and volume of debris flows that may be produced from burned drainage basins as a function of different measures of basin burned extent, gradient, and soil physical properties, and in response to a 30-minute-duration, 10-year-recurrence rainstorm. Debris-flow probability and volume estimates are then combined to form a relative hazard ranking for each basin. This assessment provides critical information for issuing warnings, locating and designing mitigation measures, and planning evacuation timing and routes within the first two years following the fire.

Fuel reduction and coarse woody debris dynamics with early season and late season prescribed fire in a Sierra Nevada mixed conifer forest

USGS Publications Warehouse

Knapp, E.E.; Keeley, J.E.; Ballenger, E.A.; Brennan, T.J.

2005-01-01

Fire exclusion has led to an unnatural accumulation and greater spatial continuity of organic material on the ground in many forests. This material serves both as potential fuel for forest fires and habitat for a large array of forest species. Managers must balance fuel reduction to reduce wildfire hazard with fuel retention targets to maintain other forest functions. This study reports fuel consumption and changes to coarse woody debris attributes with prescribed burns ignited under different fuel moisture conditions. Replicated early season burn, late season burn, and unburned control plots were established in old-growth mixed conifer forest in Sequoia National Park that had not experienced fire for more than 120 years. Early season burns were ignited during June 2002 when fuels were relatively moist, and late season burns were ignited during September/October 2001 when fuels were dry. Fuel loading and coarse woody debris abundance, cover, volume, and mass were evaluated prior to and after the burns. While both types of burns reduced fuel loading, early season burns consumed significantly less of the total dead and down organic matter than late season burns (67% versus 88%). This difference in fuel consumption between burning treatments was significant for most all woody fuel components evaluated, plus the litter and duff layers. Many logs were not entirely consumed - therefore the number of logs was not significantly changed by fire - but burning did reduce log length, cover, volume, and mass. Log cover, volume, and mass were reduced to a lesser extent by early season burns than late season burns, as a result of higher wood moisture levels. Early season burns also spread over less of the ground surface within the burn perimeter (73%) than late season burns (88%), and were significantly patchier. Organic material remaining after a fire can dam sediments and reduce erosion, while unburned patches may help mitigate the impact of fire on fire-sensitive species by creating refugia from which these species can recolonize burned areas. Early season burns may be an effective means of moderating potential ecosystem damage when treating heavy and/or continuous fuels resulting from long periods of fire exclusion, if burning during this season is not detrimental to other forest functions. ?? 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Development of fire resistant electronic configurations for use in oxygen enriched environments

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Smith, F. J.

1975-01-01

Design concepts for electronic black boxes and modules were tested in oxygen enriched atmospheres, and it was found that various types of sealed configurations would generally eliminate any flammability hazard. The type of configuration and its construction was found to be of more importance in the elimination of flammability hazards in electronic configurations than the types of materials utilized in them. The design concepts developed for fire hazard free electronic configurations for use in manned space programs are applicable for the design of electronic hardware for any use or environment.

AEGIS: a wildfire prevention and management information system

Treesearch

Kostas Kalabokidis; Alan Ager; Mark Finney; Nikos Athanasis; Palaiologos Palaiologou; Christos Vasilakos

2016-01-01

We describe a Web-GIS wildfire prevention and management platform (AEGIS) developed as an integrated and easy-to-use decision support tool to manage wildland fire hazards in Greece (http://aegis.aegean.gr). The AEGIS platform assists with early fire warning, fire planning, fire control and coordination of firefighting forces by providing online access to...

Fire Detector

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1978-01-01

An early warning fire detection sensor developed for NASA's Space Shuttle Orbiter is being evaluated as a possible hazard prevention system for mining operations. The incipient Fire Detector represents an advancement over commercially available smoke detectors in that it senses and signals the presence of a fire condition before the appearance of flame and smoke, offering an extra margin of safety.

76 FR 23768 - National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants From Coal- and Oil-Fired Electric...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-04-28

...-Fired Electric Utility Steam Generating Units and Standards of Performance for Fossil-Fuel-Fired... Units and Standards of Performance for Fossil-Fuel-Fired Electric Utility, Industrial-Commercial... copy form. The hearing schedules, including lists of speakers, will be posted on EPA's Web Sites http...

30 CFR 77.1108-1 - Type and capacity of firefighting equipment.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... UNDERGROUND COAL MINES Fire Protection § 77.1108-1 Type and capacity of firefighting equipment. Firefighting... capacity for each 1,000 tons of coal processed (average) per shift. (b) Fire extinguishers. Fire extinguishers shall be: (1) Of the appropriate type for the particular fire hazard involved; (2) Adequate in...

30 CFR 77.1108-1 - Type and capacity of firefighting equipment.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... UNDERGROUND COAL MINES Fire Protection § 77.1108-1 Type and capacity of firefighting equipment. Firefighting... capacity for each 1,000 tons of coal processed (average) per shift. (b) Fire extinguishers. Fire extinguishers shall be: (1) Of the appropriate type for the particular fire hazard involved; (2) Adequate in...

Development of a Standard Test Scenario to Evaluate the Effectiveness of Portable Fire Extinguishers on Lithium-ion Battery Fires

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Juarez, Alfredo; Harper, Susan A.; Hirsch, David B.; Carriere, Thierry

2013-01-01

Many sources of fuel are present aboard current spacecraft, with one especially hazardous source of stored energy: lithium ion batteries. Lithium ion batteries are a very hazardous form of fuel due to their self-sustaining combustion once ignited, for example, by an external heat source. Batteries can become extremely energetic fire sources due to their high density electrochemical energy content that may, under duress, be violently converted to thermal energy and fire in the form of a thermal runaway. Currently, lithium ion batteries are the preferred types of batteries aboard international spacecraft and therefore are routinely installed, collectively forming a potentially devastating fire threat to a spacecraft and its crew. Currently NASA is developing a fine water mist portable fire extinguisher for future use on international spacecraft. As its development ensues, a need for the standard evaluation of various types of fire extinguishers against this potential threat is required to provide an unbiased means of comparing between fire extinguisher technologies and ranking them based on performance.

Enclosure fire hazard analysis using relative energy release criteria. [burning rate and combustion control

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Coulbert, C. D.

1978-01-01

A method for predicting the probable course of fire development in an enclosure is presented. This fire modeling approach uses a graphic plot of five fire development constraints, the relative energy release criteria (RERC), to bound the heat release rates in an enclosure as a function of time. The five RERC are flame spread rate, fuel surface area, ventilation, enclosure volume, and total fuel load. They may be calculated versus time based on the specified or empirical conditions describing the specific enclosure, the fuel type and load, and the ventilation. The calculation of these five criteria, using the common basis of energy release rates versus time, provides a unifying framework for the utilization of available experimental data from all phases of fire development. The plot of these criteria reveals the probable fire development envelope and indicates which fire constraint will be controlling during a criteria time period. Examples of RERC application to fire characterization and control and to hazard analysis are presented along with recommendations for the further development of the concept.

Fire Safety of Passenger Trains : Phase II : Application of Fire Hazard Analysis Techniques

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2001-12-01

On May 12, 1999, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) issued regulations for passenger rail equipment safety standards that included small-scale fire tests and performance criteria to evaluate the flammability and smoke characteristics of indivi...

Fire safety of passenger trains. Phase II, Application of fire hazard analysis techniques.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2001-12-01

On May 12, 1999, the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) issued regulations for passenger rail equipment safety standards that included small-scale fire tests and performance criteria to evaluate the flammability and smoke characteristics of indivi...

Effectiveness of Fire and Fire Surrogate Treatments For Controlling Wildfire Behavior in Piedmont Forests: A Simulation Study

Treesearch

Helen H. Mohr; Thomas A. Waldrop; Sandra Rideout; Ross J. Phillips; Charles T. Flint

2004-01-01

The need for fuel reduction has increased in United States forests due to decades of fire exclusion. Excessive fuel buildup has led to uncharacteristically severe fires in areas with historically short-interval, low-to-moderate-intensity fire regimes. The National Fire and Fire Surrogate (NFFS) Study compared the impacts of three fuel-reduction treatments on numerous...

AEGIS: a wildfire prevention and management information system

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kalabokidis, Kostas; Ager, Alan; Finney, Mark; Athanasis, Nikos; Palaiologou, Palaiologos; Vasilakos, Christos

2016-03-01

We describe a Web-GIS wildfire prevention and management platform (AEGIS) developed as an integrated and easy-to-use decision support tool to manage wildland fire hazards in Greece (http://aegis.aegean.gr). The AEGIS platform assists with early fire warning, fire planning, fire control and coordination of firefighting forces by providing online access to information that is essential for wildfire management. The system uses a number of spatial and non-spatial data sources to support key system functionalities. Land use/land cover maps were produced by combining field inventory data with high-resolution multispectral satellite images (RapidEye). These data support wildfire simulation tools that allow the users to examine potential fire behavior and hazard with the Minimum Travel Time fire spread algorithm. End-users provide a minimum number of inputs such as fire duration, ignition point and weather information to conduct a fire simulation. AEGIS offers three types of simulations, i.e., single-fire propagation, point-scale calculation of potential fire behavior, and burn probability analysis, similar to the FlamMap fire behavior modeling software. Artificial neural networks (ANNs) were utilized for wildfire ignition risk assessment based on various parameters, training methods, activation functions, pre-processing methods and network structures. The combination of ANNs and expected burned area maps are used to generate integrated output map of fire hazard prediction. The system also incorporates weather information obtained from remote automatic weather stations and weather forecast maps. The system and associated computation algorithms leverage parallel processing techniques (i.e., High Performance Computing and Cloud Computing) that ensure computational power required for real-time application. All AEGIS functionalities are accessible to authorized end-users through a web-based graphical user interface. An innovative smartphone application, AEGIS App, also provides mobile access to the web-based version of the system.

Guide for Oxygen Compatibility Assessments on Oxygen Components and Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Rosales, Keisa R.; Shoffstall, Michael S.; Stoltzfus, Joel M.

2007-01-01

Understanding and preventing fire hazards is necessary when designing, maintaining, and operating oxygen systems. Ignition risks can be minimized by controlling heat sources and using materials that will not ignite or will not support burning in the end-use environment. Because certain materials are more susceptible to ignition in oxygen-enriched environments, a compatibility assessment should be performed before the component is introduced into an oxygen system. This document provides an overview of oxygen fire hazards and procedures that are consistent with the latest versions of American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) Standards G63 (1999) and G94 (2005) to address fire hazards associated with oxygen systems. This document supersedes the previous edition, NASA Technical Memorandum 104823, Guide for Oxygen Hazards Analyses on Components and Systems (1996). The step-by-step oxygen compatibility assessment method described herein (see Section 4) enables oxygen-system designers, system engineers, and facility managers to determine areas of concern with respect to oxygen compatibility and, ultimately, prevent damage to a system or injury to personnel.

An evaluation of the Forest Service Hazardous Fuels Treatment Program—Are we treating enough to promote resiliency or reduce hazard?

Treesearch

Nicole M. Vaillant; Elizabeth D. Reinhardt

2017-01-01

The National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy recognizes that wildfire is a necessary natural process in many ecosystems and strives to reduce conflicts between fire-prone landscapes and people. In an effort to mitigate potential negative wildfire impacts proactively, the Forest Service fuels program reduces wildland fuels. As part of an internal program...

Understory Herbicide as a Treatment For Reducing Hazardous Fuels and Extreme Fire Behavior in Slash Pine Plantations

Treesearch

Patrick H. Brose; Dale Wade

2002-01-01

The 1998 wildfires in Florida sparked a serious debate about the accumulation of hazardous forest fuels and the merits of prescribed fire and alternatives for mitigating that problem. One such alternative is application of understory herbicides and anecdotal evidence suggests they may either exacerbate or lessen the fuel accumulation problem. In 1998, a study was...

RAPID-N: Assessing and mapping the risk of natural-hazard impact at industrial installations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Girgin, Serkan; Krausmann, Elisabeth

2015-04-01

Natural hazard-triggered technological accidents (so-called Natech accidents) at hazardous installations can have major consequences due to the potential for release of hazardous materials, fires and explosions. Effective Natech risk reduction requires the identification of areas where this risk is high. However, recent studies have shown that there are hardly any methodologies and tools that would allow authorities to identify these areas. To work towards closing this gap, the European Commission's Joint Research Centre has developed the rapid Natech risk assessment and mapping framework RAPID-N. The tool, which is implemented in an online web-based environment, is unique in that it contains all functionalities required for running a full Natech risk analysis simulation (natural hazards severity estimation, equipment damage probability and severity calculation, modeling of the consequences of loss of containment scenarios) and for visualizing its results. The output of RAPID-N are risk summary reports and interactive risk maps which can be used for decision making. Currently, the tool focuses on Natech risk due to earthquakes at industrial installations. However, it will be extended to also analyse and map Natech risk due to floods in the near future. RAPID-N is available at http://rapidn.jrc.ec.europa.eu. This presentation will discuss the results of case-study calculations performed for selected flammable and toxic substances to test the capabilities of RAPID-N both for single- and multi-site earthquake Natech risk assessment. For this purpose, an Istanbul earthquake scenario provided by the Turkish government was used. The results of the exercise show that RAPID-N is a valuable decision-support tool that assesses the Natech risk and maps the consequence end-point distances. These end-point distances are currently defined by 7 kPa overpressure for Vapour Cloud Explosions, 2nd degree burns for pool fire (which is equivalent to a heat radiation of 5 kW/m2 for 40s), or the ERPG-2 concentration for atmospheric dispersion of toxic substances).

The effect of leaf beetle herbivory on the fire behaviour of tamarisk (Tamarix ramosissima Lebed.)

USGS Publications Warehouse

Drus, Gail M.; Dudley, Tom L.; Brooks, Matthew L.; Matchett, John R.

2012-01-01

The non-native tree, Tamarix spp. has invaded desert riparian ecosystems in the south-western United States. Fire hazard has increased, as typically fire-resistant native vegetation is replaced by Tamarix. The tamarisk leaf beetle, Diorhabda carinulata Desbrochers, introduced for biological control, may affect fire behaviour by converting hydrated live Tamarix leaves and twigs into desiccated and dead fuels. This potentially increases fire hazard in the short term before native vegetation can be re-established. This study investigates how fire behaviour is altered in Tamarix fuels desiccated by Diorhabda herbivory at a Great Basin site, and by herbivory simulated by foliar herbicide at a Mojave Desert site. It also evaluates the influence of litter depth on fire intensity. Fire behaviour was measured with a fire intensity index that integrates temperature and duration (degree-minutes above 70°C), and with maximum temperature, duration, flame lengths, rates of spread and vegetation removal. Maximum temperature, flame length and rate of spread were enhanced by foliar desiccation of Tamarix at both sites. At only the Mojave site, there was a trend for desiccated trees to burn with greater fire intensity. At both sites, fire behaviour parameters were influenced to a greater degree by litter depth, vegetation density and drier and windier conditions than by foliar desiccation.

