{"title":"A Pilot Study to Assess the Feasibility of Comparing Ultra-High Pressure to Low-Pressure Fire Suppression Systems for a Simulated Indirect Exterior Attack","authors":"E. Sanli, Robert Brown, Derek Simmons","doi":"10.3390/fire6070278","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/fire6070278","url":null,"abstract":"Financial and human resource challenges constrain firefighting in rural communities. This can limit the approaches that can be used in a given residential fire situation. Effective use of portable, lower-cost equipment that would require fewer personnel and less water could greatly benefit rural communities. This study was conducted to assess the feasibility of comparing ultra-high-pressure to low-pressure fire suppression systems at low flow rates. The conditions used simulated an indirect exterior attack through a window. A purpose-built burn room and standardized class A fires were used to compare ultra-high-pressure and low-pressure systems at low flow rates. Temperatures in the burn room were recorded for each condition in triplicate. While neither operating condition resulted in full extinguishment of the fire, the ultra-high-pressure trials saw decreases in the proportion of starting temperature that were faster and of greater magnitude than for the low-pressure trials. This compares with earlier research, simulating a transitional attack that saw similar patterns for temperature cooling but resulted in extinguishment. This preliminary testing provides evidence that the burn container and room, as well as instrumentation and fuel load configurations, are appropriate for more extensive testing of such equipment for exterior fire suppression.","PeriodicalId":36395,"journal":{"name":"Fire-Switzerland","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2023-07-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46541160","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Bart R. Johnson, A. Ager, Cody R. Evers, D. Hulse, Max Nielsen-Pincus, T. Sheehan, J. Bolte
{"title":"Exploring and Testing Wildfire Risk Decision-Making in the Face of Deep Uncertainty","authors":"Bart R. Johnson, A. Ager, Cody R. Evers, D. Hulse, Max Nielsen-Pincus, T. Sheehan, J. Bolte","doi":"10.3390/fire6070276","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/fire6070276","url":null,"abstract":"We integrated a mechanistic wildfire simulation system with an agent-based landscape change model to investigate the feedbacks among climate change, population growth, development, landowner decision-making, vegetative succession, and wildfire. Our goal was to develop an adaptable simulation platform for anticipating risk-mitigation tradeoffs in a fire-prone wildland–urban interface (WUI) facing conditions outside the bounds of experience. We describe how five social and ecological system (SES) submodels interact over time and space to generate highly variable alternative futures even within the same scenario as stochastic elements in simulated wildfire, succession, and landowner decisions create large sets of unique, path-dependent futures for analysis. We applied the modeling system to an 815 km2 study area in western Oregon at a sub-taxlot parcel grain and annual timestep, generating hundreds of alternative futures for 2007–2056 (50 years) to explore how WUI communities facing compound risks from increasing wildfire and expanding periurban development can situate and assess alternative risk management approaches in their localized SES context. The ability to link trends and uncertainties across many futures to processes and events that unfold in individual futures is central to the modeling system. By contrasting selected alternative futures, we illustrate how assessing simulated feedbacks between wildfire and other SES processes can identify tradeoffs and leverage points in fire-prone WUI landscapes. Assessments include a detailed “post-mortem” of a rare, extreme wildfire event, and uncovered, unexpected stabilizing feedbacks from treatment costs that reduced the effectiveness of agent responses to signs of increasing risk.","PeriodicalId":36395,"journal":{"name":"Fire-Switzerland","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2023-07-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42115861","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
G. Mataveli, Gabriel de Oliveira, R. Libonati, Celso H. L. Silva‐Junior, L. Anderson
{"title":"Novel Approaches and Techniques for Understanding Vegetation Fires in South America","authors":"G. Mataveli, Gabriel de Oliveira, R. Libonati, Celso H. L. Silva‐Junior, L. Anderson","doi":"10.3390/fire6070275","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/fire6070275","url":null,"abstract":"Vegetation fires represent a major disturbance in the tropics, with South America notable for having both fire-sensitive (e [...]","PeriodicalId":36395,"journal":{"name":"Fire-Switzerland","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2023-07-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42142280","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Filipe Silva, J. Raposo, J. Farinha, H. Raposo, Luis Paulo Reis
