scholarly journals EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH ON ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ON ENVIRONMENT AFFECTED BY FOREST FIRE UNDER COMPLEX RADIATION CONDITIONS OF FIREFIGHTING

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (154) ◽  
pp. 333-338
Author(s):  
S. Azarov ◽  
R. Shevchenko ◽  
S. Shcherbak
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Study ◽  
Environmental Impact ◽  
Forest Fire ◽  
Forest Fires ◽  
Combustion Products ◽  
Practical Significance ◽  
Radiation Hazard ◽  
Exclusion Zone ◽  
Fire Load ◽  
Radiation Conditions

The paper deals with the problem of formation of general procedures for experimental study of environmental impact due to forest fire in complex radiation conditions of fire load formation and its further testing on the example of the ChNPP exclusion zone. The study carried out an experimental verification of the adequacy of the previously proposed methodological apparatus and identified the main directions of its further use as a basis for solving the problems of predicting the negative environmental impact on the environment. To this end, the following tasks have been solved:the general procedures of the methodology of experimental study of environmental impact due to forest fire in complex radiation conditions of fire load formation are formulated; a comprehensive experimental study was carried out using the developed method on the example of the fire load of the Chernobyl exclusion zone. Conducted studies in the field indicate that the content of radioactive smoke in the ground atmosphere of the Exclusion Zone can be dramatically increased by several orders of magnitude due to forest fires. Short-term (sever-al days) increased content of radioactive combustion products in the surface air can reach the level of radiation hazard for both the environment and directly for the life of the population living in a clean area at considerable distances (up to 30 km along the track axis) wildfire. The fires in the forests contaminated with Chornobyl radionuclide in the western trace due to the loss of TUE are of particular environmental danger, since the presence of plutonium combustion products in radioactive products results in significant dose loads for the environment and the population. The practical significance of the obtained results lies in the possibility of their application for carrying out complex ecological audit of the territory, which is subject to secondary radiation influence both inside and outside the exclusion zone of the Chornobyl NPP. Keywords: ecological safety, forest fire, radiation exposure, complex fire load

scholarly journals SPECIAL CHARACTERISTICS OF FIREFIGHTING IN RADIONUCLIDE-CONTAMINATED FORESTS OF THE CHORNOBYL EXCLUSION ZONE

Fire Safety ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 47-53
Author(s):  
A. D. Kuzyk ◽  
D. V. Lagno
Keyword(s):  
Radioactive Contamination ◽  
Forest Fires ◽  
Direct Contact ◽  
Combustion Products ◽  
The Body ◽  
Radiation Hazard ◽  
Radioactive Elements ◽  
Exclusion Zone ◽  
Material Resources ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages

Introduction. Forest fires are dangerous for people and environment. Their extinction requires appropriate human and material resources. Fires in the Chornobyl radionuclide-contaminated exclusion zone are especially dangerous. The purpose of paper is to analyze the causes of forest fires in the Chornobyl exclusion zone, the characteristics of their elimination taking into account the danger of radioactivity and using protection equipment. Results. The causes for the occurrence of fires in the forests of the Chernobyl exclusion zone are natural and manmade. The clutter of forest areas creates preconditions for the emergence and spread of fire. Radioactive contamination of forests is caused by poor care. Illicit logging and illegal visitors to the exclusion zone contribute to the fires occurrence. In case of a fire, radioactive elements in dust and combustion products extend over long distances. Radionuclides fall on the skin of the firefighter and penetrate the body during of breathing. Dust contributes to dissemination of radionuclides and is caused by the movement of people, firefighting engines, and work of manual and mechanical means. To choose methods of forest fires extinguishing in conditions of radioactive contamination, it is necessary to take into account the avoidance or minimization of firefighters’ direct contact with radioactive materials. Each of the traditional methods of extinguishing fires has its advantages and disadvantages, taking into account cost, efficiency and safety. The paper analyses the following methods of extinguishing: striking on flame, using water, throwing ground into flame, extinguishing by explosion, creating mineralized strips, opposite burning, use of fire aviation, and artificial precipitation. Firefighters have to use appropriate protective clothing and personal protective respiratory equipment during extinguishing a fire in a radioactive environment. Conclusions. To eliminate a forest fire in a radiation-contaminated zone, it is necessary to choose the appropriate method of extinguishing, taking into account the radiation hazard, and to apply the appropriate personal protective equipment. The fire aviation allows eliminating a fire by avoiding direct contact of firefighters with a radiationcontaminated environment.