A reduction for spiking integrate-and-fire network dynamics ranging from homogeneity to synchrony.

PubMed

Zhang, J W; Rangan, A V

2015-04-01

In this paper we provide a general methodology for systematically reducing the dynamics of a class of integrate-and-fire networks down to an augmented 4-dimensional system of ordinary-differential-equations. The class of integrate-and-fire networks we focus on are homogeneously-structured, strongly coupled, and fluctuation-driven. Our reduction succeeds where most current firing-rate and population-dynamics models fail because we account for the emergence of 'multiple-firing-events' involving the semi-synchronous firing of many neurons. These multiple-firing-events are largely responsible for the fluctuations generated by the network and, as a result, our reduction faithfully describes many dynamic regimes ranging from homogeneous to synchronous. Our reduction is based on first principles, and provides an analyzable link between the integrate-and-fire network parameters and the relatively low-dimensional dynamics underlying the 4-dimensional augmented ODE.

Understanding the effects of fire management practices on forest health: implications for weeds and vegetation structure

Treesearch

Anne E. Black; Peter Landres

2012-01-01

Current fire policy to restore ecosystem function and resiliency and reduce buildup of hazardous fuels implies a larger future role for fire (both natural and human ignitions) (USDA Forest Service and U.S. Department of the Interior 2000). Yet some fire management (such as building fire line, spike camps, or helispots) potentially causes both short- and longterm...

Impacts of fire and fire surrogate treatments on ecosystem nitrogen storage patterns: similarities and differences between forests of eastern and western North America

Treesearch

R.E.J. Boerner; J. Huang; S.C. Hart

2009-01-01

The Fire and Fire Surrogates (FFS) network is composed of 12 forest sites that span the continental United States, all of which historically had frequent low-severity fire. The goal of the FFS study was to assess the efficacy of three management treatments (prescribed fire, mechanical thinning, and their combination) in reducing wildfire hazard and increasing ecosystem...

Estimation of Wild Fire Risk Area based on Climate and Maximum Entropy in Korean Peninsular

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kim, T.; Lim, C. H.; Song, C.; Lee, W. K.

2015-12-01

The number of forest fires and accompanying human injuries and physical damages has been increased by frequent drought. In this study, forest fire danger zone of Korea is estimated to predict and prepare for future forest fire hazard regions. The MaxEnt (Maximum Entropy) model is used to estimate the forest fire hazard region which estimates the probability distribution of the status. The MaxEnt model is primarily for the analysis of species distribution, but its applicability for various natural disasters is getting recognition. The detailed forest fire occurrence data collected by the MODIS for past 5 years (2010-2014) is used as occurrence data for the model. Also meteorology, topography, vegetation data are used as environmental variable. In particular, various meteorological variables are used to check impact of climate such as annual average temperature, annual precipitation, precipitation of dry season, annual effective humidity, effective humidity of dry season, aridity index. Consequently, the result was valid based on the AUC(Area Under the Curve) value (= 0.805) which is used to predict accuracy in the MaxEnt model. Also predicted forest fire locations were practically corresponded with the actual forest fire distribution map. Meteorological variables such as effective humidity showed the greatest contribution, and topography variables such as TWI (Topographic Wetness Index) and slope also contributed on the forest fire. As a result, the east coast and the south part of Korea peninsula were predicted to have high risk on the forest fire. In contrast, high-altitude mountain area and the west coast appeared to be safe with the forest fire. The result of this study is similar with former studies, which indicates high risks of forest fire in accessible area and reflects climatic characteristics of east and south part in dry season. To sum up, we estimated the forest fire hazard zone with existing forest fire locations and environment variables and had meaningful result with artificial and natural effect. It is expected to predict future forest fire risk with future climate variables as the climate changes.

Screening of heavy metal containing waste types for use as raw material in Arctic clay-based bricks.

PubMed

Belmonte, Louise Josefine; Ottosen, Lisbeth M; Kirkelund, Gunvor Marie; Jensen, Pernille Erland; Vestbø, Andreas Peter

2016-11-10

In the vulnerable Arctic environment, the impact of especially hazardous wastes can have severe consequences and the reduction and safe handling of these waste types are therefore an important issue. In this study, two groups of heavy metal containing particulate waste materials, municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI) fly and bottom ashes and mine tailings (i.e., residues from the mineral resource industry) from Greenland were screened in order to determine their suitability as secondary resources in clay-based brick production. Small clay discs, containing 20 or 40% of the different particulate waste materials, were fired and material properties and heavy metal leaching tests were conducted before and after firing. Remediation techniques (washing in distilled water and electrodialytical treatment) applied to the fly ash reduced leaching before firing. The mine tailings and bottom ash brick discs obtained satisfactory densities (1669-2007 kg/m 3 ) and open porosities (27.9-39.9%). In contrast, the fly ash brick discs had low densities (1313-1578 kg/m 3 ) and high open porosities (42.1-51. %). However, leaching tests on crushed brick discs revealed that heavy metals generally became more available after firing for all the investigated materials and that further optimisation is therefore necessary prior to incorporation in bricks.

Fire safety design considerations for advanced space vehicles

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

1988-01-01

The desire to understand and explore space has driven man to overcome the confines of the Earth's atmosphere and accept the challenge of spaceflight. With our increasing ability to travel, work, and explore in space comes a need for a better understanding of the hazards in this relatively new endeavor. One of the most important and immediate needs is to be able to predict the ignition, spread, and growth of fire on board spacecraft. Fire safety aboard spacecraft has always been a concern; however, with the increasing number and duration of proposed missions, it is imperative that the spacecraft be designed with a solid understanding of fire hazards, insuring that all risks have been minimized and extinguishment systems are available.

PREFER: a European service providing forest fire management support products

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Eftychidis, George; Laneve, Giovanni; Ferrucci, Fabrizio; Sebastian Lopez, Ana; Lourenco, Louciano; Clandillon, Stephen; Tampellini, Lucia; Hirn, Barbara; Diagourtas, Dimitris; Leventakis, George

2015-06-01

PREFER is a Copernicus project of the EC-FP7 program which aims developing spatial information products that may support fire prevention and burned areas restoration decisions and establish a relevant web-based regional service for making these products available to fire management stakeholders. The service focuses to the Mediterranean region, where fire risk is high and damages from wildfires are quite important, and develop its products for pilot areas located in Spain, Portugal, Italy, France and Greece. PREFER aims to allow fire managers to have access to online resources, which shall facilitate fire prevention measures, fire hazard and risk assessment, estimation of fire impact and damages caused by wildfire as well as support monitoring of post-fire regeneration and vegetation recovery. It makes use of a variety of products delivered by space borne sensors and develop seasonal and daily products using multi-payload, multi-scale and multi-temporal analysis of EO data. The PREFER Service portfolio consists of two main suite of products. The first refers to mapping products for supporting decisions concerning the Preparedness/Prevention Phase (ISP Service). The service delivers Fuel, Hazard and Fire risk maps for this purpose. Furthermore the PREFER portfolio includes Post-fire vegetation recovery, burn scar maps, damage severity and 3D fire damage assessment products in order to support relative assessments required in context of the Recovery/Reconstruction Phase (ISR Service) of fire management.

Station set requirements document. Volume 82: Fire support. Book 2: Preliminary functional fire plan

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Gray, N. C.

1974-01-01

The fire prevention/protection requirements for all shuttle facility and ground support equipment are presented for the hazardous operations. These include: preparing the orbiter for launch, launch operations, landing operations, safing operations, and associated off-line activities.

46 CFR 126.430 - Scope.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

.... (j) Fire-detecting and fire-extinguishing equipment. (k) Pollution-prevention equipment. (l) Sanitary condition. (m) Fire hazards. (n) Verification of validity of certificates required and issued by the Federal Communications Commission. (o) Lights and signals as required by the applicable navigational rules. (p) Tests and...

A Full-Scale Fire Program to Evaluate New Furnishings and Textile Materials Developed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Hillenbrand, L. J.; Wray, J. A.

1973-01-01

The plans for the present series of full-scale experimental fires were initiated at the suggestion of NASA following the presentation of a film and discussion illustrating Battelle-Columbus' recent work in fire research. That film showed bedroom-type fires carried out as a part of a program to determine the influence of the cyclic characteristics of real fires under limited ventilation on the burning and pyrolysis properties of the room furnishings. A new series of fires was suggested by NASA designed to show the performance of new fire resistant and fire retardant materials by providing comparative fire and smoldering environmental conditions. More recently, the goal for the new series of fires was written in a meeting with NASA personnel and others at Battelle on May 3 and 4, 1972. The goal was as follows: To establish the need for special materials of improved fire safety in domiciliary settings of public concern, and to assess, in a professionally acceptable manner, the potential of materials arising from the new space-age technology for this purpose. It was anticipated that some new materials arising from the space-age technology and not yet available through conventional commercial channels might provide significant improvements in fire safety if the best of the commercially available materials showed important shortcomings in this area. It was the intent of this program to assess the benefits that could accrue from the use of these new materials. Fire safety is a matter requiring the evaluation of a number of factors. For example, fire resistance and fire spread, visibility during the fire, toxicity of evolved gases, and the fire-fighting problem that is created must be evaluated before the relative hazard can be assessed. The plan of the program provided for sampling and instrumentation to evaluate these factors, consistent with the goal of technological utilization that has been specified. Arrangements were made with the Columbus Fire Department to use an existing six-story concrete building', designed and used as a fire training tower, as the site for the experimental fires. The visual evidence provided by TV and photographic coverage of the four experimental room fires showed clearly that the rooms responded very differently to a common ignition condition. In particular: (1) The Typical room, furnished from conventional retail sources, ignited easily and burned rapidly so that after 8 minutes the contents of the room were nearly destroyed. (2) The Improved room, furnished with materials selected as being among the best commercially available, showed substantial improvement over the Typical room in that there was slower fire spread. However, the relatively complete destruction of the room contents that resulted, and the large amounts of smoke, made it clear that substantial further improvements were needed. This fire was stopped after 29 minutes. (3) The Space-age room, furnished completely with new materials that were not yet commercially available, did not ignite under the common ignition condition and soon demonstrated the substantial improvement in fire resistance available for those components close to the ignition source. A second and larger ignition arrangement showed that this room can burn, but the difficulty with which this was brought about confirmed the improved fire resistance available with use of these materials. (4) The Mixed room ensemble, furnished with 'materials identical to the Typical room except for the substitution of the bed from the Space-age room, illustrated the improvement in control of fire spread available by careful placement of fire materials in the important paths of fire development of an otherwise ordinary room. The most significant hazards at early times in each fire were due to the rapid rise in heat flux and the abrupt obscuration of vision by smoke. The most consistent toxicity hazard was due to CO and its importance would depend on the ability of the occupant to survive the initial heat and smoke menace which characterized each fire room. Other gases and vapors were shown to reach hazardous levels in certain fire rooms and, again, their significance to an occupant, would relate to the times in which such hazards occurred, and probably to the synergistic nature of the hazard arising from mixtures of such gases. Fire retardant items in the room are caused to pyrolyze by the heat of burning from other items in the room and so contribute to combustible and toxic vapor accumulations, even though they may not have entered into the burning process. This effect of a mixture of combustible materials to produce burning and pyrolysis not characteristic of any one item individually we have chosen to call the "ensemble effect". Further full-scale fire trials may be expected to show the significant changes that control the burning and pyrolytic processes and in that event a programmed fire chamber should be developed to yield realistic laboratory results.

Wildfire Research in an Environmental Hazards Course: An Active Learning Approach

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wall, Tamara U.; Halvorson, Sarah J.

2011-01-01

Creating opportunities for students to actively apply hazards theory to real-life situations is often a challenge in hazards geography courses. This article presents a project, the Jocko Lakes Fire Project, that implemented learning strategies to encourage students to be active in wildfire hazards research. Wildfire hazards stand out as an…

Ecological effects of alternative fuel-reduction treatments: highlights of the National Fire and Fire Surrogate study (FFS)

Treesearch

James D. McIver; Scott L. Stephens; James K. Agee; Jamie Barbour; Ralph E. J. Boerner; Carl B. Edminster; Karen L. Erickson; Kerry L. Farris; Christopher J. Fettig; Carl E. Fiedler; Sally Haase; Stephen C. Hart; Jon E. Keeley; Eric E. Knapp; John F. Lehmkuhl; Jason J. Moghaddas; William Otrosina; Kenneth W. Outcalt; Dylan W. Schwilk; Carl N. Skinner; Thomas A. Waldrop; C. Phillip Weatherspoon; Daniel A. Yaussy; Andrew Youngblood; Steve Zack

2012-01-01

The 12-site National Fire and Fire Surrogate study (FFS) was a multivariate experiment that evaluated ecological consequences of alternative fuel-reduction treatments in seasonally dry forests of the US. Each site was a replicated experiment with a common design that compared an un-manipulated control, prescribed fire, mechanical and mechanical + fire treatments....

Putting out fire with gasoline: pitfalls in the silvicultural treatment of canopy fuels

Treesearch

Christopher R. Keyes; J. Morgan Varner

2007-01-01

There is little question that forest stand structure is directly related to fire behavior, and that canopy fuel structure may be altered using silvicultural methods to successfully modify forest fire behavior and reduce susceptibility to crown fire initiation and spread. Silvicultural treatments can remediate hazardous stand structures that have developed as a result...

Behaviour and effects of prescribed fire in masticated fuelbeds

Treesearch

Eric Knapp; J. Morgan Varner; Matt Busse; Carl Skinner; Carol Shestak

2011-01-01

Mechanical mastication converts shrub and small tree fuels into surface fuels, and this method is being widely used as a treatment to reduce fire hazard. The compactness of these fuelbeds is thought to moderate fire behaviour, but whether standard fuel models can accurately predict fire behaviour and effects is poorly understood. Prescribed burns were conducted in...

Fuels planning: science synthesis and integration; forest structure and fire hazard fact sheet 04: role of silviculture in fuel treatments

Treesearch

Rocky Mountain Research Station USDA Forest Service

2004-01-01

The principal goals of fuel treatments are to reduce fireline intensities, reduce the potential for crown fires, improve opportunities for successful fire suppression, and improve forest resilience to forest fires. This fact sheet discusses thinning, and surface fuel treatments, as well as challenges associated with those treatments.

