The importance of combustion science to unravel complex processes for informal settlement fires, urban fires, and wildland-urban interface (WUI) fires

Fuel ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 122805
Author(s):  
Samuel L. Manzello ◽  
Sayaka Suzuki
Keyword(s):  
Informal Settlement ◽  
Wildland Urban Interface ◽  
Complex Processes ◽  
Urban Fires ◽  
Wui Fires

Ignition of mulch and grasses by firebrands in wildland - urban interface fires

2006 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 427 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samuel L. Manzello ◽  
Thomas G. Cleary ◽  
John R. Shields ◽  
Jiann C. Yang
Keyword(s):  
Moisture Content ◽  
Air Flow ◽  
Fire Spread ◽  
Test Cell ◽  
Wildland Urban Interface ◽  
Size Number ◽  
Ignition Regime ◽  
Pine Straw ◽  
Ignition Propensity ◽  
Wui Fires

Firebrands or embers are produced as trees and structures burn in wildland–urban interface (WUI) fires. It is believed that firebrand showers created in WUI fires may ignite vegetation and mulch located near homes and structures. This, in turn, may lead to ignition of homes and structures due to burning vegetation and mulch. Understanding the ignition events that are due to firebrands is important to mitigate fire spread in communities. To assess the ignition propensity of such materials, simulated firebrands of uniform geometry, but in two different sizes, were allowed to impinge on fuel beds of shredded hardwood mulch, pine straw mulch, and cut grass. The moisture content of these materials was varied. Firebrands were suspended and ignited within the test cell of the Fire Emulator/Detector Evaluator (FE/DE) apparatus. The FE/DE was used to investigate the influence of an air flow on the ignition propensity of a fuel bed. Ignition regime maps were generated for each material tested as a function of impacting firebrand size, number of deposited firebrands, air flow, and material moisture content.

INTEGRATED EXPERIMENTAL STUDY USING INFRARED THERMOGRAPHY METHOD ON BEHAVIOR OF WOOD CONSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS IN FIRE CONDITIONS

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. Kasymov ◽  
◽  
V. Agafontsev ◽  
E. Loboda ◽  
Yu. Loboda ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Study ◽  
Infrared Thermography ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Real Sector ◽  
Wildland Urban Interface ◽  
The Real ◽  
In Fire ◽  
Wui Fires ◽  
Fire Conditions

In recent years, there has been an increase in the number of wildland-urban interface (WUI) fires. The ignition of buildings in the WUI is a serious international problem due to large-scale fires in Australia, Greece, Portugal, Russia, and USA. In Russia, where forests occupy a large territory, the WUI fires are a national problem, and the damage to the real sector of the economy is tens and hundreds of million dollars per year.

scholarly journals Mapping Canadian wildland fire interface areas

2018 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lynn M. Johnston ◽  
Mike D. Flannigan
Keyword(s):  
Wildland Fire ◽  
Maximum Distance ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Basic Information ◽  
Community Structures ◽  
Land Area ◽  
Wildland Urban Interface ◽  
Practical Applications ◽  
Industrial Structures ◽  
Wui Fires

Destruction of human-built structures occurs in the ‘wildland–urban interface’ (WUI) – where homes or other burnable community structures meet with or are interspersed within wildland fuels. To mitigate WUI fires, basic information such as the location of interface areas is required, but such information is not available in Canada. Therefore, in this study, we produced the first national map of WUI in Canada. We also extended the WUI concept to address potentially vulnerable industrial structures and infrastructure that are not traditionally part of the WUI, resulting in two additional maps: a ‘wildland–industrial interface’ map (i.e. the interface of wildland fuels and industrial structures, denoted here as WUI-Ind) and a ‘wildland–infrastructure interface’ map (i.e. the interface of wildland fuels and infrastructure such as roads and railways, WUI-Inf). All three interface types (WUI, WUI-Ind, WUI-Inf) were defined as areas of wildland fuels within a variable-width buffer (maximum distance: 2400m) from potentially vulnerable structures or infrastructure. Canada has 32.3 million ha of WUI (3.8% of total national land area), 10.5 million ha of WUI-Ind (1.2%) and 109.8 million ha of WUI-Inf (13.0%). The maps produced here provide a baseline for future research and have a wide variety of practical applications.

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