scholarly journals Effects of wildfire suppression chemicals on people and the environment

2013 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 129-137
Keyword(s):  
Aquatic Ecosystems ◽  
Fire Suppression ◽  
Fire Retardant ◽  
Terrestrial Ecosystems ◽  
Fish Kill ◽  
Smoke Emission ◽  
Broad Array ◽  
Wildfire Suppression ◽  
A Site ◽  
Potential Human Health

Fire agencies worldwide apply millions of gallons of fire suppression chemicals on a broad array of ecosystems. These chemicals are considered to have minimal effects on the health of people who might be exposed to them. Only incidents of skin and eye irritation have been reported as a result of prolonged fire retardant and firefighting foam contact. Fire suppression chemicals have minor toxicological or ecological effects and, as a result, do not generally harm terrestrial ecosystems. Major impacts, suppression chemicals have on the environment, may be through the adverse effects on water quality, and subsequently to aquatic ecosystems. Retardants may encourage eutrophication and, in some cases, contribute to fish kill when applied on watersheds, or if accidentally applied directly to water bodies. Foams are generally more toxic than retardants to aquatic biota, but they are applied in much smaller quantities. Application of retardants increases the total amount of smoke and airborne particulate produced, but air quality implications are minimal since additional smoke emission by the retardant is insignificant compared to the major output by the wildfire. Recommendations are offered for mitigation of potential human health and environmental impacts from the use of fire suppression chemicals, nevertheless, risks must be assessed on a site-by-site basis.

scholarly journals Moisture Resistance, Thermal Stability and Fire Behavior of Unsaturated Polyester Resin Modified with L-histidinium Dihydrogen Phosphate-Phosphoric Acid

Molecules ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 932
Author(s):  
Kamila Sałasińska ◽  
Maciej Celiński ◽  
Kamila Mizera ◽  
Mateusz Barczewski ◽  
Paweł Kozikowski ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Phosphoric Acid ◽  
Polyester Resin ◽  
Unsaturated Polyester ◽  
Fire Behavior ◽  
Fire Retardant ◽  
Thermomechanical Properties ◽  
Unsaturated Polyester Resin ◽  
Dihydrogen Phosphate ◽  
Smoke Emission ◽  
Volatile Products

In this paper, the fire behavior of unsaturated polyester resin (UP) modified with L-histidinium dihydrogen phosphate-phosphoric acid (LHP), being a novel intumescent fire retardant (IFR), was investigated. Thermal and thermomechanical properties of the UP with different amounts of LHP (from 10 to 30 wt. %) were determined by thermogravimetric analysis (TG) as well as dynamic mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA). Reaction to small flames was studied by horizontal burning (HB) test, while fire behavior and smoke emission were investigated with the cone calorimeter (CC) and smoke density chamber. Further, the analysis of volatile products was conducted (TGA/FT-IR). It was observed that the addition of LHP resulted in the formation of carbonaceous char inhibiting the thermal decomposition, burning rate and smoke emission. The most promising results were obtained for the UP containing 30 wt. % of LHP, for which the highest reduction in maximum values of heat release rate (200 kW/m2) and total smoke release (3535 m2/m2) compared to unmodified polymer (792 kW/m2 and 6895 m2/m2) were recorded. However, some important disadvantage with respect to water resistance was observed.

scholarly journals The European land and inland water CO<sub>2</sub>, CO, CH<sub>4</sub> and N<sub>2</sub>O balance between 2001 and 2005

2012 ◽  
Vol 9 (8) ◽  
pp. 3357-3380 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Luyssaert ◽  
G. Abril ◽  
R. Andres ◽  
D. Bastviken ◽  
V. Bellassen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Greenhouse Gas ◽  
Aquatic Ecosystems ◽  
Terrestrial Ecosystems ◽  
C Sequestration ◽  
Sink Strength ◽  
Terrestrial Carbon Sequestration ◽  
Net Uptake ◽  
Flux Measurements ◽  
Ch4 And N2o ◽  
Constraint Approach