76 FR 80832 - Fire Pots and Gel Fuel; Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking; Request for Comments and Information

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-12-27

... CONSUMER PRODUCT SAFETY COMMISSION 16 CFR Part Chapter II Fire Pots and Gel Fuel; Advance Notice... comments received, go to http://www.regulations.gov . FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Rohit Khanna, Fire..., they can present serious burn and fire hazards. Firepots and gel fuel are usually sold as separate...

GIS-based probability assessment of natural hazards in forested landscapes of Central and South-Eastern Europe.

PubMed

Lorz, C; Fürst, C; Galic, Z; Matijasic, D; Podrazky, V; Potocic, N; Simoncic, P; Strauch, M; Vacik, H; Makeschin, F

2010-12-01

We assessed the probability of three major natural hazards--windthrow, drought, and forest fire--for Central and South-Eastern European forests which are major threats for the provision of forest goods and ecosystem services. In addition, we analyzed spatial distribution and implications for a future oriented management of forested landscapes. For estimating the probability of windthrow, we used rooting depth and average wind speed. Probabilities of drought and fire were calculated from climatic and total water balance during growing season. As an approximation to climate change scenarios, we used a simplified approach with a general increase of pET by 20%. Monitoring data from the pan-European forests crown condition program and observed burnt areas and hot spots from the European Forest Fire Information System were used to test the plausibility of probability maps. Regions with high probabilities of natural hazard are identified and management strategies to minimize probability of natural hazards are discussed. We suggest future research should focus on (i) estimating probabilities using process based models (including sensitivity analysis), (ii) defining probability in terms of economic loss, (iii) including biotic hazards, (iv) using more detailed data sets on natural hazards, forest inventories and climate change scenarios, and (v) developing a framework of adaptive risk management.

Using BEHAVEPlus for predicting fire behavior in southern Appalachian hardwood stands subjected to fuel reduction treatments

Treesearch

Helen H. Mohr; Thomas A. Waldrop; Dean M. Simon

2010-01-01

There is a crucial need for fuel reduction in United States forests due to decades of fuel accumulation resulting from fire exclusion. The National Fire and Fire Surrogate Study (FFS) addresses this issue by examining the effects of three fuel reduction treatments on numerous response variables. At an FFS site in the southern Appalachian Mountains, fuels were altered...

Fire and Children: Learning Survival Skills.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Block, Jeanne H.; And Others

This paper describes a study designed to investigate: (1) children's interest in, anxieties about, attitudes toward, and reactions to fire; (2) the relationship of particular personality characteristics to attitudes about and behavior with potentially hazardous fire material; (3) socialization techniques and teaching strategies of mothers in…

Occupational burns from oxygen resuscitator fires: the hazard of aluminum regulators.

PubMed

Hodous, Thomas K; Washenitz, Frank; Newton, Barry

2002-07-01

There have been over 30 incidents of oxygen resuscitator fires over the last 6 years, causing severe burns to a number of fire fighters, emergency medical service personnel, health care workers, and patients. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) was requested to investigate three such incidents. NIOSH conducted site investigations of the incidents, and the requesters also sent the involved oxygen resuscitators to a forensic engineering company for a causal analysis. The investigated fires were associated with aluminum regulators, all from one manufacturer, on compressed pure oxygen cylinders. The investigations indicated that the cause of the fires was an initial small ignition in the high-pressure area of the aluminum regulator, which then consumed itself in a massive burnout. Aluminum regulators used with high-pressure oxygen systems are subject to rare, but potentially catastrophic combustion in normal use. Replacement of such regulators with those made of more fire-resistant materials or designs, as well as education and improved safety practices are needed to reduce this hazard.

Perceptions of Wildfire Threat and Mitigation Measures by Residents of Fire-Prone Communities in the Northeast: Survey Results and Wildland Fire Management Implications

Treesearch

Robert L. Ryan; Mark B. Wamsley

2006-01-01

We surveyed residents of fire-prone areas of the Central Pine Barrens of Long Island, New York, and the Plymouth Pine Barrens in Massachusetts to learn how they perceived wildland fire risk and management techniques for reducing fire hazard. We found that residents considered the fire threat to their own property to be relatively low in spite of first-hand experience...

Assessing the home fire safety of urban older adults: a case study.

PubMed

Twyman, Stephanie; Fahey, Erin; Lehna, Carlee

2014-01-01

Older adults are at a higher risk for fatal house fire injury due to decreased mobility, chronic illness, and lack of smoke alarms. The purpose of this illustrative case study is to describe the home fire safety (HFS) status of an urban older adult who participated in a large study funded by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). During a home visit with the participant, HFS data were collected from documents, observation, physical artifacts, reflective logs, and interviews. Numerous HFS hazards were identified including non-working smoke alarms, inadequate number and inappropriate placement of smoke alarms, lack of carbon monoxide (CO) alarms, inability to identify a home fire escape plan, hot water heater temperature set too high, and cooking hazards. Identification of HFS risk factors will assist in the development of educational materials that can be tailored to the older adult population to decrease their risk of fire-related injuries and death.

SP industry calorimeter for rate of heat release measurements up to 10MW

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dahlberg, Martin

The Swedish National Testing and Research Institute (SP) has installed a 10 MW fire calorimeter for rate of heat release measurements, similar to the one at Factory Mutual Research Corporation (FMRC). It can be used to classify commodities with respect to their fire hazard, to evaluate the efficiency of sprinkler systems, for chemical analysis of the combustion gases from hazardous fires, to produce input data for the fire modelling, etc. A large hood collects the fire gases and leads them into a duct where gas velocity, gas temperature, smoke density, and contents of oxygen, carbon dioxide, and carbon monoxide are measured. On the basis of these measurements, mass flow and rate of heat release are calculated. The rate of heat release is calculated according to the oxygen consumption principle. The upper limit for measurements is approximately 10 MW and the lower is 0.1 MW.

Using fine-scale fuel measurements to assess wildland fuels, potential fire behavior and hazard mitigation treatments in the southeastern USA

Treesearch

Roger D. Ottmar; John I. Blake; William T. Crolly

2012-01-01

The inherent spatial and temporal heterogeneity of fuel beds in forests of the southeastern United States may require fine scale fuel measurements for providing reliable fire hazard and fuel treatment effectiveness estimates. In a series of five papers, an intensive, fine scale fuel inventory from the Savanna River Site in the southeastern United States is used for...

Monitoring the degradation of physical properties and fire hazards of high-impact polystyrene composite with different ageing time in natural environments.

PubMed

Wang, Bibo; Zhang, Yan; Tao, Youji; Zhou, Xia; Song, Lei; Jie, Ganxin; Hu, Yuan

2018-06-15

The current study aims at monitoring the role of the different natural environments on the physical properties and fire hazards of HIPS composites ageing in Turpan and Qionghai. The results indicated that the chromatic aberration and degradation of surface appearance intensified with the increasing ageing time. More flame retardants migrated and were eroded for HIPS composites ageing in Qionghai than those ageing in Turpan, which was caused by the combination of sunlight, high temperature and rainwater in Qionghai. After degradation in the natural environments, the HIPS composites possessed the lower thermal stability and char residues, more toxic gases release, higher peak heat release rate and fire hazard. For example, the peak heat release rate in Qionghai increased by 88.9%, which is much higher than that of in Turpan (55.6%). Moreover, the tensile strength and elongation at break decreased by 46% and 59% for HIPS composites ageing in Turpan and reduced by 53% and 67% for HIPS composites aged in Qionghai, respectively. The results demonstrate that more serious degradation of physical properties and higher fire hazard for HIPS composites ageing in Qionghai than those in Turpan due to the different natural ageing environments. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Short-term impact of post-fire salvage logging on regeneration, hazardous fuel accumulation, and understorey development in ponderosa pine forest of the Black Hills, SD, USA

Treesearch

Tara L Keyser; Fredrick W Smith; Wayne D. Shepperd

2009-01-01

We examined the impacts of post-fire salvage logging on regeneration, fuel accumulation, and understorey vegetation and assessed whether the effects of salvage logging differed between stands burned under moderate and high fire severity following the 2000 Jasper Fire in the Black Hills. In unsalvaged sites, fire-related tree mortality...

Using simulated historical time series to prioritize fuel treatments on landscapes across the United States: The LANDFIRE prototype project

Treesearch

Robert E. Keane; Matthew Rollins; Zhi-Liang Zhu

2007-01-01

Canopy and surface fuels in many fire-prone forests of the United States have increased over the last 70 years as a result of modern fire exclusion policies, grazing, and other land management activities. The Healthy Forest Restoration Act and National Fire Plan establish a national commitment to reduce fire hazard and restore fire-adapted ecosystems across the USA....

Explosion and/or fire risk assessment methodology: a common approach, structured for underground coalmine environments / Metoda szacowania ryzyka wybuchu i pożarów: podejście ogólne, dostosowane do środowiska kopalni podziemnej

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Cioca, Ionel-Lucian; Moraru, Roland Iosif

2012-10-01

In order to meet statutory requirements concerning the workers health and safety, it is necessary for mine managers within Valea Jiului coal basin in Romania to address the potential for underground fires and explosions and their impact on the workforce and the mine ventilation systems. Highlighting the need for a unified and systematic approach of the specific risks, the authors are developing a general framework for fire/explosion risk assessment in gassy mines, based on the quantification of the likelihood of occurrence and gravity of the consequences of such undesired events and employing Root-Cause analysis method. It is emphasized that even a small fire should be regarded as being a major hazard from the point of view of explosion initiation, should a combustible atmosphere arise. The developed methodology, for the assessment of underground fire and explosion risks, is based on the known underground explosion hazards, fire engineering principles and fire test criteria for potentially combustible materials employed in mines.

Emergency assessments of postfire debris-flow hazards for the 2009 La Brea, Jesusita, Guiberson, Morris, Sheep, Oak Glen, Pendleton, and Cottonwood fires in southern California

USGS Publications Warehouse

Cannon, Susan H.; Gartner, Joseph E.; Rupert, Michael G.; Michael, John A.

2010-01-01

This report presents an emergency assessment of potential debris-flow hazards from basins burned by the 2009 La Brea and Jesusita fires in Santa Barbara County, the Guiberson fire in Ventura County, the Morris fire in Los Angeles County, the Sheep, Oak Glen, and Pendleton fires in San Bernardino County, and the Cottonwood fire in Riverside County, southern California. Statistical-empirical models developed to analyze postfire debris flows are used to estimate the probability and volume of debris-flows produced from drainage basins within each of the burned areas. Debris-flow probabilities and volumes are estimated as functions of different measures of basin burned extent, gradient, and material properties in response to both a 3-hour-duration, 2-year-recurrence thunderstorm and to a widespread, 12-hour-duration, 2-year-recurrence winter storm. This assessment provides critical information for issuing warnings, locating and designing mitigation measures, and planning evacuation timing and routes within the first two winters following the fire.

Fire Detection Tradeoffs as a Function of Vehicle Parameters

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Urban, David L.; Dietrich, Daniel L.; Brooker, John E.; Meyer, Marit E.; Ruff, Gary A.

2016-01-01

Fire survivability depends on the detection of and response to a fire before it has produced an unacceptable environment in the vehicle. This detection time is the result of interplay between the fire burning and growth rates; the vehicle size; the detection system design; the transport time to the detector (controlled by the level of mixing in the vehicle); and the rate at which the life support system filters the atmosphere, potentially removing the detected species or particles. Given the large differences in critical vehicle parameters (volume, mixing rate and filtration rate) the detection approach that works for a large vehicle (e.g. the ISS) may not be the best choice for a smaller crew capsule. This paper examines the impact of vehicle size and environmental control and life support system parameters on the detectability of fires in comparison to the hazard they present. A lumped element model was developed that considers smoke, heat, and toxic product release rates in comparison to mixing and filtration rates in the vehicle. Recent work has quantified the production rate of smoke and several hazardous species from overheated spacecraft polymers. These results are used as the input data set in the lumped element model in combination with the transport behavior of major toxic products released by overheating spacecraft materials to evaluate the necessary alarm thresholds to enable appropriate response to the fire hazard.

40 CFR 264.51 - Purpose and implementation of contingency plan.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

...) SOLID WASTES (CONTINUED) STANDARDS FOR OWNERS AND OPERATORS OF HAZARDOUS WASTE TREATMENT, STORAGE, AND... plan must be designed to minimize hazards to human health or the environment from fires, explosions, or any unplanned sudden or non-sudden release of hazardous waste or hazardous waste constituents to air...

40 CFR 265.51 - Purpose and implementation of contingency plan.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

...) SOLID WASTES (CONTINUED) INTERIM STATUS STANDARDS FOR OWNERS AND OPERATORS OF HAZARDOUS WASTE TREATMENT... contingency plan must be designed to minimize hazards to human health or the environment from fires, explosions, or any unplanned sudden or non-sudden release of hazardous waste or hazardous waste constituents...

40 CFR 265.51 - Purpose and implementation of contingency plan.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

...) SOLID WASTES (CONTINUED) INTERIM STATUS STANDARDS FOR OWNERS AND OPERATORS OF HAZARDOUS WASTE TREATMENT... contingency plan must be designed to minimize hazards to human health or the environment from fires, explosions, or any unplanned sudden or non-sudden release of hazardous waste or hazardous waste constituents...

40 CFR 265.51 - Purpose and implementation of contingency plan.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

...) SOLID WASTES (CONTINUED) INTERIM STATUS STANDARDS FOR OWNERS AND OPERATORS OF HAZARDOUS WASTE TREATMENT... contingency plan must be designed to minimize hazards to human health or the environment from fires, explosions, or any unplanned sudden or non-sudden release of hazardous waste or hazardous waste constituents...

40 CFR 264.51 - Purpose and implementation of contingency plan.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

...) SOLID WASTES (CONTINUED) STANDARDS FOR OWNERS AND OPERATORS OF HAZARDOUS WASTE TREATMENT, STORAGE, AND... plan must be designed to minimize hazards to human health or the environment from fires, explosions, or any unplanned sudden or non-sudden release of hazardous waste or hazardous waste constituents to air...

40 CFR 264.51 - Purpose and implementation of contingency plan.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

...) SOLID WASTES (CONTINUED) STANDARDS FOR OWNERS AND OPERATORS OF HAZARDOUS WASTE TREATMENT, STORAGE, AND... plan must be designed to minimize hazards to human health or the environment from fires, explosions, or any unplanned sudden or non-sudden release of hazardous waste or hazardous waste constituents to air...

A simulation of wildfire behavior in piedmont forests

Treesearch

Helen H. Mohr; Thomas A. Waldrop

2006-01-01

Decades of fire exclusion have increased the need for fuel reduction in U.S. forests. The buildup of excessive fuels has led to uncharacteristically severe fires in areas with historically short-interval, low to moderate intensity fire regimes. The National Fire and Fire Surrogate Study compares the impacts of three fuel reduction treatments on numerous response...

