scholarly journals Computational modeling of extreme wildland fire events: A synthesis of scientific understanding with applications to forecasting, land management, and firefighter safety

2020 ◽  
Vol 46 ◽  
pp. 101226
Author(s):  
Janice L. Coen ◽  
W. Schroeder ◽  
S Conway ◽  
L Tarnay
Keyword(s):  
Computational Modeling ◽  
Land Management ◽  
Wildland Fire ◽  
Scientific Understanding ◽  
Firefighter Safety

scholarly journals Bridging the divide between fire safety research and fighting fire safely: how do we convey research innovation to contribute more effectively to wildland firefighter safety?

2017 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 107 ◽  
Author(s):  
Theodore 'Ted' Adams ◽  
Bret W. Butler ◽  
Sara Brown ◽  
Vita Wright ◽  
Anne Black
Keyword(s):  
Fire Safety ◽  
Wildland Fire ◽  
Media Richness ◽  
Primary Research ◽  
Safety Zone ◽  
Policy Makers ◽  
Firefighter Safety ◽  
Safety Research ◽  
Getting Lost

Creating a safe workplace for wildland firefighters has long been at the centre of discussion for researchers and practitioners. The goal of wildland fire safety research has been to protect operational firefighters, yet its contributions often fall short of potential because much is getting lost in the translation of peer-reviewed results to potential and intended users. When information that could enhance safety is not adopted by individuals, the potential to improve safety – to decipher the wildland fire physical or social environment and to recognise hazards – is lost. We use firefighter safety-zone research as a case study to examine how primary research is, and could be, transferred to fire managers, policy-makers and firefighters. We apply four core communication theories (diffusion, translation, discourse and media richness) to improve knowledge transfer.

scholarly journals A Review of Community Smoke Exposure from Wildfire Compared to Prescribed Fire in the United States

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathleen M. Navarro ◽  
Don Schweizer ◽  
John R. Balmes ◽  
Ricardo Cisneros
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Particulate Matter ◽  
Land Management ◽  
Prescribed Fire ◽  
Wildland Fire ◽  
The United States ◽  
Smoke Exposure ◽  
Management Tool ◽  
Wildfire Smoke ◽  
Scientific Papers

Prescribed fire, intentionally ignited low-intensity fires, and managed wildfires, wildfires that are allowed to burn for land management benefit, could be used as a land management tool to create forests that are resilient to wildland fire. This could lead to fewer large catastrophic wildfires in the future. However, we must consider the public health impacts of the smoke that is emitted from wildland and prescribed fire. The objective of this synthesis is to examine the differences in ambient community-level exposures to particulate matter (PM2.5) from smoke in the United States from two smoke exposure scenarios – wildfire fire and prescribed fire. A systematic search was conducted to identify scientific papers to be included in this review. Web of Science Core Collection and PubMed for scientific papers, and Google Scholar were used to identify any grey literature or reports to be included in this review. Sixteen studies that examined particulate matter exposure from smoke were identified for this synthesis – nine wildland fire studies and seven prescribed fire studies. PM2.5 concentrations from wildfire smoke were found to be significantly lower than reported PM2.5 concentrations from prescribed fire smoke. Wildfire studies focused on assessing air quality impacts to communities that were nearby fires and urban centers that were far from wildfires. However, the prescribed fire studies used air monitoring methods that focused on characterizing exposures and emissions directly from and next to the burns. This review highlights a need for a better understanding of wildfire smoke impact over the landscape. It is essential for properly assessing population exposure to smoke from different fire types.

scholarly journals Wildland Fire Science—Supporting wildland fire and land management

Fact Sheet ◽  
2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul F. Steblein ◽  
Mark P. Miller ◽  
Suzanna C. Soileau
Keyword(s):  
Land Management ◽  
Wildland Fire ◽  
Fire Science

Computational Models of Expertise

2019 ◽  
pp. 332-353
Author(s):  
Alex Kirlik ◽  
Michael D. Byrne
Keyword(s):  
Computational Modeling ◽  
Computational Models ◽  
Cognitive Architecture ◽  
Scientific Understanding ◽  
Comprehensive Approach ◽  
Expert Performance ◽  
Future Directions ◽  
Contemporary Research ◽  
Extensive Analysis ◽  
Or Task

This chapter provides an introduction to and overview of both foundational and contemporary research using computational modeling to aid in the scientific understanding of human expertise. The authors note the distinction between computational models constructed within some molar or unified cognitive architecture and models that are more domain or task specific in their psychological assumptions, and present numerous examples of each type. The authors also provide their assessment of this body of research, one that highlights the need for extensive analysis, and even expert-level knowledge of both tasks and the environments in which expert behavior is manifest as a key requirement for successfully modeling high levels of skill or expert performance. Finally, the authors provide their thoughts about promising future directions for research using computational modeling, together with other emerging methodological techniques such as neuroimaging, to provide a comprehensive approach to advance the scientific understanding of human expertise.

scholarly journals Wildland firefighter safety zones: a review of past science and summary of future needs

2014 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 295 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. W. Butler
Keyword(s):  
Burn Injury ◽  
Wildland Fire ◽  
Flame Temperature ◽  
Experimental Studies ◽  
Convective Heating ◽  
Radiant Heating ◽  
Atmospheric Conditions ◽  
Safety Zone ◽  
Flat Terrain ◽  
Firefighter Safety

Current wildland firefighter safety zone guidelines are based on studies that assume flat terrain, radiant heating, finite flame width, constant flame temperature and high flame emissivity. Firefighter entrapments and injuries occur across a broad range of vegetation, terrain and atmospheric conditions generally when they are within two flame heights of the fire. Injury is not confined to radiant heating or flat terrain; consequently, convective heating should be considered as a potential heating mode. Current understanding of energy transport in wildland fires is briefly summarised, followed by an analysis of burn injury mechanisms within the context of wildland fire safety zones. Safety zone theoretical and experimental studies are reviewed and a selection of wildland fire entrapments are examined within the context of safe separation distances from fires. Recommendations are made for future studies needed to more fully understand and define wildland firefighter safety zones.

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