MONITORING OF RADIATION POLLUTION OF THE TERRITORY OF THE CHORNOBYL ZONE

2020 ◽  
pp. 297-307
Author(s):  
Victor Movenko ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Monitoring ◽  
Forest Fires ◽  
Safety Management ◽  
Ecological Monitoring ◽  
The State ◽  
Radiation Environment ◽  
Radiation Hazard ◽  
Actual State ◽  
Exclusion Zone ◽  
Chernobyl Zone

Urgency of the Research. Thirty-five years have passed since the Chernobyl accident. During this time, the environment has undergone constant changes under the influence of natural and human factors. Knowledge of these changes is impossible without the separation of anthropogenic processes from natural, which is why they organize special observations on various parameters of the biosphere, which change as a result of human activity. It is in the observation of the environment, the assessment of its actual state, and the forecasting of its development, that the essence of monitoring of radiation pollution of the territory of the Chernobyl zone is under the present conditions. Target setting. Investigation of modern technological procedures and technical means of monitoring to further create a system of integrated radiological control of the environment will ensure the prevention and elimination of negative changes in the state of the environment in the territory of both the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone (ChEZ) and throughout Ukraine. Actual scientific researches and issues analysis. Recent publications and reports on open access concerning the problems of monitoring of radiation pollution of the Chernobyl zone in the current conditions have been considered. Uninvestigated parts of general matters defining. Maintaining integrated radio-ecological environmental monitoring in areas where radiation hazards are located requires constant monitoring and monitoring of the radiation environment in the environment in order to determine its level of contamination and respond quickly to emergencies and prevent possible radiation accidents, as well as to prevent their occurrence. and the environment. The research objective. Comprehensive monitoring of radiation pollution requires the adaptation of the RODOS system to the conditions of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone and potential specific sources of emissions in the ChEZ, the creation of a complete register of collected data for the adaptation of the RODOS system to the conditions of the ChEZ, a systematic description of sources of emissions from forest fires, fires, during the decommissioning of the ChNPP. The statement of basic materials. The article deals with the issues of integrated radio-ecological monitoring of the environment in the areas of radiation hazard objects, the use of an automated radiation monitoring system (ASCRO), the implementation of a real time decision support system in response to nuclear accidents - RODOS in Chernobyl. Conclusions. The implementation of ASCRO and RODOS systems in the Chernobyl zone has allowed to create a comprehensive system of radio-ecological environmental monitoring of the state, regional and local levels, which is intended to solve the main tasks of environmental safety management, including, at high risk objects.

scholarly journals GEODESY, CARTOGRAPHY AND AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHY

2021 ◽  
Vol 94, 2021 (94) ◽  
pp. 35-43
Author(s):  
Andriy Babushka ◽  
◽  
Lyubov Babiy ◽  
Borys Chetverikov ◽  
Andriy Sevruk ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Forest Fires ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
Supervised Classification ◽  
Near Infrared ◽  
Practical Significance ◽  
Exclusion Zone ◽  
Space Images ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Normalized Burn Ratio ◽  
Sentinel 2