The impact of aging on laboratory fire behaviour in masticated shrub fuelbeds of California and Oregon, USA

Treesearch

Jesse K. Kreye; J. Morgan Varner; Jeffrey M. Kane; Eric E. Knapp; Warren P. Reed

2016-01-01

Mastication of shrubs and small trees to reduce fire hazard has become a widespread management practice, yet many aspects of the fire behaviour of these unique woody fuelbeds remain poorly understood. To examine the effects of fuelbed aging on fire behaviour, we conducted laboratory burns with masticated Arctostaphylos spp. and Ceanothus...

75 FR 44720 - Safety Zone; Live-Fire Gun Exercise, M/V Del Monte, James River, VA

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-07-29

...-AA00 Safety Zone; Live-Fire Gun Exercise, M/V Del Monte, James River, VA AGENCY: Coast Guard, DHS... mariners from the hazards associated with live fire and explosive training events. DATES: This rule is... Hampton Roads was notified that the U.S. Navy will conduct a live fire and explosive training event...

Fuels planning: Managing forest structure to reduce fire hazard

Treesearch

David L. Peterson; Morris C. Johnson; James K. Agee; Theresa B. Jain; Donald McKenzie; Elizabeth D. Reinhardt

2003-01-01

Prior to the 20th century, low intensity fires burned regularly in most arid to semiarid forest ecosystems, with ignitions caused by lightning and humans (e.g., Baisan and Swetnam 1997, Allen et al. 2002, Hessl et al. 2004). Low intensity fires controlled regeneration of fire sensitive (e.g., grand fir [Abies grandis]) species (Arno and Allison-Bunnell 2002), promoted...

Reintroducing fire into the Blacks Mountain Research Natural Area: effects on fire hazard

Treesearch

Carl N. Skinner

2005-01-01

Frequent, low-intensity, surface fires were an integral ecological process in the Blacks Mountain Experimental Forest (BMEF) prior to the 20th Century. With rare exception, fires have been successfully excluded from BMEF since the early 1900s. The Blacks Mountain Research Natural Area (BMRNA) covers approximately 521 acres of BMEF in 5 compartments of approximately 100...

Soil nitrogen mineralization and enzymatic activities in fire and fire surrogate treatments in California

Treesearch

J. R. Miesel; R. E. J. Boerner; C. N. Skinner

2011-01-01

Forest thinning and prescribed fire are management strategies used to reduce hazardous fuel loads and catastrophic wildfires in western mixed-conifer forests. We evaluated effects of thinning (Thin) and prescribed fire (Burn), alone and in combination (Thin+Burn), on N transformations and microbial enzyme activities relative to an untreated control (Control) at 1 and 3...

Fire history, effects and management in southern Nevada [Chapter 5

Treesearch

Mathew L. Brooks; Jeanne C. Chambers; Randy A. McKinley

2013-01-01

Fire can be both an ecosystem stressor (Chapter 2) and a critical ecosystem process, depending on when, where, and under what conditions it occurs on the southern Nevada landscape. Fire can also pose hazards to human life and property, particularly in the wildland/urban interface (WUI). The challenge faced by land managers is to prevent fires from occurring where they...

Development of a Minimum Performance Standard for Hand-Held Fire Extinguishers as a Replacement for Halon 1211 on Civilian Transport Category Aircraft

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Webster, Harry

2002-08-01

One or more Halon 1211 hand-held fire extinguishers are specified in Federal Aviation Regulation (FAR) Part 25.851 as a requirement on transport category aircraft with 31 or more seats. Halon 1211 has been linked to the destruction of the ozone layer and production of new Halon 1211 has been halted per the Montreal Protocol in 1993. The phase out of Halon 1211, as the hand-held firefighting agent of choice, for civilian transport category aircraft has necessitated the development of a Minimum Performance Standard (MPS) to evaluate replacement agents. The purpose of the MPS is to insure that there is no reduction in safety, both in terms of effectiveness in fighting onboard fires and toxicity to the passengers and crew. The MPS specifies two new tests that replacement agents must pass in addition to requiring national certifications such as provided by Underwriters Laboratories. The first test evaluates the "flooding" characteristics of the agent against a hidden in-flight fire. This test determines the ability of a streaming agent to function as a flooding agent. The second test evaluates the performance of the agent in fighting a terrorist fire scenario and the associated toxicity hazard. This test measures the agent's ability to extinguish a triple-seat fire in an aircraft cabin under in-flight conditions and the toxicity characteristics of both the neat agent and the products of decomposition. This MPS will insure that the replacement agents will meet or exceed the performance of Halon 1211 both in fighting fires and maintaining a safe breathing environment in aircraft cabins.

Understanding the effects of fire management practices on forest health: Implications for weeds and vegetation structure (Project INT-F-04-01) [Chapter 14

Treesearch

Anne E. Black; Peter Landres

2011-01-01

Current fire policy to restore ecosystem function and resiliency and reduce buildup of hazardous fuels implies a larger future role for fire (both natural and human ignitions) (USDA and USDOI 2000). Yet some fire management (such as building fire line, spike camps, or heli-spots) potentially causes both short- and long-term impacts to forest health. In the short run,...

A Mobile Robot for Remote Response to Incidents Involving Hazardous Materials

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Welch, Richard V.

1994-01-01

This paper will describe a teleoperated mobile robot system being developed at JPL for use by the JPL Fire Department/HAZMAT Team. The project, which began in October 1990, is focused on prototyping a robotic vehicle which can be quickly deployed and easily operated by HAZMAT Team personnel allowing remote entry and exploration of a hazardous material incident site. The close involvement of JPL Fire Department personnel has been critical in establishing system requirements as well as evaluating the system. The current robot, called HAZBOT III, has been especially designed for operation in environments that may contain combustible gases. Testing of the system with the Fire Department has shown that teleoperated robots can successfully gain access to incident sites allowing hazardous material spills to be remotely located and identified. Work is continuing to enable more complex missions through enhancement of the operator interface and by allowing tetherless operation.

Modeling the Risk of Fire/Explosion Due to Oxidizer/Fuel Leaks in the Ares I Interstage

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Ring, Robert W.; Stott, James E.; Hales, Christy

2008-01-01

A significant flight hazard associated with liquid propellants, such as those used in the upper stage of NASA's new Ares I launch vehicle, is the possibility of leakage of hazardous fluids resulting in a catastrophic fire/explosion. The enclosed and vented interstage of the Ares I contains numerous oxidizer and fuel supply lines as well as ignition sources. The potential for fire/explosion due to leaks during ascent depends on the relative concentrations of hazardous and inert fluids within the interstage along with other variables such as pressure, temperature, leak rates, and fluid outgasing rates. This analysis improves on previous NASA Probabilistic Risk Assessment (PRA) estimates of the probability of deflagration, in which many of the variables pertinent to the problem were not explicitly modeled as a function of time. This paper presents the modeling methodology developed to analyze these risks.

Determination of Particular Endogenous Fires Hazard Zones in Goaf with Caving of Longwall

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tutak, Magdalena; Brodny, Jaroslaw

2017-12-01

Hazard of endogenous fires is one of the basic and common presented occupational safety hazards in coal mine in Poland and in the world. This hazard means possibility of coal self-ignition as the result of its self-heating process in mining heading or its surrounding. In underground coal-mining during ventilating of operating longwalls takes place migration of parts of airflow to goaf with caving. In a case when in these goaf a coal susceptible to selfignition occurs, then the airflow through these goaf may influence on formation of favourable conditions for coal oxidation and subsequently to its self-heating and self-ignition. Endogenous fire formed in such conditions can pose a serious hazard for the crew and for continuity of operation of mining plant. From the practical point of view, a very significant meaning has determination of the zone in the goaf with caving, in which necessary conditions for occurrence of endogenous fire are fulfilled. In the real conditions determination of such a zone is practically impossible. Therefore, authors of paper developed a methodology of determination of this zone basing on the results of modelling tests. This methodology includes a development of model of tested area, determination of boundary conditions and carrying out the simulation calculations. Based on the obtained results particular hazardous zone of endogenous fire is determined. A base for development of model of investigated region and selection of boundary conditions are the results of real tests. In the paper fundamental assumption of developed methodology, particularly in a range of assumed hazard criterion and sealing coefficient of goaf with caving were discussed. Also a mathematical model of gas flow through the porous media was characterized. Example of determination of a zone particularly endangered by endogenous fire for real system of mining heading in one of the hard coal mine was presented. Longwall ventilated in the „Y” system was subjected to the tests. For determined mining-geological conditions, the critical value of velocity of airflow and oxygen concentration in goaf, conditioning initiation of coal oxidation process were determined. For calculations ANSYS Fluent software based on finite volume method, which enable very precisely to determine the physical and chemical air and parameters at any point of tested mining heading and goaf with caving was used. Such precisely determination of these parameters on the base of the test in real conditions is practically impossible. Obtained results allowed to take early proper actions in order to limit the occurrence of endogenous fire. One can conclude, that presented methodology creates great possibilities of practical application of modelling tests for improvement of the occupational safety state in mine.

29 CFR 1910.39 - Fire prevention plans.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH STANDARDS Means of Egress § 1910.39 Fire prevention plans. (a) Application. An.... A fire prevention plan must be in writing, be kept in the workplace, and be made available to... employees responsible for the control of fuel source hazards. (d) Employee information. An employer must...

40 CFR 63.10000 - What are my general requirements for complying with this subpart?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... SOURCE CATEGORIES (CONTINUED) National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants: Coal- and Oil... of startup and shutdown; however, for coal-fired, liquid oil-fired, or solid oil-derived fuel-fired... associated air pollution control equipment and monitoring equipment, in a manner consistent with safety and...

40 CFR 63.10000 - What are my general requirements for complying with this subpart?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... SOURCE CATEGORIES (CONTINUED) National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants: Coal- and Oil... of startup and shutdown; however, for coal-fired, liquid oil-fired, or solid oil-derived fuel-fired... associated air pollution control equipment and monitoring equipment, in a manner consistent with safety and...

32 CFR 632.5 - Use of firearms.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... not fire if shots are likely to harm innocent bystanders. (3) Since warning shots could harm innocent bystanders, avoid firing them. However, when lesser degrees of force have failed, the law enforcement or.... If able to avoid hazards to innocent persons in these cases, fire warning shots. (4) Aim to disable...

How to reduce your fire insurance rates

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Dubain, M.

1971-01-01

Construction procedures and utilization of materials to reduce the cost of insuring large buildings against losses from fire are discussed. Examples of good and bad techniques in building construction and fire safety management are provided. The inadequacies of building codes and the hazards resulting from improper construction are examined.

An Evaluation of Fuel-Reduction Treatments Across a Landscape Gradient in Piedmont Forests: Preliminary Results of the National Fire and Fire Surrogate Study

Treesearch

Thomas A. Waldrop; Dallas W. Glass; Sandra Rideout; Victor B. Shelburne

2004-01-01

The National Fire and Fire Surrogate (NFFS) Study is a large-scale study of the impacts of fuel-reduction treatments on ecological and economic variables. This paper examines prescribed burning and thinning as fuel-reduction treatments on one site of the national study, the southeastern Piedmont. Fuel loads were examined across a landscape gradient before and after...

7 CFR 4279.143 - Insurance.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

... value of the collateral or the amount of the loan. Hazard insurance includes fire, windstorm, lightning... Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) RURAL BUSINESS-COOPERATIVE SERVICE AND RURAL... Insurance. (a) Hazard. Hazard insurance with a standard mortgage clause naming the lender as beneficiary...

7 CFR 4279.143 - Insurance.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... value of the collateral or the amount of the loan. Hazard insurance includes fire, windstorm, lightning... Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) RURAL BUSINESS-COOPERATIVE SERVICE AND RURAL... Insurance. (a) Hazard. Hazard insurance with a standard mortgage clause naming the lender as beneficiary...

7 CFR 4279.143 - Insurance.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... value of the collateral or the amount of the loan. Hazard insurance includes fire, windstorm, lightning... Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) RURAL BUSINESS-COOPERATIVE SERVICE AND RURAL... Insurance. (a) Hazard. Hazard insurance with a standard mortgage clause naming the lender as beneficiary...

7 CFR 4279.143 - Insurance.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

... value of the collateral or the amount of the loan. Hazard insurance includes fire, windstorm, lightning... Regulations of the Department of Agriculture (Continued) RURAL BUSINESS-COOPERATIVE SERVICE AND RURAL... Insurance. (a) Hazard. Hazard insurance with a standard mortgage clause naming the lender as beneficiary...

The dynamics and drivers of fuel and fire in the Portuguese public forest.

PubMed

Fernandes, Paulo M; Loureiro, Carlos; Guiomar, Nuno; Pezzatti, Gianni B; Manso, Filipa T; Lopes, Luís

2014-12-15

The assumption that increased wildfire incidence in the Mediterranean Basin during the last decades is an outcome of changes in land use warrants an objective analysis. In this study we examine how annual area burned (BA) in the Portuguese public forest varied in relation to environmental and human-influenced drivers during the 1943-2011 period. Fire behaviour models were used to describe fuel hazard considering biomass removal, cover type changes, area burned, post-disturbance fuel accumulation, forest age-classes distribution and fuel connectivity. Biomass removal decreased rapidly beyond the 1940s, which, along with afforestation, increased fuel hazard until the 1980s; a subsequent decline was caused by increased fire activity. Change point analysis indicates upward shifts in BA in 1952 and in 1973, both corresponding to six-fold increases. Fire weather (expressed by the 90th percentile of the Canadian FWI during summer) increased over the study period, accounting for 18 and 36% of log(BA) variation before 1974 and after 1973, respectively. Regression modelling indicates that BA responds positively to fire weather, fuel hazard and number of fires in descending order of importance; pre-summer and 2-year lagged precipitation respectively decrease and increase BA, but the effects are minor and non-significant when both variables are included in the model. Land use conflicts (expressed through more fires) played a role, but it was afforestation and agricultural abandonment that supported the fire regime shifts, explaining weather-drought as the current major driver of BA as well. We conclude that bottom-up factors, i.e. human-induced changes in landscape flammability and ignition density, can enhance or override the influence of weather-drought on the fire regime in Mediterranean humid regions. A more relevant role of fuel control in fire management policies and practices is warranted by our findings. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Historical dominance of low-severity fire in dry and wet mixed-conifer forest habitats of the endangered terrestrial Jemez Mountains salamander (Plethodon neomexicanus)

USGS Publications Warehouse

Margolis, Ellis; Malevich, Steven B.