{"title":"Study of the Condition of Forest Fire Fighting Vehicles","authors":"Filipe Silva, J. Raposo, J. Farinha, H. Raposo, Luis Paulo Reis","doi":"10.3390/fire6070274","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/fire6070274","url":null,"abstract":"The Forest Fire Fighting Vehicle (FFFV) is one of the most important pieces of equipment in direct firefighting; therefore, its maintenance is strategic to guarantee high levels of reliability. The history of interventions is essential to support the increase in the quality of maintenance, namely with regard to the specificity of each equipment, in its actual operating conditions. In the absence of previous information, it is important to resort to complementary tools that allow for overcoming this gap where usually the knowledge of maintenance held by professionals and users is structuring and very helpful. In this perspective, data were collected from several fire brigades. The analysis and decisions were possible using fuzzy logic, following the Mamdani model and the centroid method for the defuzzification phase. Subsequently, a Failure Modes, Effects and Criticality Analysis (FMECA) was carried out to identify which would be the most severe failures, the possible cause of each failure and the respective maintenance action. Through the results obtained, it was possible to identify a set of elements of the FFFV where maintenance should pay additional attention so that the vehicle guarantees the desired levels of reliability and propose a maintenance program with added value compared to what is currently practised.","PeriodicalId":36395,"journal":{"name":"Fire-Switzerland","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2023-07-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48532665","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Lu Li, A. Sali, N. Noordin, A. Ismail, F. Hashim, M. Rasid, M. Hanafi, S. M. Razali, Nurizana Amir Aziz, I. Sukaesih Sitanggang, L. Syaufina, A. Nurhayati
{"title":"Modeling of Evaporation Rate for Peatland Fire Prevention Using Internet of Things (IoT) System","authors":"Lu Li, A. Sali, N. Noordin, A. Ismail, F. Hashim, M. Rasid, M. Hanafi, S. M. Razali, Nurizana Amir Aziz, I. Sukaesih Sitanggang, L. Syaufina, A. Nurhayati","doi":"10.3390/fire6070272","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/fire6070272","url":null,"abstract":"Peatland refers to the peat soil and wetland biological environment growing on the surface. However, unexpected fires in peatlands frequently have brought severe greenhouse gas emissions and transboundary haze to Southeast Asia. To alleviate this issue, this paper first establishes an Internet of Things (IoT) system for peatland monitoring and management in the Raja Musa Forest Reserve (RMFR) in Selangor, Malaysia, and proposes a more efficient and low-complexity model for calculating the Duff Moisture Code (DMC) in peatland forests using groundwater level (GWL) and relative humidity. The feasibility of the IoT system is verified by comparing its data with those published by Malaysian Meteorological Department (METMalaysia). The proposed Linear_DMC Model and Linear_Mixed_DMC Model are compared with the Canadian Fire Weather Index (FWI) model, and their performance is evaluated using IoT measurement data and actual values published by METMalaysia. The results show that the correlation between the measured data of the IoT system and the data from METMalaysia within the same duration is larger than 0.84, with a mean square error (MSE) of 2.56, and a correlation of 0.91 can be achieved between calculated DMC using the proposed model and actual values. This finding is of great significance for predicting peatland forest fires in the field and providing the basis for fire prevention and decision making to improve disaster prevention and reduction.","PeriodicalId":36395,"journal":{"name":"Fire-Switzerland","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2023-07-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43871795","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Performance-Based Evacuation Optimization for Teaching Building with Heterogeneous Populations: Simulation and Numerical Studies","authors":"Lanyu Yang, Bailing Zhou, Tao Wu","doi":"10.3390/fire6070273","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/fire6070273","url":null,"abstract":"Building evacuation safety has been one of the focal points of researchers, and there is a wealth of research findings for certain places (e.g., buildings with a high population density) or for