Earth remote sensing and using the satellite images play an important role when monitoring the effects of forest fires and assessing damage. Applying different methods of multispectral space images processing, we can determine the risk of fire distribution, define hot spots and determine thermal parameters, mapping the damaged areas and assess the consequences of fire. The purpose of the work is the severity assessment connected with the post-fire period on the example of the forests in the Chornobyl Exclusion Zone. The tasks of the study are to define the area of burned zones using space images of different time which were obtained from the Sentinel-2 satellite applying the method of a normalized burn ratio (NBR) and method of supervised classification. Space images taken from the Sentinel-2 satellite before and after the fire were the input data for the study. Copernicus Open Access Hub service is a source of images and its spatial resolution is 10 m for visible and near infrared bands of images, and 20 m for medium infrared bands of images. We used method of Normalized Burn Ratio (NBR) and automatically calculated the area damaged with fire. Using this index we were able to identify areas of zones after active combustion. This index uses near and middle infrared bands for the calculations. In addition, a supervised classification was performed on the study area, and signature files were created for each class. According to the results of the classification, the areas of the territories damaged by the fire were also calculated. The scientific novelty relies upon the application of a method of using the normalized combustion coefficient (NBR) and supervised classification for space images obtained before and after the fire in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. The practical significance lies in the fact that the studied methods of GIS technologies can be used to identify territories and calculate the areas of vegetation damaged by fires. These results can be used by local organizations, local governments and the Ministry of Emergency Situations to monitor the condition and to plan reforestation. The normalized burned ratio (NBR) gives possibility efficiently and operatively to define and calculate the area which were damaged by fires, that gives possibility operatively assess the consequences of such fires and estimate the damage. The normalized burned ratio allows to calculate the area of burned forest almost 2 times more accurately than the supervised classification. The calculation process itself also takes less time and does not require additional procedures (set of signatures). Supervised classification in this case gives worse accuracy, the process itself is longer, but allows to determine the area of several different classes.

scholarly journals Hyperhomocysteinemia in children and forest fires in the Chоrnobyl exclusion zone

2020 ◽  
pp. 21-26
Author(s):  
Yu.I. Bandazhevsky ◽  
◽  
N.F. Dubova ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Forest Fire ◽  
Forest Fires ◽  
Genetic System ◽  
Folate Metabolism ◽  
Wood Combustion ◽  
Exclusion Zone ◽  
Combustion Gases ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Prevention Of Cancer ◽  
Folate Cycle

Objective: We determined a role of folate metabolism genotypes in the occurrence of hyperhomocysteinemia in children after a forest fire in the Chоrnobyl exclusion zone (ChEZ). Material and methods: In the study, we applied immunochemical, Real-time PCR, mathematical and statistical methods. Results: A survey of 84 adolescents from the Poliske district, Kiev region revealed changes in their metabolic processes in the form of increased homocysteine production in connection with a forest fire in the ChEZ which was recorded during April 26-29, 2015. A comparative analysis of the specific gravity of the folate cycle genotypes in the subgroups of the children with hyperhomocysteinemia before and after a forest fire showed that an endogenous factor in the form of a genetic apparatus, controling synthesis of folate cycle enzymes, was not involved in this phenomenon. Сonclusions: Forest and peat fires in the Chernobyl exclusion zone are one of the main causes for the elevation in blood homocysteine levels in children from the adjacent districts, regardless of the state of folate metabolism genetic system. Monitoring of the blood homocysteine levels in children and adults living under conditions of the exposure to wood combustion gases, containing radioactive elements, is a key component of the programmer for the prevention of cancer and cardiovascular diseases.

scholarly journals RESULTS OF WBC/MONITORING OF FIREFIGHTERS PARTICIPATING IN RESPONSE TO CHORNOBYL FOREST FIRES IN APRIL–MAY 2020

2020 ◽  
Vol 25 ◽  
pp. 177-187
Author(s):  
D. Bazyka ◽  
◽  
P. Fedirko ◽  
V. Vasylenko ◽  
O. Kolosynska ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Effective Dose ◽  
Forest Fire ◽  
Forest Fires ◽  
Nuclear Power ◽  
State Institution ◽  
The State ◽  
The Body ◽  
Whole Body ◽  
Exclusion Zone ◽  
Internal Radiation