2016-01-01

Anthropogenic alteration of ecosystem processes confounds forest management and conservation of rare, declining species. Restoration of forest structure and fire hazard reduction are central goals of forest management policy in the western United States, but restoration priorities and treatments have become increasingly contentious. Numerous studies have documented changes in fire regimes, forest stand structure and species composition following a century of fire exclusion in dry, frequent-fire forests of the western U.S. (e.g., ponderosa pine and dry mixed-conifer). In contrast, wet mixed-conifer forests are thought to have historically burned infrequently with mixed- or high-severity fire—resulting in reduced impacts from fire exclusion and low restoration need—but data are limited. In this study we quantified the current forest habitat of the federally endangered, terrestrial Jemez Mountains salamander (Plethodon neomexicanus) and compared it to dendroecological reconstructions of historical habitat (e.g., stand structure and composition), and fire regime parameters along a gradient from upper ponderosa pine to wet mixed-conifer forests. We found that current fire-free intervals in Jemez Mountains salamander habitat (116–165 years) are significantly longer than historical intervals, even in wet mixed-conifer forests. Historical mean fire intervals ranged from 10 to 42 years along the forest gradient. Low-severity fires were historically dominant across all forest types (92 of 102 fires). Although some mixed- or highseverity fire historically occurred at 67% of the plots over the last four centuries, complete mortality within 1.0 ha plots was rare, and asynchronous within and among sites. Climate was an important driver of temporal variability in fire severity, such that mixed- and high-severity fires were associated with more extreme drought than low-severity fires. Tree density in dry conifer forests historically ranged from open (90 trees/ha) to moderately dense (400 trees/ha), but has doubled on average since fire exclusion. Infill of fire-sensitive tree species has contributed to the conversion of historically dry mixedconifer to wet mixed-conifer forest. We conclude that low-severity fire, which has been absent for over a century, was a critical ecosystem process across the forest gradient in Jemez Mountains salamander habitat, and thus is an important element of ecosystem restoration, resilience, and rare species recovery.

Compressive strength evolution of thermally-stressed Saint Maximin limestone.

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Farquharson, J.; Griffiths, L.; Baud, P.; Wadsworth, F. B.; Heap, M. J.

2017-12-01

The Saint Maximin quarry (Oise, France) opened in the early 1600s, and its limestone has been used extensively as masonry stone, particularly during the classical era of Parisian architecture from the 17th century onwards. Its widespread use has been due to a combination of its regional availability, its high workability, and its aesthetic appeal. Notable buildings completed using this material include sections of the Place de la Concorde and the Louvre in Paris. More recently, however, it has seen increasing use in the construction of large private residences throughout the United States as well as extensions to private institutions such as Stanford University. For any large building, fire hazard can be a substantial concern, especially in tectonically active areas where catastrophic fires may arise following large-magnitude earthquakes. Typically, house fires burn at temperatures of around 600 °C ( 1000 F). Given the ubiquity of this geomaterial as a building stone, it is important to ascertain the influence of heating on the strength of Saint Maximin limestone (SML), and in turn the structural stability of the buildings it is used in. We performed a series of compressive tests and permeability measurements on samples of SML to determine its strength evolution in response to heating to incrementally higher temperatures. We observe that the uniaxial compressive strength of SML decreases from >12 MPa at room temperature to <7 MPa at 600 °C. The rate of strength reduction increases at elevated temperature (>400 °C). We anticipate that this substantial weakening is in part a result of thermal microcracking, whereby changes in temperature induce thermal stresses due to a mismatch in thermal expansion between the constituent grains. This mechanism is compounded by the volumetric increase of quartz through its alpha - beta transition at 573 °C, and by the thermal decomposition of calcite. To track the formation of thermal microcracks, we monitor acoustic emissions, a common proxy for microcracking, during the heating of an SML sample. The implications of these results are that in the event of a fire, the structural integrity of buildings constructed using Saint Maximin limestone could be greatly compromised. Its ubiquity as a masonry stone demands consideration during fire hazard mitigation.

Linear Aerospike SR-71 Experiment (LASRE): Aerospace Propulsion Hazard Mitigation Systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Mizukami, Masashi; Corpening, Griffin P.; Ray, Ronald J.; Hass, Neal; Ennix, Kimberly A.; Lazaroff, Scott M.

1998-01-01

A major hazard posed by the propulsion system of hypersonic and space vehicles is the possibility of fire or explosion in the vehicle environment. The hazard is mitigated by minimizing or detecting, in the vehicle environment, the three ingredients essential to producing fire: fuel, oxidizer, and an ignition source. The Linear Aerospike SR-71 Experiment (LASRE) consisted of a linear aerospike rocket engine integrated into one-half of an X-33-like lifting body shape, carried on top of an SR-71 aircraft. Gaseous hydrogen and liquid oxygen were used as propellants. Although LASRE is a one-of-a-kind experimental system, it must be rated for piloted flight, so this test presented a unique challenge. To help meet safety requirements, the following propulsion hazard mitigation systems were incorporated into the experiment: pod inert purge, oxygen sensors, a hydrogen leak detection algorithm, hydrogen sensors, fire detection and pod temperature thermocouples, water misting, and control room displays. These systems are described, and their development discussed. Analyses, ground test, and flight test results are presented, as are findings and lessons learned.

Identifying/Quantifying Environmental Trade-offs Inherent in GHG Reduction Strategies for Coal-Fired Power. Environmental Science and Technology

EPA Science Inventory

Improvements to coal power plant technology and the co-fired combustion of biomass promise direct greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions for existing coal-fired power plants. Questions remain as to what the reduction potentials are from a life cycle perspective and if it will result in ...

A review of fire effects on bats and bat habitat in the eastern oaks region

Treesearch

Roger W. Perry

2012-01-01

Fire is increasingly being used in oak forests to promote oak regeneration, improve wildlife habitat, and reduce hazardous fuel loads. Although recent research has begun to shed light on the relationships among fire, bats, and bat habitat, these interactions are not yet fully understood. Fire may affect bats directly through heat and smoke during the burning process or...

A review of fire effects on bats and bat habitat in the eastern oak region

Treesearch

Roger W. Perry

2012-01-01

Fire is increasingly being used in oak forests to promote oak regeneration, improve wildlife habitat, and reduce hazardous fuel loads. Although recent research has begun to shed light on the relationships among fire, bats, and bat habitat, these interactions are not yet fully understood. Fire may affect bats directly through heat and smoke during the burning process or...

Advanced fire-resistant forms of activated carbon and methods of adsorbing and separating gases using same

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Xiong, Yongliang; Wang, Yifeng

A method of removing a target gas from a gas stream is disclosed. The method uses advanced, fire-resistant activated carbon compositions having vastly improved fire resistance. Methods for synthesizing the compositions are also provided. The advanced compositions have high gas adsorption capacities and rapid adsorption kinetics (comparable to commercially-available activated carbon), without having any intrinsic fire hazard.

Regional estimation of current and future forest biomass

Treesearch

R.A. Mickler; T.S. Earnhardt; J.A. Moore

2002-01-01

The 90,674 wildland fires that burned 2.9 million ha at an estimated suppression cost of $1.6 billion in the United States during the 2000 fire season demonstrated that forest fuel loading has become a hazard to life, property, and ecosystem health as a result of past fire exclusion policies and practices. The fire regime at any given location in these regions is a...

Fire history, effects, and management in southern Nevada [Chapter 5] (Executive Summary)

Treesearch

Matthew L. Brooks; Jeanne C. Chambers; Randy A. McKinley

2013-01-01

Fire can be both an ecosystem stressor and a critical ecosystem process, depending on when, where, and under what conditions it occurs on the southern Nevada landscape. Fire can also pose hazards to human life and property, particularly in the wildland/ urban interface (WUI). The challenge faced by land managers is to prevent fires from occurring where they are likely...

Canadian Wildland Fire Strategy: A vision for an innovative and integrated approach to managing the risks

Treesearch

Canadian Wildland Fire Strategy Project Management Team

2006-01-01

The Canadian Wildland Fire Strategy (CWFS) provides a vision for a new, innovative, and integrated approach to wildland fire management in Canada. It was developed under the auspices of the Canadian Council of Forest Ministers and seeks to balance the social, ecological, and economic aspects of wildland fire through a risk management framework that emphasizes hazard...

Modern Approaches to Wildfire Mitigation by Air and by Ground: An Interdisciplinary Perspective

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Duffin, J.; Lindquist, E.; Pierce, J. L.; Wuerzer, T.; Lawless, B.; McCoy, J.

2013-12-01

In 2012, 1.7 million acres of land burned in Idaho--more than any other state. Boise, Idaho, is situated at the base of the Boise Foothills; this physiographic setting places the area at risk of not only fires along on the Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI), but also at risk for post-fire floods and debris flows in the lower lying neighborhoods adjacent to steep hillslopes. In 1959 and 1994, fires and post-fire debris flows devastated areas of the foothills, and inundated residences with water and mud. Anthropogenically-induced climate change is projected to increased summer temperatures and decrease summer precipitation; the associated increase in fire risk necessitates enhanced wildfire planning in Boise's WUI. Temporal uncertainty with varying weather and vegetation conditions poses problems in defining wildfire risk and requires new methods to address the WUI challenges. Unmanned aerial systems (UAS) could identify and characterize fire hazards to be mapped and used as a management tool. This technology would allow for repeat flights to update risk analysis as the hazards change both annually and multiple times within each fire season. With aerial photography obtained from flights, Structure from Motion software can be used to compile the images and render a 3D model to help quantify biomass. Aerial photographs would also allow for the ability to track seasonal changes in fire risk from vegetation height and inferred moisture content. Boise State University's departments of Geoscience, Community and Regional Planning, and the Public Policy Center are examining the risks and impacts of fire along the Boise WUI. The research integrates the perspectives of the geosciences and social sciences by combining physically-based fire hazards, effective fire management policies, and urban/regional planning in the WUI to provide better spatially-appropriate data and resources to the community and a common reference to assist in unifying the local efforts for fire mitigation. This presentation will introduce findings from a homeowner's survey of potentially at-risk residents regarding their perceptions of risk and uncertainty and their receptiveness to local mitigation, adaptation policies, and alternatives.

Fire and explosion hazards related to the industrial use of potassium and sodium methoxides.

PubMed

Kwok, Q; Acheson, B; Turcotte, R; Janès, A; Marlair, G

2013-04-15

Sodium and potassium methoxides are used as an intermediary for a variety of products in several industrial applications. For example, current production of so called "1G-biodiesel" relies on processing a catalytic reaction called "transesterification". This reaction transforms lipid resources from biomass materials into fatty acid methyl and ethyl esters. 1-G biodiesel processes imply the use of methanol, caustic potash (KOH), and caustic soda (NaOH) for which the hazards are well characterized. The more recent introduction of the direct catalysts CH3OK and CH3ONa may potentially introduce new process hazards. From an examination of existing MSDSs concerning these products, it appears that no consensus currently exists on their intrinsic hazardous properties. Recently, l'Institut National de l'Environnement Industriel et des Risques (France) and the Canadian Explosives Research Laboratory (Canada) have embarked upon a joint effort to better characterize the thermal hazards associated with these catalysts. This work employs the more conventional tests for water reactivity as an ignition source, fire and dust explosion hazards, using isothermal nano-calorimetry, isothermal basket tests, the Fire Propagation Apparatus and a standard 20 L sphere, respectively. It was found that these chemicals can become self-reactive close to room temperature under specific conditions and can generate explosible dusts. Copyright © 2013 Crown. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Remote Sensing of Chaparral Fire Potential: Case Study in Topanga Canyon, California.

DTIC Science & Technology

Remote sensing techniques, especially the use of color infrared aerial photography, provide a useful tool for fire hazard analysis, including interpetive information about fuel volumes, physiognomic plant groupings, the relationships of buildings to both natural and planted vegetation, and fire vulnerability of roofing materials. In addition, the behavior of the September, 1970 Wright Fire in the Topanga study area suggested the validity of the fire potential analysis which had been made prior to that conflagration.

Environmental Protection for Hazardous Materials Incidents. Volume 1. Hazardous Materials Incident Management System

DTIC Science & Technology

1990-11-01

radioactive) - Determine class of HAZMAT (Class A Explosive, Class B Explosive, Class C Explosive, Blasting Agent , Flammable Gas , Non- flammable Gas ... agent . Specific health and safety plans related to IRP actions amy be obtained from the same source. 2. Interaction of Fire Departments with the...such as digging near a gas line, a fuel tank, or buried explo- sives, the fire department would be briefed before beginning the work, and, under

Woody biomass supply from thinnings to reduce fire hazard in the U.S. West and its potential impact on regional wood markets

Treesearch

Kenneth E. Skog; Peter J. Ince; Henry Spelter; Andi Kramp; R. James Barbour

2008-01-01

Part I of this paper identifies timberland areas in 12 western states where thinning treatments are judged to be needed to reduce fire hazard and may ?pay for themselves?? at a scale to make investment in forest product processing a realistic option. We also estimate amounts of biomass removed and costs of removal. Part II of this paper estimates the market impact if...

Strata-based forest fuel classification for wild fire hazard assessment using terrestrial LiDAR

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Yang; Zhu, Xuan; Yebra, Marta; Harris, Sarah; Tapper, Nigel

2016-10-01

Fuel structural characteristics affect fire behavior including fire intensity, spread rate, flame structure, and duration, therefore, quantifying forest fuel structure has significance in understanding fire behavior as well as providing information for fire management activities (e.g., planned burns, suppression, fuel hazard assessment, and fuel treatment). This paper presents a method of forest fuel strata classification with an integration between terrestrial light detection and ranging (LiDAR) data and geographic information system for automatically assessing forest fuel structural characteristics (e.g., fuel horizontal continuity and vertical arrangement). The accuracy of fuel description derived from terrestrial LiDAR scanning (TLS) data was assessed by field measured surface fuel depth and fuel percentage covers at distinct vertical layers. The comparison of TLS-derived depth and percentage cover at surface fuel layer with the field measurements produced root mean square error values of 1.1 cm and 5.4%, respectively. TLS-derived percentage cover explained 92% of the variation in percentage cover at all fuel layers of the entire dataset. The outcome indicated TLS-derived fuel characteristics are strongly consistent with field measured values. TLS can be used to efficiently and consistently classify forest vertical layers to provide more precise information for forest fuel hazard assessment and surface fuel load estimation in order to assist forest fuels management and fire-related operational activities. It can also be beneficial for mapping forest habitat, wildlife conservation, and ecosystem management.

One-pot, bioinspired coatings to reduce the flammability of flexible polyurethane foams.