particular research subjects (e.g., the physically challenged ethnic group). However, current publications are relatively rare in analyzing the features of physically impaired individuals in crowded places and their impact on the effectiveness of the whole evacuation process, including non-disabled people. Additionally, only such studies tend to concentrate on the behavioral characteristics of disabled people, which lack exploring and comparing evacuation optimization strategies and evaluation of comprehensive evacuation performance. This paper proposed a computer simulation-based method that combined horizontally phased evacuation and vertically phased evacuation, supplemented with the use of handicapped ramps and a reasonable arrangement of class locations, to achieve the optimal evacuation performance of a teaching building with special consideration of the heterogeneous population. And then, a simulated building model was constructed to test and compare the effectiveness and applicability of these approaches through 33 evacuation scenario studies. The results found that (1) component design can improve evacuation effectiveness, with the arrangement of ramps and the location of stair doors successfully reducing evacuation time by 12% and 6.6%, respectively; (2) a combination of two ramps and separate handicap access can decrease evacuation time by 18%; (3) the horizontal-phased evacuation approach drops evacuation time by 7.1%, but the vertical-phased evacuation strategy is not very efficient. When the two are successfully combined, evacuation time is further reduced to 9.2%; and (4) based on the above measures, the evacuation time can be finally shortened by 19% if the veteran teachers are concentrated in the classrooms on the lower floors. These obtained conclusions will provide significant reference and methodological support for the safe evacuation of other similar buildings with heterogeneous populations.","PeriodicalId":36395,"journal":{"name":"Fire-Switzerland","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2023-07-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43907690","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A Real-Time Pre-Response Experiment System for High-Rise Building Fires Based on the Internet of Things","authors":"Haoyou Zhao, Zhaoyang Yu, Jinpeng Zhu","doi":"10.3390/fire6070271","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/fire6070271","url":null,"abstract":"The primary objective of the current fire protection system in high-rise buildings is to extinguish fires in close proximity to the detectors. However, in the event of rapidly spreading fires, it is more effective to limit the transmission of fire and smoke. This study aims to develop an IoT-based real-time pre-response system for high-rise building fires that is capable of limiting the spread of fire and smoke. The proposed system collects fire data from sensors and transmits them to a cloud computer for real-time analysis. Based on the analysis results, the cloud computer controls the actions of alarm devices, ventilation equipment, and fine water mist nozzles. The system can dynamically adjust the entire system’s behavior in real time by adopting pre-response measures to extinguish fires and limit the spread of fires and smoke. The system was tested on a simulation platform similar to actual high-rise buildings to evaluate its impact on fires and smoke. The results demonstrate the system’s effectiveness in extinguishing fires and suppressing the spread of fires and smoke.","PeriodicalId":36395,"journal":{"name":"Fire-Switzerland","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2023-07-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48409917","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Study on the Image Processing Methods for a Flame Exposed to an Incense Smoke Environment","authors":"Biao Sun, Weishan Zhang, Wei Wang, Danping Hao","doi":"10.3390/fire6070270","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/fire6070270","url":null,"abstract":"Identification of flames to detect fires is hindered by the smoke generated from Chinese incense in traditional temples. Especially during holiday periods, smoke presents a large influence on the effectiveness of image-based flame identification. To have a deep understanding of the incense smoke impacting the flame outline, a series of tests were conducted to study the flame, varying incense smoke concentration and test time, respectively. It is found that when the flame is exposed to a thin incense smoke environment, nearly all the methods used for flame identification are effective. When the flame is surrounded by thick smoke, the flame image after treating by the self-adaptive image histogram equalization method is blurry. When the retinex algorithm is used for image treatment, the blue color near the flame is detected, which enlarges the flame area detection. The retinex algorithm can be used to obtain a clear flame outline even when the flame is exposed to a cloud of thick smoke. This is important for flame identification in the traditional Chinese temples where the thick smoke surrounds them, especially during national holiday periods. This work attempts to provide a potential method for flame identification and improve the safety level of historic buildings.","PeriodicalId":36395,"journal":{"name":"Fire-Switzerland","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2023-07-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45163014","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