Objective.of this study was to determine the levels of radionuclides in the rescuers’ bodies of the SES during firefighting in the exclusion zone of the Chornobyl nuclear power plant and to assess the dose of internal radiation due to this receipt. Materials and methods. From 06.04.2020 to 19.05.2020 in the State Institution «National Research Center for Radiation Medicine of the National Academy of Medical Sciences of Ukraine» (NRCRM) measurements of the content of incorporated gamma radionuclides on whole body counters (WBC) operational class «Screener-3M» (Minimum detected activity (MDA) is 300–500 Bq for 5 minutes of measurement at 137Cs) and expert high-sensitivity WBC (MDA is 20 Bq for 10 minutes of measurement at 137Cs). 470 people (523 measurements) in three groups of personnel of the SES of Ukraine who took part in the forest fire liquidation in the exclusion zone in the period from April 4 to May 5, 2020 were examined. Mathematical and spectrometric methods are used in the work. Results and conclusions. In the vast majority (95 %) of the personnel of the SES of Ukraine, examined at the WBC operational class «Screener-3M» (more than 500 measurements), the assessment of the values of the individual effective dose of internal radiation due to 137Cs in the body during firefighting, assuming that it receipt occurred during operation in the exclusion zone, did not exceed the minimum dose detected by MDD (5–14 μSv). The average value of the effective dose of internal radiation in the group of personnel of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine in Kyiv, which participated in the elimination of forest fires in the exclusion zone from April 4 to May 5, 2020 (26 people) studied at the expert WBC, is 2.5 ± 1.1 μSv, in the group of personnel of the SES of Ukraine in Cherkasy region, which participated in the fire on April 19–24, 2020 (9 people) – 2.2 ± 0.6 μSv, in the group of personnel of the SES of Ukraine in the Kyiv region, which took part in the elimination of the forest fire in the exclusion zone on April 4 – May 5, 2020 (42 people) – 4.4 ± 2.4 μSv. Maximum values of 5.1 μSv, 3.5 μSv, 11.8 μSv in the groups of Kyiv city, Cherkasy and Kyiv regions, respectively, which is much lower than the basic dose limit for the population from man-made sources of 1000 μSv · year-1 according to the Law of Ukraine about protection of the person against influence of ionizing radiation. Key words: forest fire, Chornobyl Exclusion Zone, internal irradiation, whole body counters, 137Сs.

scholarly journals Folate cycle genome and change in the homocysteine level in children after forest fires in the Chernobyl exclusion zone

2020 ◽  
Vol 27 ◽  
pp. 179-184
Author(s):  
Yu. I. Bandazhevsky ◽  
N. F. Dubovaya
Keyword(s):  
Forest Fires ◽  
Combustion Products ◽  
The Body ◽  
Border Region ◽  
Blood Levels ◽  
Exclusion Zone ◽  
Air Contamination ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
Secondary Air ◽  
Folate Cycle

Fires that often occur in the forests of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone are one of the most powerful sources of secondary air contamination with combustion products and various radionuclides that have a negative effect on the health of children and adults. Aim. Aim was to explore the relationship between forest fires and the change in blood homocysteine levels in children living in Polessky district of Ukraine bordering the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. Methods. Immunochemical, mathematical and statistical. Results. Increased blood levels of homocysteine, irrespective of the state of genome of folate cicle, were found in more than 70.0 % of cases in the group of children living near the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone during the period from 02/04/2015 to 18/12/2015. Given the forest fires with an area of 10.127 ha and 130 ha officially registered in the Chernobyl exclusion zone in the spring and summer of 2015, it can reasonably be argued that the increase in the level of homocysteine in the blood of children living in the border region associatared with wood burning particles, including black carbon and radioactive elements, that enter the body with air and food. Conclusions. Forest fires in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone are the cause of abnormal methionine metabolism and an increase in blood homocysteine levels in children from the adjacent districts. Keywords: homocysteine, folate metabolism, genetic polymorphisms, association, forest fires, Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.