PubMed

Davis, Rick; Li, Yu-Chin; Gervasio, Michelle; Luu, Jason; Kim, Yeon Seok

2015-03-25

In this manuscript, natural materials were combined into a single "pot" to produce flexible, highly fire resistant, and bioinspired coatings on flexible polyurethane foam (PUF). In one step, PUF was coated with a fire protective layer constructed of a polysaccharide binder (starch or agar), a boron fire retardant (boric acid or derivative), and a dirt char former (montmorillonite clay). Nearly all coatings produced a 63% reduction in a critical flammability value, the peak heat release rate (PHRR). One formulation produced a 75% reduction in PHRR. This technology was validated in full-scale furniture fire tests, where a 75% reduction in PHRR was measured. At these PHRR values, this technology could reduce the fire threat of furniture from significant fire damage in and beyond the room of fire origin to being contained to the burning furniture. This flammability reduction was caused by three mechanisms-the gas-phase and condensed-phase processes of the boron fire retardant and the condensed-phase process of the clay. We describe the one-pot coating process and the impact of the coating composition on flammability.

14 CFR 139.321 - Handling and storing of hazardous substances and materials.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

...) Public protection. (3) Control of access to storage areas. (4) Fire safety in fuel farm and storage areas. (5) Fire safety in mobile fuelers, fueling pits, and fueling cabinets. (6) Training of fueling personnel in fire safety in accordance with paragraph (e) of this section. Such training at Class III...

14 CFR 139.321 - Handling and storing of hazardous substances and materials.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-01-01

...) Public protection. (3) Control of access to storage areas. (4) Fire safety in fuel farm and storage areas. (5) Fire safety in mobile fuelers, fueling pits, and fueling cabinets. (6) Training of fueling personnel in fire safety in accordance with paragraph (e) of this section. Such training at Class III...

14 CFR 139.321 - Handling and storing of hazardous substances and materials.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

...) Public protection. (3) Control of access to storage areas. (4) Fire safety in fuel farm and storage areas. (5) Fire safety in mobile fuelers, fueling pits, and fueling cabinets. (6) Training of fueling personnel in fire safety in accordance with paragraph (e) of this section. Such training at Class III...

14 CFR 139.321 - Handling and storing of hazardous substances and materials.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-01-01

...) Public protection. (3) Control of access to storage areas. (4) Fire safety in fuel farm and storage areas. (5) Fire safety in mobile fuelers, fueling pits, and fueling cabinets. (6) Training of fueling personnel in fire safety in accordance with paragraph (e) of this section. Such training at Class III...

14 CFR 139.321 - Handling and storing of hazardous substances and materials.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

...) Public protection. (3) Control of access to storage areas. (4) Fire safety in fuel farm and storage areas. (5) Fire safety in mobile fuelers, fueling pits, and fueling cabinets. (6) Training of fueling personnel in fire safety in accordance with paragraph (e) of this section. Such training at Class III...

REGIONAL ESTIMATION OF CURRENT AND FUTURE FOREST BIOMASS. (R828785)

EPA Science Inventory

The 90,674 wildland fires that burned 2.9 million ha at an estimated suppression cost of $1.6 billion in the United States during the 2000 fire season demonstrated that forest fuel loading has become a hazard to life, property, and ecosystem health as a result of past fire exc...

77 FR 23399 - National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants From Coal- and Oil-Fired Electric...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2012-04-19

... Coal- and Oil-Fired Electric Utility Steam Generating Units and Standards of Performance for Fossil... Units and Standards of Performance for Fossil-Fuel-Fired Electric Utility, Industrial-Commercial... before March 1, 2005, means a 24-hour period during which fossil fuel is combusted in a steam-generating...

40 CFR 63.10000 - What are my general requirements for complying with this subpart?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... Administrator which may include, but is not limited to, monitoring results, review of operation and maintenance... SOURCE CATEGORIES (CONTINUED) National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants: Coal- and Oil... of startup and shutdown; however, for coal-fired, liquid oil-fired, or solid oil-derived fuel-fired...

Effects of fuel load and moisture content on fire behaviour and heating in masticated litter-dominated fuels

Treesearch

Jesse K. Kreye; Leda N. Kobziar; Wayne C. Zipperer

2013-01-01

Mechanical fuels treatments are being used in fire-prone ecosystems where fuel loading poses a hazard, yetlittle research elucidating subsequent fire behaviour exists, especially in litter-dominated fuelbeds. To address this deficiency, we burned constructed fuelbeds from masticated sites in pine flatwoods forests in northern Florida...

46 CFR 147.65 - Carbon dioxide and halon fire extinguishing systems.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... 46 Shipping 5 2011-10-01 2011-10-01 false Carbon dioxide and halon fire extinguishing systems. 147.65 Section 147.65 Shipping COAST GUARD, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY (CONTINUED) DANGEROUS CARGOES HAZARDOUS SHIPS' STORES Stowage and Other Special Requirements for Particular Materials § 147.65 Carbon dioxide and halon fire extinguishing...

46 CFR 147.65 - Carbon dioxide and halon fire extinguishing systems.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-10-01

... 46 Shipping 5 2013-10-01 2013-10-01 false Carbon dioxide and halon fire extinguishing systems. 147.65 Section 147.65 Shipping COAST GUARD, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY (CONTINUED) DANGEROUS CARGOES HAZARDOUS SHIPS' STORES Stowage and Other Special Requirements for Particular Materials § 147.65 Carbon dioxide and halon fire extinguishing...

46 CFR 147.65 - Carbon dioxide and halon fire extinguishing systems.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-10-01

... 46 Shipping 5 2012-10-01 2012-10-01 false Carbon dioxide and halon fire extinguishing systems. 147.65 Section 147.65 Shipping COAST GUARD, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY (CONTINUED) DANGEROUS CARGOES HAZARDOUS SHIPS' STORES Stowage and Other Special Requirements for Particular Materials § 147.65 Carbon dioxide and halon fire extinguishing...

Preventing disaster: Home ignitability in the wildland-urban interface

Treesearch

Jack D. Cohen

2000-01-01

Wildland-urban interface (W-UI) fires are a significant concern for federal, state, and local land management and fire agencies. Research using modeling, experiments, and W-UI case studies indicates that home ignitability during wildland fires depends on the characteristics of the home and its immediate surroundings. These findings have implications for hazard...

Duff reduction by prescribed underburning in Douglas-fir.

Treesearch

David V. Sandberg

1980-01-01

Predictive equations for duff reduction and mineral soil exposure by prescribed fire are presented. An explanation is suggested for the dependence of duff combustion on surface fuel combustion. Surface fire duration and fuel moisture estimates of the National Fire-Danger Rating 1,000-hour timelag are the best predictors for reduction in moist duff. Duff layers with...

Fire behavior of halogen-free flame retardant electrical cables with the cone calorimeter.

PubMed

Meinier, Romain; Sonnier, Rodolphe; Zavaleta, Pascal; Suard, Sylvain; Ferry, Laurent

2018-01-15

Fires involving electrical cables are one of the main hazards in Nuclear Power Plants (NPPs). Cables are complex assemblies including several polymeric parts (insulation, bedding, sheath) constituting fuel sources. This study provides an in-depth characterization of the fire behavior of two halogen-free flame retardant cables used in NPPs using the cone calorimeter. The influence of two key parameters, namely the external heat flux and the spacing between cables, on the cable fire characteristics is especially investigated. The prominent role of the outer sheath material on the ignition and the burning at early times was highlighted. A parameter of utmost importance called transition heat flux, was identified and depends on the composition and the structure of the cable. Below this heat flux, the decomposition is limited and concerns only the sheath. Above it, fire hazard is greatly enhanced because most often non-flame retarded insulation part contributes to heat release. The influence of spacing appears complex, and depends on the considered fire property. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Landscape scale vegetation-type conversion and fire hazard in the San Francisco bay area open spaces

USGS Publications Warehouse

Russell, W.H.; McBride, J.R.

2003-01-01

Successional pressures resulting from fire suppression and reduced grazing have resulted in vegetation-type conversion in the open spaces surrounding the urbanized areas of the San Francisco bay area. Coverage of various vegetation types were sampled on seven sites using a chronosequence of remote images in order to measure change over time. Results suggest a significant conversion of grassland to shrubland dominated by Baccharis pilularison five of the seven sites sampled. An increase in Pseudotsuga menziesii coverage was also measured on the sites where it was present. Increases fuel and fire hazard were determined through field sampling and use of the FARSITE fire area simulator. A significant increase in biomass resulting from succession of grass-dominated to shrub-dominated communities was evident. In addition, results from the FARSITE simulations indicated significantly higher fire-line intensity, and flame length associated with shrublands over all other vegetation types sampled. These results indicate that the replacement of grass dominated with shrub-dominated landscapes has increased the probability of high intensity fires. ?? 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Fire safety: A case study of technology transfer

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Heins, C. F.

1975-01-01

Two basic ways in which NASA-generated technology is being used by the fire safety community are described. First, improved products and systems that embody NASA technical advances are entering the marketplace. Second, NASA test data and technical information related to fire safety are being used by persons concerned with reducing the hazards of fire through improved design information and standards. The development of commercial fire safety products and systems typically requires adaptation and integration of aerospace technologies that may not have been originated for NASA fire safety applications.

LA-UR-14-27684, Analysis of Wildland Fire Hazard to the TWF at Los Alamos National Labs

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Gilbertson, Sarah

Wildfires represent an Anticipated Natural Phenomena Hazard for LANL and the surrounding area. The TWF facility is located in a cleared area and is surrounded on three sides by roadway pavement. Therefore, direct propagation of flames to the facility is not considered the most credible means of ignition. Rather, fires started by airborne transport of burning brands constitute the most significant wildland fire threat to the TWF. The purpose of this document is to update LA-UR-13-24529, Airborne Projection of Burning Embers – Planning and Controls for Los Alamos National Laboratory Facilities, to be specific to the TWF site and operations.

Assessing the Fire Risk for a Historic Hangar

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Datta, Koushik; Morrison, Richard S.

2010-01-01

NASA Ames Research Center (ARC) is evaluating options of reuse of its historic Hangar 1. As a part of this evaluation, a qualitative fire risk assessment study was performed to evaluate the potential threat of combustion of the historic hangar. The study focused on the fire risk trade-off of either installing or not installing a Special Hazard Fire Suppression System in the Hangar 1 deck areas. The assessment methodology was useful in discussing the important issues among various groups within the Center. Once the methodology was deemed acceptable, the results were assessed. The results showed that the risk remained in the same risk category, whether Hangar 1 does or does not have a Special Hazard Fire Suppression System. Note that the methodology assessed the risk to Hangar 1 and not the risk to an aircraft in the hangar. If one had a high value aircraft, the aircraft risk analysis could potentially show a different result. The assessed risk results were then communicated to management and other stakeholders.

A Method for Reducing the Temperature of Exhaust Manifolds

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Schey, Oscar W; Young, Alfred W

1931-01-01

This report describes tests conducted at the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory on an "air-inducting" exhaust manifold for aircraft engines. The exhaust gases from each cylinder port are discharged into the throat of an exhaust pipe which has a frontal bellmouth. Cooling air is drawn into the pipe, where it surrounds and mixes with the exhaust gases. Temperatures of the manifold shell and of the exhaust gases were obtained in flight for both a conventional manifold and the air-inducting manifold. The air-inducting manifold was installed on an engine which was placed on a test stand. Different fuels were sprayed on and into the manifold to determine whether the use of this manifold reduced the fire hazard. The flight tests showed reductions in manifold temperatures of several hundred degrees, to values below the ignition point of aviation gasoline. On the test stand when the engine was run at idling speeds fuels sprayed into the manifold ignited. It is believed that at low engine speeds the fuel remained in the manifold long enough to become thoroughly heated, and was then ignited by the exhaust gas which had not mixed with cooling air. The use of the air-inducting exhaust manifold must reduce the fire hazard by virtue of its lower operating temperature, but it is not a completely satisfactory solution of the problem.

Managing wetlands for disaster risk reduction: A case study of the eastern Free State, South Africa

PubMed Central

Collins, Nacelle

2018-01-01

This article investigated the knowledge and practice of a nature-based solution to reduce disaster risks of drought, veld fires and floods using wetlands in the eastern Free State, South Africa. A mixed research method approach was used to collect primary data using three data collection tools, namely questionnaires, interviews and field observations. Ninety-five wetlands under communal and private ownership as well as a few in protected areas were sampled, with their users completing questionnaires. The study showed that communal wetlands were more degraded, while wetlands in protected areas and in private commercial farms were in a good ecological state. An extensive literature review reveals that healthy wetlands are effective buffers in reducing disaster risks such as drought, veld fires and floods which are recurrent in the study area. Therefore, through better land-use and management practices, backed by education and awareness, wetlands could be good instruments to mitigate recurrent natural hazards in the agriculturally dominated eastern Free State in South Africa.

Bibliography on aircraft fire hazards and safety. Volume 2: Safety. Part 1: Key numbers 1 to 524

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Pelouch, J. J., Jr. (Compiler); Hacker, P. T. (Compiler)

1974-01-01

Bibliographic citations are presented to describe and define aircraft safety methods, equipment, and criteria. Some of the subjects discussed are: (1) fire and explosion suppression using whiffle balls, (2) ultraviolet flame detecting sensors, (3) evaluation of flame arrestor materials for aircraft fuel systems, (4) crash fire prevention system for supersonic commercial aircraft, and (5) fire suppression for aerospace vehicles.

Hydrological modelling for flood forecasting: Calibrating the post-fire initial conditions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Papathanasiou, C.; Makropoulos, C.; Mimikou, M.

2015-10-01

Floods and forest fires are two of the most devastating natural hazards with severe socioeconomic, environmental as well as aesthetic impacts on the affected areas. Traditionally, these hazards are examined from different perspectives and are thus investigated through different, independent systems, overlooking the fact that they are tightly interrelated phenomena. In fact, the same flood event is more severe, i.e. associated with increased runoff discharge and peak flow and decreased time to peak, if it occurs over a burnt area than that occurring over a land not affected by fire. Mediterranean periurban areas, where forests covered with flammable vegetation coexist with agricultural land and urban zones, are typical areas particularly prone to the combined impact of floods and forest fires. Hence, the accurate assessment and effective management of post-fire flood risk becomes an issue of priority. The research presented in this paper aims to develop a robust methodological framework, using state of art tools and modern technologies to support the estimation of the change in time of five representative hydrological parameters for post-fire conditions. The proposed methodology considers both longer- and short-term initial conditions in order to assess the dynamic evolution of the selected parameters. The research focuses on typical Mediterranean periurban areas that are subjected to both hazards and concludes with a set of equations that associate post-fire and pre-fire conditions for five Fire Severity (FS) classes and three soil moisture states. The methodology has been tested for several flood events on the Rafina catchment, a periurban catchment in Eastern Attica (Greece). In order to validate the methodology, simulated hydrographs were produced and compared against available observed data. Results indicate a close convergence of observed and simulated flows. The proposed methodology is particularly flexible and thus easily adaptable to catchments with similar hydrometeorological and geomorphological features.