E. J. Davis, Carl Wilmsen, Manuel A. Machado, Gianna M. Alessi
{"title":"Multiple Stories, Multiple Marginalities: The Labor-Intensive Forest and Fire Stewardship Workforce in Oregon","authors":"E. J. Davis, Carl Wilmsen, Manuel A. Machado, Gianna M. Alessi","doi":"10.3390/fire6070268","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/fire6070268","url":null,"abstract":"Latino/a/x workers perform labor-intensive forestry and fire stewardship work in the U.S. Pacific Northwest, but are not well recognized in research and practice about wildfire governance. This industry has pervasive issues of unsafe working conditions, inequitable wage practices, violations of worker rights, limited opportunity for advancement, and a lack of recognition and inclusion of workers in decision making. We draw on a literature review and practice-based knowledge to make this workforce’s history more visible, from its origins in lumber production and reforestation to expansion into forest and fire stewardship. We suggest a new conceptual framing of “multiple marginalities” that situates this workforce as simultaneously crucial to our future with wildfire and subject to structural, distributional, recognitional, and procedural inequities. We recommend new approaches to research and practice that can better examine and address these inequities, while also acknowledging the persistent and systemic nature of these challenges. These include participatory action research, lessons learned from research and advocacy related to farmworkers and incarcerated workers, and Cooperative Extension and education programs that are learner-centered and culturally appropriate. Multiple interventions of offering education and outreach, enforcing or reforming law, and changing policy and practice must all occur at multiple scales given the many drivers of these marginalities. Study and practice can contribute new knowledge to inform this and expand current conceptions of equity and environmental justice in the wildfire governance literature to become more inclusive of the forest and fire stewardship workforce.","PeriodicalId":36395,"journal":{"name":"Fire-Switzerland","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2023-07-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46119550","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Long Yan, Ning Wang, Jingjing Guan, Zheng Wei, Qiaowei Xiao, Zhisheng Xu
{"title":"Comparative Study of the Suppression Behavior and Fire-Extinguishing Mechanism of Compressed-Gas Aqueous Film-Forming Foam in Diesel Pool Fires","authors":"Long Yan, Ning Wang, Jingjing Guan, Zheng Wei, Qiaowei Xiao, Zhisheng Xu","doi":"10.3390/fire6070269","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/fire6070269","url":null,"abstract":"A compressed-gas fire extinguishing experiment was carried out to analyze the impact of gas-liquid flow ratio, liquid flow rate and driving pressure on the fire suppression efficiency of aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF) in a diesel pool fire, and a possible fire-extinguishing mechanism was proposed. A fire suppression test showed that AFFF at a gas-liquid flow ratio of 16 between the range of 5 to 24 had the fastest fire-extinguishing temperature drop rate (16.67 °C/s), the shortest fire-extinguishing time, of 42 s, and the lowest foam solution consumption of 230 g, exhibiting the best fire suppression performance. Meanwhile, the fire suppression efficiency of AFFF improved with the augmentation of either liquid flow rate or system driving pressure. Based on fluid mechanics and combustion science, a foam fire-extinguishing mechanism was proposed to explain the influence of system parameters such as gas-liquid ratio, liquid flow rate and driving pressure on key combustion parameters such as temperature drop rate, evaporation rate and combustion rate, which can better illustrate the change in fire extinguishing performance.","PeriodicalId":36395,"journal":{"name":"Fire-Switzerland","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2023-07-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45225322","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}