scholarly journals A Collaborative Region Detection and Grading Framework for Forest Fire Smoke Using Weakly Supervised Fine Segmentation and Lightweight Faster-RCNN

Forests ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 768
Author(s):  
Jin Pan ◽  
Xiaoming Ou ◽  
Liang Xu
Keyword(s):  
Forest Fire ◽  
Forest Fires ◽  
Learning Strategy ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Fire Detection ◽  
Surveillance Systems ◽  
Region Detection ◽  
Decision Network ◽  
Fire Smoke ◽  
Weakly Supervised

Forest fires are serious disasters that affect countries all over the world. With the progress of image processing, numerous image-based surveillance systems for fires have been installed in forests. The rapid and accurate detection and grading of fire smoke can provide useful information, which helps humans to quickly control and reduce forest losses. Currently, convolutional neural networks (CNN) have yielded excellent performance in image recognition. Previous studies mostly paid attention to CNN-based image classification for fire detection. However, the research of CNN-based region detection and grading of fire is extremely scarce due to a challenging task which locates and segments fire regions using image-level annotations instead of inaccessible pixel-level labels. This paper presents a novel collaborative region detection and grading framework for fire smoke using a weakly supervised fine segmentation and a lightweight Faster R-CNN. The multi-task framework can simultaneously implement the early-stage alarm, region detection, classification, and grading of fire smoke. To provide an accurate segmentation on image-level, we propose the weakly supervised fine segmentation method, which consists of a segmentation network and a decision network. We aggregate image-level information, instead of expensive pixel-level labels, from all training images into the segmentation network, which simultaneously locates and segments fire smoke regions. To train the segmentation network using only image-level annotations, we propose a two-stage weakly supervised learning strategy, in which a novel weakly supervised loss is proposed to roughly detect the region of fire smoke, and a new region-refining segmentation algorithm is further used to accurately identify this region. The decision network incorporating a residual spatial attention module is utilized to predict the category of forest fire smoke. To reduce the complexity of the Faster R-CNN, we first introduced a knowledge distillation technique to compress the structure of this model. To grade forest fire smoke, we used a 3-input/1-output fuzzy system to evaluate the severity level. We evaluated the proposed approach using a developed fire smoke dataset, which included five different scenes varying by the fire smoke level. The proposed method exhibited competitive performance compared to state-of-the-art methods.

scholarly journals Short-Term Effects of Fire Severity on Vegetation Based on Sentinel-2 Satellite Data

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 432
Author(s):  
Aru Han ◽  
Song Qing ◽  
Yongbin Bao ◽  
Li Na ◽  
Yuhai Bao ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Forest Fire ◽  
Forest Fires ◽  
Vegetation Change ◽  
Fire Severity ◽  
Dynamic Change ◽  
Burned Area ◽  
Fire Event ◽  
Vegetation Dynamic ◽  
Area Index ◽  
Sentinel 2

An important component in improving the quality of forests is to study the interference intensity of forest fires, in order to describe the intensity of the forest fire and the vegetation recovery, and to improve the monitoring ability of the dynamic change of the forest. Using a forest fire event in Bilahe, Inner Monglia in 2017 as a case study, this study extracted the burned area based on the BAIS2 index of Sentinel-2 data for 2016–2018. The leaf area index (LAI) and fractional vegetation cover (FVC), which are more suitable for monitoring vegetation dynamic changes of a burned area, were calculated by comparing the biophysical and spectral indices. The results showed that patterns of change of LAI and FVC of various land cover types were similar post-fire. The LAI and FVC of forest and grassland were high during the pre-fire and post-fire years. During the fire year, from the fire month (May) through the next 4 months (September), the order of areas of different fire severity in terms of values of LAI and FVC was: low > moderate > high severity. During the post fire year, LAI and FVC increased rapidly in areas of different fire severity, and the ranking of areas of different fire severity in terms of values LAI and FVC was consistent with the trend observed during the pre-fire year. The results of this study can improve the understanding of the mechanisms involved in post-fire vegetation change. By using quantitative inversion, the health trajectory of the ecosystem can be rapidly determined, and therefore this method can play an irreplaceable role in the realization of sustainable development in the study area. Therefore, it is of great scientific significance to quantitatively retrieve vegetation variables by remote sensing.