40 CFR 267.51 - What is the purpose of the contingency plan and how do I use it?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... AGENCY (CONTINUED) SOLID WASTES (CONTINUED) STANDARDS FOR OWNERS AND OPERATORS OF HAZARDOUS WASTE... facility. You must design the plan to minimize hazards to human health or the environment from fires, explosions, or any unplanned sudden or non-sudden release of hazardous waste or hazardous waste constituents...

40 CFR 267.51 - What is the purpose of the contingency plan and how do I use it?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... AGENCY (CONTINUED) SOLID WASTES (CONTINUED) STANDARDS FOR OWNERS AND OPERATORS OF HAZARDOUS WASTE... facility. You must design the plan to minimize hazards to human health or the environment from fires, explosions, or any unplanned sudden or non-sudden release of hazardous waste or hazardous waste constituents...

40 CFR 267.51 - What is the purpose of the contingency plan and how do I use it?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... AGENCY (CONTINUED) SOLID WASTES (CONTINUED) STANDARDS FOR OWNERS AND OPERATORS OF HAZARDOUS WASTE... facility. You must design the plan to minimize hazards to human health or the environment from fires, explosions, or any unplanned sudden or non-sudden release of hazardous waste or hazardous waste constituents...

40 CFR 267.51 - What is the purpose of the contingency plan and how do I use it?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... AGENCY (CONTINUED) SOLID WASTES (CONTINUED) STANDARDS FOR OWNERS AND OPERATORS OF HAZARDOUS WASTE... facility. You must design the plan to minimize hazards to human health or the environment from fires, explosions, or any unplanned sudden or non-sudden release of hazardous waste or hazardous waste constituents...

40 CFR 63.1217 - What are the standards for liquid fuel boilers that burn hazardous waste?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... boilers that burn hazardous waste? 63.1217 Section 63.1217 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL... boilers that burn hazardous waste? (a) Emission limits for existing sources. You must not discharge or... provided for in paragraph (a)(2)(iii) of this section: (i) When you burn hazardous waste with an as-fired...

40 CFR 63.1217 - What are the standards for liquid fuel boilers that burn hazardous waste?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... boilers that burn hazardous waste? 63.1217 Section 63.1217 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL... boilers that burn hazardous waste? (a) Emission limits for existing sources. You must not discharge or... provided for in paragraph (a)(2)(iii) of this section: (i) When you burn hazardous waste with an as-fired...

40 CFR 63.1217 - What are the standards for liquid fuel boilers that burn hazardous waste?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... boilers that burn hazardous waste? 63.1217 Section 63.1217 Protection of Environment ENVIRONMENTAL... that burn hazardous waste? (a) Emission limits for existing sources. You must not discharge or cause... paragraph (a)(2)(iii) of this section: (i) When you burn hazardous waste with an as-fired heating value less...

The Tiptop coal-mine fire, Kentucky: Preliminary investigation of the measurement of mercury and other hazardous gases from coal-fire gas vents

USGS Publications Warehouse

Hower, James C.; Henke, Kevin R.; O'Keefe, Jennifer M.K.; Engle, Mark A.; Blake, Donald R.; Stracher, Glenn B.

2009-01-01

Variation in gas temperatures, nearly 300 °C during the January visit to the fire versus < 50 °C in May, demonstrates the large temporal variability in fire intensity at the Tiptop mine. These preliminary results suggest that emissions from coal fires may be important, but additional data are required that address the reasons for significant variations in the composition, flow, and temperature of vent gases.

Framework for addressing the national wildland urban interface fire problem—determining fire and ember exposure zones using a WUI hazard scale

Treesearch

Alexander Maranghides; William Mell

2012-01-01

Destruction of homes and businesses from Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) fires have been steadily escalating as have the fire suppression costs associated with them. Since 2000, in the U.S. over 3,000 homes per year are lost to WUI fires, compared to about 900 homes in the 1990s, and 400 homes in the 1970s. In 2011, in Texas alone, over 2,000 homes were...

DefenseLink Feature: Military Helps Fight California Wildfires

Science.gov Websites

planes dropping fire retardant on wildfires in southern California face hazards and challenges unique to ' * Sailors Help Victims in Need * Bush Pledges Military Will Continue to Provide Fire Aid | Video

Greenhouse Gas and Criteria Air Pollutant Emission Reductions from Forest Fuel Treatment Projects in Placer County, California

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Saah, D. S.; Moritz, M.; Ganz, D. J.; Stine, P. A.; Moody, T.

2010-12-01

Years of successful fire suppression activities have left forests unnaturally dense, overstocked, and with high hazardous fuel loads. Wildfires, particularly those of high severity, may dramatically reduce carbon stocks and convert forested lands from carbon sinks to decades-long carbon sources . Forest resource managers are currently pursuing fuels reduction and mitigation strategies to reduce wildfire risk and maintain carbon stocks. These projects include selective thinning and removal of trees and brush to return forest ecosystems to more natural stocking levels, resulting in a more fire-resilient forest that in theory would retain higher carry capacity for standing above ground carbon. Resource managers are exploring the possibility of supporting these local forest management projects by offering greenhouse gas (GHG) offsets to project developers that require GHG emissions mitigation. Using robust field data, this research project modeled three types of carbon benefits that could be realized from forest management: 1. Fuels treatments in the study area were shown to reduce the GHG and Criteria Air Pollutant emissions from wildfires by decreasing the probability, extent, and severity of fires and the corresponding loss in forest carbon stocks; 2. Biomass utilization from fuel treatment was shown to reduce GHG and Criteria Air Pollutant emissions over the duration of the fuels treatment project compared to fossil fuel energy. 3. Management and thinning of forests in order to stimulate growth, resulting in more rapid uptake of atmospheric carbon and approaching a carbon carrying capacity stored in a forest ecosystem under prevailing environmental conditions and natural disturbance regimes.

Made It in the Timber: A Historic Overview of the Fort Leonard Wood Region, 1800-1940

DTIC Science & Technology

1993-01-01

the brush, improve hunting, and reduce fire hazards (Malouf 1991: 26-27). For the first settlers like Turpin, the3 decrease in the frequency of fires...of these lofty heights, or descending with cautious tread3 in to the intervening gulfs- an exercise which we found equally hazardous and fatiguing...varied landscape, settlers found abundant wildlife which provided them with meat and furs. "The native fauna constituted one of the principal

Facilities Maintenance in the U.S. Navy

DTIC Science & Technology

1986-01-01

Row’a9IVI s..Nl,I I~de 14. 11111116104 It. safeI MeAI. 5,124 AN (:lgnd) JOHN SMITH I765 IIf Figure 111-1 Work Request is EMIROENCY/SERVICE WORK...Eliminate fire, health and active life of less than 3 years safety hazards o Infrequently or only partially o Patch and reinforce instead used of...safety or health hazards and to permit reactivation within the period prescribed under mobili- zation plans o Surplus facilities a Fliminate fire, safety

INDUSTRIAL BOILER RETROFIT FOR NOX CONTROL: COMBINED SELECTIVE NONCATALYTIC REDUCTION AND SELECTIVE CATALYTIC REDUCTION

EPA Science Inventory

The paper describes retrofitting and testing a 590 kW (2 MBtu/hr), oil-fired, three-pass, fire-tube package boiler with a combined selective noncatalytic reduction (SNCR) and selective catalytic reduction (SCR) system. The system demonstrated 85% nitrogen oxides (NOx) reduction w...

Causes Of Low Efficiency Of Combined Ventilation System In Coal Mines In Resolving The Problem Of Air Leaks (Inflows) Between Levels And Surface

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Popov, Valeriy; Filatov, Yuriy; Lee, Hee; Golik, Anatoliy

2017-11-01

The paper discusses the problem of the underground mining safety control. The long-term air intake to coal accumulations is reviewed as one of the reasons of endogenous fires during mining. The methods of combating air leaks (inflows) in order to prevent endogenous fires are analyzed. The calculations showing the discrepancy between the design calculations for the mine ventilation, disregarding a number of mining-andgeological and mining-engineering factors, and the actual conditions of mining are given. It is proved that the conversion of operating mines to combined (pressure and exhaust) ventilation system in order to reduce the endogenous fire hazard of underground mining is unreasonable due to impossibility of providing an optimal distribution of aerodynamic pressure in mines. The conversion does not exclude the entry of air into potentially hazardous zones of endogenous fires. The essence of the combined application of positive and negative control methods for the distribution of air pressure is revealed. It consists of air doors installation in easily ventilated airways and installation of pressure equalization chambers equipped with auxiliary fans near the stoppings, working sections and in parallel airways.The effectiveness of the combined application of negative and positive control methods for the air pressure distribution in order to reduce endogenous fire hazard of mining operations is proved.

Non-supervised method for early forest fire detection and rapid mapping

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Artés, Tomás; Boca, Roberto; Liberta, Giorgio; San-Miguel, Jesús

2017-09-01

Natural hazards are a challenge for the society. Scientific community efforts have been severely increased assessing tasks about prevention and damage mitigation. The most important points to minimize natural hazard damages are monitoring and prevention. This work focuses particularly on forest fires. This phenomenon depends on small-scale factors and fire behavior is strongly related to the local weather. Forest fire spread forecast is a complex task because of the scale of the phenomena, the input data uncertainty and time constraints in forest fire monitoring. Forest fire simulators have been improved, including some calibration techniques avoiding data uncertainty and taking into account complex factors as the atmosphere. Such techniques increase dramatically the computational cost in a context where the available time to provide a forecast is a hard constraint. Furthermore, an early mapping of the fire becomes crucial to assess it. In this work, a non-supervised method for forest fire early detection and mapping is proposed. As main sources, the method uses daily thermal anomalies from MODIS and VIIRS combined with land cover map to identify and monitor forest fires with very few resources. This method relies on a clustering technique (DBSCAN algorithm) and on filtering thermal anomalies to detect the forest fires. In addition, a concave hull (alpha shape algorithm) is applied to obtain rapid mapping of the fire area (very coarse accuracy mapping). Therefore, the method leads to a potential use for high-resolution forest fire rapid mapping based on satellite imagery using the extent of each early fire detection. It shows the way to an automatic rapid mapping of the fire at high resolution processing as few data as possible.

Communicating about smoke from wildland fire: challenges and ways to address them

Treesearch

Christine S. Olsen; Danielle K. Mazzotta; Eric Toman; A. Paige Fischer

2014-01-01

Wildland fire and associated management efforts are dominant topics in natural resource fields. Smoke from fires can be a nuisance and pose serious health risks and aggravate pre-existing health conditions. When it results in reduced visibility near roadways, smoke can also pose hazardous driving conditions and reduce the scenic value of vistas. Communicating about...

Modeling and risk assessment for soil temperatures beneath prescribed forest fires

Treesearch

Haiganoush K. Preisler; Sally M. Haase; Stephen S. Sackett

2000-01-01

Prescribed fire is a management tool used by wildland resource management organizations in many ecosystems to reduce hazardous fuels and to achieve a host of other objectives. To study the effects of fire in naturally accumulating fuel conditions, the ambient soil temperature is monitored beneath prescribed burns. In this study we developed a stochastic model for...

Hands-on learning: Its effectiveness in teaching the public about wildland fire

Treesearch

Tamara M. Parkinson; Jo Ellen Force; Jane Kapler Smith

2003-01-01

This study evaluated workshops for the adult public featuring experiential learning about wildland fire. Participants used hands-on activities to investigate fire behavior and ecology and to assess hazards in the wildland-urban interface. Effectiveness was examined using a pretest, a posttest following the program, and another posttest 30 days later. Participants’...

Using stand-level optimization to reduce crown fire hazard

Treesearch

David H. Graetz; John Sessions; Steven L. Garman

2007-01-01

This study evaluated the ability to generate prescriptions for a wide variety of stands when the goal is to reduce crown fire potential. Forest managers charged with reducing crown fire potential while providing for commodity and ecological production have been hampered by the complexity of possible management options. A program called Stand-Level Optimization with...

The scientific foundation of the LANDFIRE Prototype Project [Chapter 3

Treesearch

Robert E. Keane; Matthew Rollins

2006-01-01

The Landscape Fire and Resource Management Planning Tools Prototype Project, or LANDFIRE Prototype Project, originated from a recent mapping project that developed a set of coarse-scale spatial data layers for wildland fire management describing fire hazard and ecological status for the conterminous United States (Hardy and others 2001; Schmidt and others 2002; www. fs...

Reducing hazardous fuels on nonindustrial private forests: factors influencing landowner decisions

Treesearch

A. Paige Fischer

2011-01-01

In mixed-ownership landscapes, fuels conditions on private lands have implications for fire risk on public lands and vice versa. The success of efforts to mitigate fire risk depends on the extent, efficacy, and coordination of treatments on nearby ownerships. Understanding factors in forest owners' decisions to address the risk of wildland fire is therefore...

Crucial factors influencing public acceptance of fuels treatments

Treesearch

Sarah McCaffrey

2009-01-01

An important component of the wildland fire problem in the United States is the growing number of people living in high fire hazard areas. How people in these areas contribute to fire risk--or potentially decrease it--will be shaped by their attitudes and beliefs toward different fuel treatment approaches. Understanding the issues and concerns that influence public...

Safety. Fire Service Certification Series. Unit FSCS-FF-2-80.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pribyl, Paul F.

This training unit on safety is part of a 17-unit course package written to aid instructors in the development, teaching, and evaluation of fire fighters in the Wisconsin Fire Service Certification Series. The purpose stated for the 4-hour unit is to assist firefighters in understanding the hazards of their profession and some methods of reducing…

Developing a multiscale fire treatment strategy for species habitat management

Treesearch

Steven P. Norman; Danny C. Lee; David A. Tallmon

2008-01-01

Reintroducing fire to manage vegetation and fuel may have poorly understood consequences for wildlife. Prescribed burning can reduce down wood and snags that provide critical habitat and mechanical thinning designed to reduce fire hazards may alter forest structures that are preferred by some species. Moreover, fine scale fuel treatments may alter wildlife and habitat...

Forest structure and fire hazard in dry forests of the Western United States

Treesearch

David L. Peterson; Morris C. Johnson; James K. Agee; Theresa B. Jain; Donald McKenzie; Elizabeth D. Reinhardt

2005-01-01

Fire, in conjunction with landforms and climate, shapes the structure and function of forests throughout the Western United States, where millions of acres of forest lands contain accumulations of flammable fuel that are much higher than historical conditions owing to various forms of fire exclusion. The Healthy Forests Restoration Act mandates that public land...