Abstract. Globally, terrestrial ecosystems have absorbed about 30% of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions over the period 2000–2007 and inter-hemispheric gradients indicate that a significant fraction of terrestrial carbon sequestration must be north of the Equator. We present a compilation of the CO2, CO, CH4 and N2O balances of Europe following a dual constraint approach in which (1) a land-based balance derived mainly from ecosystem carbon inventories and (2) a land-based balance derived from flux measurements are compared to (3) the atmospheric data-based balance derived from inversions constrained by measurements of atmospheric GHG (greenhouse gas) concentrations. Good agreement between the GHG balances based on fluxes (1294 ± 545 Tg C in CO2-eq yr−1), inventories (1299 ± 200 Tg C in CO2-eq yr−1) and inversions (1210 ± 405 Tg C in CO2-eq yr−1) increases our confidence that the processes underlying the European GHG budget are well understood and reasonably sampled. However, the uncertainty remains large and largely lacks formal estimates. Given that European net land to atmosphere exchanges are determined by a few dominant fluxes, the uncertainty of these key components needs to be formally estimated before efforts could be made to reduce the overall uncertainty. The net land-to-atmosphere flux is a net source for CO2, CO, CH4 and N2O, because the anthropogenic emissions by far exceed the biogenic sink strength. The dual-constraint approach confirmed that the European biogenic sink removes as much as 205 ± 72 Tg C yr−1 from fossil fuel burning from the atmosphere. However, This C is being sequestered in both terrestrial and inland aquatic ecosystems. If the C-cost for ecosystem management is taken into account, the net uptake of ecosystems is estimated to decrease by 45% but still indicates substantial C-sequestration. However, when the balance is extended from CO2 towards the main GHGs, C-uptake by terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems is offset by emissions of non-CO2 GHGs. As such, the European ecosystems are unlikely to contribute to mitigating the effects of climate change.

A methodology for determining operational priorities for prevention and suppression of wildland fires

2014 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 544 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francisco Rodríguez y Silva ◽  
Juan Ramón Molina Martínez ◽  
Armando González-Cabán
Keyword(s):  
Fire Suppression ◽  
Forest Land ◽  
Fire Behaviour ◽  
Wildfire Management ◽  
Land Use Conversion ◽  
Management Personnel ◽  
Fundamental Information ◽  
Difficulty Index ◽  
A Site ◽  
Risk Potential

Traditional uses of the forest (timber, forage) have been giving way to other uses more in demand (recreation, ecosystem services). An observable consequence of this process of forest land use conversion is an increase in more difficult and extreme wildfires. Wildland forest management and protection program budgets are limited, and managers are requesting help in finding ways to objectively assign their limited protection resources based on the intrinsic environmental characteristics of a site and the site’s interrelationship with available firefighting resources and existing infrastructure. A Fire Suppression Priority Index, integrating information on both the potential fire behaviour risk (Potential Fire Behaviour Index) and the fire suppression difficulty (Suppression Difficulty Index), provides managers with fundamental information for strategic planning and development of tactical operations to protect the natural environment. Results in the Córdoba Province, Andalusia’s autonomous region, Spain, showed a statistically significant relationship between wildfire size and all three indices, demonstrating the utility of the methodology to identify and prioritise forest areas for strategic and tactical fire management operations. In addition, the methodology was tested and validated by trained and qualified wildfire management personnel in Chile and Israel, obtaining similar results as in Spain.

The economic benefit of localised, short-term, wildfire-potential information

2015 ◽  
Vol 24 (7) ◽  
pp. 974 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laine Christman ◽  
Kimberly Rollins
Keyword(s):  
Fire Suppression ◽  
Economic Value ◽  
Information Service ◽  
Risk Scenarios ◽  
The Us ◽  
Wildfire Suppression ◽  
Information Products ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Wildland Management ◽  
Us West

Wildfire-potential information products are designed to support decisions for prefire staging of movable wildfire suppression resources across geographic locations. We quantify the economic value of these information products by defining their value as the difference between two cases of expected fire-suppression expenditures: one in which daily information about spatial variation in wildfire-potential is used to move fire suppression resources throughout the season, and the other case in which daily information is not used and fire-suppression resources are staged in their home locations all season. We demonstrate the method by constructing a hypothetical wildland management unit calibrated to represent a region typical in the US West. The method uses estimated suppression costs and probabilities of significant fire, as provided by an information service, to estimate expected suppression costs. We analyse differences in expected suppression costs for a range of risk scenarios. Economic savings occur for the majority of risk scenarios. This approach can be used to evaluate investments in wildfire-potential information services, and for assessing the value of investing in new resources.

Variability in nitrogen content of submerged aquatic vegetation: utility as an indicator of N dynamics within and among lakes

2012 ◽  
Vol 65 (7) ◽  
pp. 1151-1157 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine Blanchet ◽  
Gabriel Maltais-Landry ◽  
Roxane Maranger
Keyword(s):  
Nitrogen Content ◽  
Plant Species ◽  
Aquatic Ecosystems ◽  
Submerged Aquatic Vegetation ◽  
Aquatic Vegetation ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Single Site ◽  
N Availability ◽  
N Dynamics ◽  
A Site

Submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) may serve as an integrative proxy of spatial and temporal nitrogen (N) availability in aquatic ecosystems as plants are physiologically capable of storing variable amounts of N. However, it is important to understand whether plant species behave similarly or differently within and among systems. We sampled different SAV species along a nutrient gradient at multiple sites within several lakes to determine variability in C:N ratios and % N content among species, among plants of the same species at a single site, among sites and among lakes. Species respond differently suggesting that not all plant types can be used universally as nutrient proxies. The greatest variability in % N and C:N ratios for Valliseneria americana was observed among lakes whereas for Elodea canadensis it was among sites within a lake and among plants within a site. This suggests that V. americana could be a particularly useful indicator of N availability at larger spatial scales (regional and within a large fluvial lake) but that E. canadensis was not a particularly useful proxy.

scholarly journals Fire suppression and burnt sediments: effects on the water chemistry of fire-affected wetlands

2012 ◽  
Vol 21 (5) ◽  
pp. 557 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Blake ◽  
Katie Lu ◽  
Pierre Horwitz ◽  
Mary C. Boyce
Keyword(s):  
Water Quality ◽  
Coastal Plain ◽  
Fire Suppression ◽  
Fire Retardant ◽  
Nutrient Load ◽  
Chemical Treatments ◽  
Swan Coastal Plain ◽  
Lack Of Information ◽  
Organic Sediment ◽  
A Minor

Preventing fire from entering wetland areas during seasonal or prolonged drought, or suppressing fire once it has entered a wetland, requires consideration of the consequences of the fire-management action on water quality. Two approaches can be taken to suppress such fires: chemical fire retardants or the flooding of sediments. We determine a lack of information relating to the effects of these approaches for water quality within fire-affected wetlands. The aim of this study was to gain a preliminary understanding of the effects of three treatments: two chemical treatments and saturation. Microcosms were established to test sediments from a wetland on the Swan Coastal Plain, Western Australia, which were exposed to temperatures ranging from 30 to 800°C. The results indicate that one of the fire-retardant chemicals increased the soluble nutrient load present in the water column, as predicted by the results of other research. However, the same chemical had a minor but important effect as an acidity buffer when the organic, pyritic sediment was heated but not burnt. The second chemical treatment did not increase the nutrient load but neither did it buffer the acidity generated by the heating and burning of the organic sediment. It was virtually indistinguishable from the saturation treatment in this regard.

Sharing contracted resources for fire suppression: engine dispatch in the Northwestern United States

2017 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 113 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katie M. Lyon ◽  
Heidi R. Huber-Stearns ◽  
Cassandra Moseley ◽  
Christopher Bone ◽  
Nathan A. Mosurinjohn
Keyword(s):  
Fire Suppression ◽  
Geographic Area ◽  
Wildfire Suppression ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Fire Planning ◽  
System Data ◽  
The Right ◽  
Northwest Region ◽  
Insight Into ◽  
National Resource

As demand for wildfire response resources grows across the globe, a central challenge is developing new and flexible systems and capacity to ensure that resources needed for fire response arrive when and where they are needed. Private contractors have become increasingly important in providing equipment and services to support agency wildfire suppression needs in the USA. Understanding the capacity of contracted resources for federal agency fire suppression needs is critical for preseason fire planning and response. Using National Resource Ordering and Status System data, we examined Northwest region engine dispatches from 2008 to 2015. The number of times and days engines were out on assignments increased over the study period, and dispatch centres routinely shared engines within and outside their geographic area. However, in 2015, not all of the available engines were recorded as utilised at peak demand during one of the largest fire seasons in the Northwest. This study provides insight into the ways in which fire managers share important resources such as engines and the information they have available to make decisions during an incident, and raises questions about what the right amount of capacity is to be able to respond in extreme fire years.

The Phytoremediation of Radioactively Contaminated Land: A Feasible Approach or Just Bananas?

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victoria A. Nesbitt
Keyword(s):  
Plant Species ◽  
Selection Process ◽  
Extended Period ◽  
Terrestrial Ecosystems ◽  
Nuclear Industry ◽  
Nuclear Facilities ◽  
Screening Process ◽  
Preliminary Screening ◽  
A Site ◽  
Ground Contamination

Soil is an essential component of all terrestrial ecosystems and is under increasing threat from human activity. Techniques available for removing radioactive contamination from soil and aquatic substrates are limited and often costly to implement; particularly over large areas. Frequently, bulk soil removal, with its attendant consequences, is a significant component of the majority of contamination incidents. Alternative techniques capable of removing contamination or exposure pathways without damaging or removing the soil are therefore of significant interest. An increasing number of old nuclear facilities are entering ‘care and maintenance’, with significant ground contamination issues. Phytoremediation — the use of plants’ natural metabolic processes to remediate contaminated sites is one possible solution. Its key mechanisms include phytoextraction and phytostabilisation. These are analogues of existing remedial techniques. Further, phytoremediation can improve soil quality and stability and restore functionality. Information on the application of phytoremediation in the nuclear industry is widely distributed over an extended period of time and sources. It is therefore difficult to quickly and effectively identify which plants would be most suitable for phytoremediation on a site by site basis. In response, a phytoremediation tool has been developed to address this issue. Existing research and case studies were reviewed to understand the mechanisms of phytoremediation, its effectiveness and the benefits and limitations of implementation. The potential for cost recovery from a phytoremediation system is also briefly considered. An overview of this information is provided here. From this data, a set of matrices was developed to guide potential users through the plant selection process. The matrices take the user through a preliminary screening process to determine whether the contamination present at their site is amenable to phytoremediation, and to give a rough indication as to what plants might be suitable. The second two allow the user to target specific plant species that would be most likely to successfully establish based on prevailing site conditions. The outcome of this study is a phytoremediation tool that can facilitate the development of phytoremediation projects, avoiding the need for in-depth research to identify optimal plant species on a case-by-case basis.