scholarly journals Empirical Research on Climate Warming Risks for Forest Fires: A Case Study of Grade I Forest Fire Danger Zone, Sichuan Province, China

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (14) ◽  
pp. 7773
Author(s):  
San Wang ◽  
Hongli Li ◽  
Shukui Niu
Keyword(s):  
Wind Speed ◽  
Forest Fire ◽  
Climate Warming ◽  
Forest Fires ◽  
Meteorological Factors ◽  
Sichuan Province ◽  
Danger Zone ◽  
Climatic Regions ◽  
Area Burned ◽  
Forest Fire Danger

The Sichuan province is a key area for forest and grassland fire prevention in China. Forest resources contribute significantly not only to the biological gene pool in the mid latitudes but also in reducing the concentration of greenhouse gases and slowing down global warming. To study and forecast forest fire change trends in a grade I forest fire danger zone in the Sichuan province under climate change, the dynamic impacts of meteorological factors on forest fires in different climatic regions were explored and a model between them was established by using an integral regression in this study. The results showed that the dominant factor behind the area burned was wind speed in three climatic regions, particularly in Ganzi and A’ba with plateau climates. In Ganzi and A’ba, precipitation was mainly responsible for controlling the number of forest fires while it was mainly affected by temperature in Panzhihua and Liangshan with semi-humid subtropical mountain climates. Moreover, the synergistic effect of temperature, precipitation and wind speed was responsible in basin mid-subtropical humid climates with Chengdu as the center and the influence of temperature was slightly higher. The differential forest fire response to meteorological factors was observed in different climatic regions but there was some regularity. The influence of monthly precipitation in the autumn on the area burned in each climatic region was more significant than in other seasons, which verified the hypothesis of a precipitation lag effect. Climate warming and the combined impact of warming effects may lead to more frequent and severe fires.

Associations Between Ambient Particulate Air Pollution and Cognitive Function in Indonesian Children Living in Forest Fire–Prone Provinces

2021 ◽  
pp. 101053952110317
Author(s):  
Bin Jalaludin ◽  
Frances L. Garden ◽  
Agata Chrzanowska ◽  
Budi Haryanto ◽  
Christine T. Cowie ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Air Pollution ◽  
Cognitive Function ◽  
Forest Fire ◽  
Forest Fires ◽  
Regression Models ◽  
Individual Factors ◽  
Aerodynamic Diameter ◽  
Particulate Air Pollution ◽  
Multivariable Models ◽  
Particulate Matter 2.5

Smoke from forest fires can reach hazardous levels for extended periods of time. We aimed to determine if there is an association between particulate matter ≤2.5 µm in aerodynamic diameter (PM2.5) and living in a forest fire–prone province and cognitive function. We used data from the Indonesian Family and Life Survey. Cognitive function was assessed by the Ravens Colored Progressive Matrices (RCPM). We used regression models to estimate associations between PM2.5 and living in a forest fire–prone province and cognitive function. In multivariable models, we found very small positive relationships between PM2.5 levels and RCPM scores (PM2.5 level at year of survey: β = 0.1%; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.01% to 0.19%). There were no differences in RCPM scores for children living in forest fire–prone provinces compared with children living in non-forest fire–prone provinces (mean difference = −1.16%, 95% CI = −2.53% to 0.21%). RCPM scores were lower for children who had lived in a forest fire–prone province all their lives compared with children who lived in a non-forest fire–prone province all their life (β = −1.50%; 95% CI = −2.94% to −0.07%). Living in a forest fire–prone province for a prolonged period of time negatively affected cognitive scores after adjusting for individual factors.

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