Development and mapping of fuel characteristics and associated fire potentials for South America

Treesearch

M. Lucrecia Pettinari; Roger D. Ottmar; Susan J. Prichard; Anne G. Andreu; Emilio Chuvieco

2014-01-01

The characteristics and spatial distribution of fuels are critical for assessing fire hazard, fuel consumption, greenhouse gas emissions and other fire effects. However, fuel maps are difficult to generate and update, because many regions of the world lack fuel descriptions or adequate mapped vegetation attributes to assign these fuelbeds spatially across the landscape...

EPA Response to Fruitland Magnesium Fire, Maywood, CA

EPA Pesticide Factsheets

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and its state and local partners continue the response operations and assessment of hazardous waste in the aftermath of the Fruitland Magnesium Fire Incident in Maywood, Los Angeles County, Calif.

Workplace fire-not a misfortune, but an avoidable occupational hazard in Korea.

PubMed

Park, Ji-Eun; Kim, Myoung-Hee

2015-02-01

In this article, we argue that workplace fire should be understood within an occupational safety and health context. We selected two cases of fire and explosion with the greatest numbers of fatalities from the annual lists of the "Worst Manslaughter Companies of the Year" in Korea. Through review of information from major media, government, courts, and workers' advocacy organizations, we found that these incidents resulted from violations of basic safety rules by the companies, and that the penalties imposed on them were light. In addition, precarious workers were more vulnerable to such risk, and self-regulation did not work even in large corporations. Like other types of occupational hazards, explosions and fires can be prevented, but prevention requires that occupational safety and health regulations be thoroughly enforced and that heavy penalties be imposed in order to eliminate any incentives for regulatory violations. © 2015 SAGE Publications.

40 CFR 267.31 - What are the general design and operation standards?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... possibility of a fire, explosion, or any unplanned sudden or non-sudden release of hazardous waste or hazardous waste constituents to air, soil, or surface water that could threaten human health or the... (CONTINUED) SOLID WASTES (CONTINUED) STANDARDS FOR OWNERS AND OPERATORS OF HAZARDOUS WASTE FACILITIES...

40 CFR 267.31 - What are the general design and operation standards?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... possibility of a fire, explosion, or any unplanned sudden or non-sudden release of hazardous waste or hazardous waste constituents to air, soil, or surface water that could threaten human health or the... (CONTINUED) SOLID WASTES (CONTINUED) STANDARDS FOR OWNERS AND OPERATORS OF HAZARDOUS WASTE FACILITIES...

40 CFR 267.31 - What are the general design and operation standards?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... possibility of a fire, explosion, or any unplanned sudden or non-sudden release of hazardous waste or hazardous waste constituents to air, soil, or surface water that could threaten human health or the... (CONTINUED) SOLID WASTES (CONTINUED) STANDARDS FOR OWNERS AND OPERATORS OF HAZARDOUS WASTE FACILITIES...

40 CFR 267.31 - What are the general design and operation standards?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... possibility of a fire, explosion, or any unplanned sudden or non-sudden release of hazardous waste or hazardous waste constituents to air, soil, or surface water that could threaten human health or the... (CONTINUED) SOLID WASTES (CONTINUED) STANDARDS FOR OWNERS AND OPERATORS OF HAZARDOUS WASTE FACILITIES...

40 CFR 267.54 - When must I amend the contingency plan?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... WASTES (CONTINUED) STANDARDS FOR OWNERS AND OPERATORS OF HAZARDOUS WASTE FACILITIES OPERATING UNDER A... for fires, explosions, or releases of hazardous waste or hazardous waste constituents, or changes the response necessary in an emergency. (d) You change the list of emergency coordinators. (e) You change the...

40 CFR 267.54 - When must I amend the contingency plan?

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... WASTES (CONTINUED) STANDARDS FOR OWNERS AND OPERATORS OF HAZARDOUS WASTE FACILITIES OPERATING UNDER A... for fires, explosions, or releases of hazardous waste or hazardous waste constituents, or changes the response necessary in an emergency. (d) You change the list of emergency coordinators. (e) You change the...

Fire monitoring capability of the joint Landsat and Sentinel 2 constellation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Murphy, S.; Wright, R.

2017-12-01

Fires are a global hazard. Landsat and Sentinel 2 can monitor the Earth's surface every 2 - 4 days. This provides an important opportunity to complement the operational (lower resolution) fire monitoring systems. Landsat-class sensors can detect small fires that would be missed by MODIS-classed sensors. All large fires start out as small fires. We analyze fire patterns in California from 1984 to 2017 and compare the performance of Landsat-type and MODIS-type sensors. Had an operational Landsat-Sentinel 2 fire detection system been in place at the time of the Soberanes fire last year (i.e. August 2016), the cost of suppressing of this fire event (US $236 million) could potentially have been reduced by an order of magnitude.

Implementation of the fire and fire surrogate study— a national research effort to evaluate the consequences of fuel reduction treatments

Treesearch

Andrew Youngblood; Kerry L. Metlen; Eric E. Knapp; Kenneth W. Outcalt; Scott L. Stephens; Thomas A. Waldrop; Daniel Yaussy

2005-01-01

Many fire-dependent forests today are denser, contain fewer large trees, have higher fuel loads, and greater fuel continuity than occurred under historical fire regimes. These conditions increase the probability of unnaturally severe wildfires. Silviculturists are increasingly being asked to design fuel reduction treatments to help protect existing and future forest...

Forest landowner decisions and the value of information under fire risk.

Treesearch

Gregory S. Amacher; Arun S. Malik; Robert G. Haight

2005-01-01

We estimate the value of three types of information about fire risk to a nonindustrial forest landowner: the relationship between fire arrival rates and stand age, the magnitude of fire arrival rates, and the efficacy of fuel reduction treatment. Our model incorporates planting density and the level and timing of fuel reduction treatment as landowner decisions. These...

A New Fire Hazard for MR Imaging Systems: Blankets-Case Report.

PubMed

Bertrand, Anne; Brunel, Sandrine; Habert, Marie-Odile; Soret, Marine; Jaffre, Simone; Capeau, Nicolas; Bourseul, Laetitia; Dufour-Claude, Isabelle; Kas, Aurélie; Dormont, Didier

2018-02-01

In this report, a case of fire in a positron emission tomography (PET)/magnetic resonance (MR) imaging system due to blanket combustion is discussed. Manufacturing companies routinely use copper fibers for blanket fabrication, and these fibers may remain within the blanket hem. By folding a blanket with these copper fibers within an MR imaging system, one can create an electrical current loop with a major risk of local excessive heating, burn injury, and fire. This hazard applies to all MR imaging systems. Hybrid PET/MR imaging systems may be particularly vulnerable to this situation, because blankets are commonly used for fluorodeoxyglucose PET to maintain a normal body temperature and to avoid fluorodeoxyglucose uptake in brown adipose tissue. © RSNA, 2017.

30 CFR 56.4101 - Warning signs.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... Resources MINE SAFETY AND HEALTH ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR METAL AND NONMETAL MINE SAFETY AND HEALTH SAFETY AND HEALTH STANDARDS-SURFACE METAL AND NONMETAL MINES Fire Prevention and Control... open flames shall be posted where a fire or explosion hazard exists. ...

30 CFR 57.4101 - Warning signs.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... Resources MINE SAFETY AND HEALTH ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR METAL AND NONMETAL MINE SAFETY AND HEALTH SAFETY AND HEALTH STANDARDS-UNDERGROUND METAL AND NONMETAL MINES Fire Prevention and Control... open flames shall be posted where a fire or explosion hazard exists. ...

Prevention and Control of Highway Tunnel Fires

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

1984-05-01

This study investigates steps that can be taken to reduce the risk, damage, and : fatalities from fires in existing and future highway tunnels and the effect of : unrestricted transit of hazardous materials through them. The history of : highway tunn...

Elevated temperature properties of weathering steel.

DOT National Transportation Integrated Search

2014-01-01

In recent decades, bridge fires have become a major concern in the U.S. Fire hazard in bridges can result in significant economic and public losses. New construction of bridges often use Weathering Steel (also known as Corten Steel), whic...

29 CFR 1915.501 - General provisions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... safety plan including hazards, controls, fire safety and health rules, and emergency procedures; (ii... Regulations Relating to Labor (Continued) OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR (CONTINUED) OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH STANDARDS FOR SHIPYARD EMPLOYMENT Fire Protection in Shipyard...

29 CFR 1915.501 - General provisions.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... safety plan including hazards, controls, fire safety and health rules, and emergency procedures; (ii... Regulations Relating to Labor (Continued) OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF LABOR (CONTINUED) OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH STANDARDS FOR SHIPYARD EMPLOYMENT Fire Protection in Shipyard...

49 CFR 193.2611 - Fire protection.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... 49 Transportation 3 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Fire protection. 193.2611 Section 193.2611 Transportation Other Regulations Relating to Transportation (Continued) PIPELINE AND HAZARDOUS MATERIALS SAFETY ADMINISTRATION, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION (CONTINUED) PIPELINE SAFETY LIQUEFIED NATURAL GAS FACILITIES...

Improving the Interoperability of Disaster Models: a Case Study of Proposing Fireml for Forest Fire Model

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jiang, W.; Wang, F.; Meng, Q.; Li, Z.; Liu, B.; Zheng, X.

2018-04-01

This paper presents a new standardized data format named Fire Markup Language (FireML), extended by the Geography Markup Language (GML) of OGC, to elaborate upon the fire hazard model. The proposed FireML is able to standardize the input and output documents of a fire model for effectively communicating with different disaster management systems to ensure a good interoperability. To demonstrate the usage of FireML and testify its feasibility, an adopted forest fire spread model being compatible with FireML is described. And a 3DGIS disaster management system is developed to simulate the dynamic procedure of forest fire spread with the defined FireML documents. The proposed approach will enlighten ones who work on other disaster models' standardization work.

On-the-Job Foot Health

MedlinePlus

... and direct flame PROTECTION: overshoes or boots of fire-resistant materials with wooden soles HAZARD: high voltage PROTECTION: shoes with rubber or cork heels and soles, and no exposed metal parts HAZARD: hot surfaces PROTECTION: safety shoes with ...

75 FR 8042 - Advisory Committee on Earthquake Hazards Reduction Meeting

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-02-23

... Earthquake Hazards Reduction Meeting AGENCY: National Institute of Standards and Technology, Department of Commerce. ACTION: Notice of open meeting. SUMMARY: The Advisory Committee on Earthquake Hazards Reduction.... FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dr. Jack Hayes, National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program...

Wildfire risk reduction in the United States: Leadership staff perceptions of local fire department roles and responsibilities

Treesearch

Rachel S. Madsen; Hylton J. G. Haynes; Sarah M. McCaffrey

2018-01-01

As wildland fires have had increasing negative impacts on a range of human values, in many parts of the United States (U.S.) and around the world, collaborative risk reduction efforts among agencies, homeowners, and fire departments are needed to improve wildfire safety and mitigate risk. Using interview data from 46 senior officers from local fire departments around...

Prescribed fire applications in Forest and Woodlands: Integration of models and field studies to guide fire use

Treesearch

Kevin C. Ryan; Eric Rigolot; Francisco C. Rego; Herminio Botelho; Jose A. Vega; Paulo M. Fernandes; Tatiana M. Sofronova

2010-01-01

Globally prescribed burning is widely used for agro-forestry, restoration, and conservation to modify species composition and stand structure. Commonly stated goals of prescribed burns include to reduce hazardous fuels, improve species’ habitat, reduce the potential for severe fires in the wildland urban interface or protect municipal watersheds. Treatments may focus...

75 FR 39852 - Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act; Guidance on Reporting Options for Sections...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-07-13

... hazardous substances (EHSs) and to provide the public, local agencies, fire departments, and other emergency... submitted to the SERC, LEPC and the local fire department. The implementing regulations for sections 311 and... burden for SERCs, LEPCs and fire departments in the form of draft guidance in the preamble to the June 8...

Federal Aviation Administration Plan for Research, Engineering & Development, 1998.

DTIC Science & Technology

1998-02-01

release rate. • Improved fracture toughness of non-combustible geopolymer composite fire barriers to enable use as interior and secondary composites ...Fire Resistant, Non-Toxic Interior Panels for Evaluation of Heat Release Rate ♦ Improved Fracture Toughness of Non-Combustible Geopolymer Composite ... composites , atmospheric hazards, crash worthiness, fire safety, and forensics capabilities to support accident investigations. Aviation Security R,E&D

Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment in Water Treatment Plant considering Environmental Health and Safety Practice

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Falakh, Fajrul; Setiani, Onny

2018-02-01

Water Treatment Plant (WTP) is an important infrastructure to ensure human health and the environment. In its development, aspects of environmental safety and health are of concern. This paper case study was conducted at the Water Treatment Plant Company in Semarang, Central Java, Indonesia. Hazard identification and risk assessment is one part of the occupational safety and health program at the risk management stage. The purpose of this study was to identify potential hazards using hazard identification methods and risk assessment methods. Risk assessment is done using criteria of severity and probability of accident. The results obtained from this risk assessment are 22 potential hazards present in the water purification process. Extreme categories that exist in the risk assessment are leakage of chlorine and industrial fires. Chlorine and fire leakage gets the highest value because its impact threatens many things, such as industrial disasters that could endanger human life and the environment. Control measures undertaken to avoid potential hazards are to apply the use of personal protective equipment, but management will also be better managed in accordance with hazard control hazards, occupational safety and health programs such as issuing work permits, emergency response training is required, Very useful in overcoming potential hazards that have been determined.

Automated Wildfire Detection Through Artificial Neural Networks

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Miller, Jerry; Borne, Kirk; Thomas, Brian; Huang, Zhenping; Chi, Yuechen

2005-01-01

Wildfires have a profound impact upon the biosphere and our society in general. They cause loss of life, destruction of personal property and natural resources and alter the chemistry of the atmosphere. In response to the concern over the consequences of wildland fire and to support the fire management community, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service (NESDIS) located in Camp Springs, Maryland gradually developed an operational system to routinely monitor wildland fire by satellite observations. The Hazard Mapping System, as it is known today, allows a team of trained fire analysts to examine and integrate, on a daily basis, remote sensing data from Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES), Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) satellite sensors and generate a 24 hour fire product for the conterminous United States. Although assisted by automated fire detection algorithms, N O M has not been able to eliminate the human element from their fire detection procedures. As a consequence, the manually intensive effort has prevented NOAA from transitioning to a global fire product as urged particularly by climate modelers. NASA at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland is helping N O M more fully automate the Hazard Mapping System by training neural networks to mimic the decision-making process of the frre analyst team as well as the automated algorithms.