scholarly journals A coupled two-dimensional hydrodynamic and terrestrial input model to simulate CO<sub>2</sub> diffusive emissions from lake systems

2013 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 3509-3556 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Wu ◽  
C. Peng ◽  
M. Lucotte ◽  
N. Soumis ◽  
Y. Gélinas ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Aquatic Ecosystems ◽  
Field Measurements ◽  
Terrestrial Ecosystems ◽  
Accurate Estimation ◽  
Diffusive Flux ◽  
Two Dimensional ◽  
Quality Model ◽  
Terrestrial Organic Matter ◽  
Carbon Dioxide Co2 ◽  
Lake Systems

Abstract. Most lakes worldwide are supersaturated with carbon dioxide (CO2) and consequently act as atmospheric net sources. Since CO2 is a major greenhouse gas (GHG), the accurate estimation of CO2 exchanges at air/water interfaces of aquatic ecosystems is vital in quantifying the carbon budget of aquatic ecosystems overall. To date, lacustrine CO2 emissions are poorly understood, and lake carbon source proportions remain controversial, largely due to a lack of integration between aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. In this paper a new process-based model (TRIPLEX-Aquatic) is introduced incorporating both terrestrial inputs and aquatic biogeochemical processes to estimate diffusive emissions of CO2 from lake systems. The model was built from a two-dimensional hydrological and water quality model coupled with a new lacustrine CO2 diffusive flux model. For calibration and validation purposes, two years of data collected in the field from two small boreal oligotrophic lakes located in Québec (Canada) were used to parameterize and test the model by comparing simulations with observations for both hydrodynamic and carbon process accuracy. Model simulations were accordant with field measurements in both calibration and verification. Consequently, the TRIPLEX-Aquatic model was used to estimate the annual mean CO2 diffusive flux and predict terrestrial dissolved organic carbon (DOC) impacts on the CO2 budget for both lakes. Results show a significant fraction of the CO2 diffusive flux (~30–45%) from lakes was primarily attributable to the input and mineralization of terrestrial DOC, which indicated terrestrial organic matter was the key player in the diffusive flux of CO2 from oligotropical lake systems in Québec, Canada.

Critical Communication Pedagogy: Toward “Hope in Action”

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deanna L. Fassett ◽  
C. Kyle Rudick
Keyword(s):  
Critical Theory ◽  
Communication Studies ◽  
Interpersonal Justice ◽  
Critical Communication Pedagogy ◽  
Data Collection And Analysis ◽  
Broad Array ◽  
Communication Pedagogy ◽  
The One ◽  
Critical Turn ◽  
A Site

Critical communication pedagogy (CCP) emerged from an interdisciplinary exploration of the relationships between communication and instruction that draws from and extends critical theory. This critical turn has influenced how the communication studies discipline defines and practices communication education (i.e., learning in communication or how best to teach communication) and instructional communication (i.e., communication in learning, or how communication functions to diminish or support learning across a broad array of contexts), from the one-on-one tutoring session to training and development, and beyond. This critical turn in communication and instruction is characterized by 10 commitments of critical communication pedagogy refigured here along three themes: (1) communication is constitutive, (2) social justice is a process, and (3) the classroom is a site of activism and interpersonal justice. Critical communication pedagogy is defined by three primary criticisms: (1) CCP focuses on postmodern and constitutive philosophies of communication to the detriment of critical theory, (2) CCP focuses too much on in-class communication to the detriment of activist learning, and (3) CCP is over-reliant on autoethnographic and performative methodologies. An expanded, reinvigorated, and radicalized critical communication pedagogy for communication studies scholars entails greater attention to and extension of critical theory; sustained engagement in and with activism (both within and beyond the classroom); and a more robust engagement of diverse methods of data collection and analysis. Critical communication pedagogy scholarship as militant hope is more relevant than ever in the post-Trump era, signaling a way for communication scholars to cultivate ethics of equity and justice at all levels of education.

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