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 Perhaps one of the most critical decisions made by firefighters during daily fire management operations is the identification of suitable safety zones.
To be effective (timely, repeatable, and accurate), these decisions rely on clear concise guidelines. Quantitative guidelines for selecting and sizing safety zones have been developed with funding support from the Joint Fire Science Program (PI Butler JFSP 03-2-1-03) and others. These current safety zone guidelines (see fig. 1) are published in the S-course curricula, Incident Response Pocket Guide (IRPG), and Fireline Handbook. These guidelines were developed based on the assumption that the fire and safety zone were located on flat terrain. New research is focused on measuring and predicting the cumulative impact of convective and radiant energy transfer on safety zone shape, size and location when the safety zone and/or fires are located on slopes. Measurement and newly developed theoretical modeling tools are being used to explore the expected range of slopes, safety zone locations and fire intensities.
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATORS
Brett Butler, Research Mechanical Engineer
Staff
Jason Forthofer, Mechanical Engineer
GOALS AND OBJECTIVES
We expect the new guidelines will depend on multiple variables including: fire characteristics (flame length or height) and site characteristics (e.g. slope percent) and relative location (i.e. chimney, ridge, midslope, ridgetop). Special emphasis is placed on the effect of “chimneys” and other terrain features that produce dangerous levels of convective heating ahead of the fire front. Additionally, consultation with the wildland fire management community has identified the need to explore the flow field around structures in the context of safety zones. We are consulting with Type I fire crews, Incident Management Teams and others to determine the best format and methods for delivering the new guidelines.
PROJECT STATUS
The research team deployed instruments to measure convective heating on wildland fires during 2007 and 2008. They also participated in research prescribed burns in 2009. Some analytical modeling has been completed and is being compared to measurements. Additional measurements and modeling are planned during 2010 with the final guideline recommendations produced in 2010 and 2011.
FUNDING ORGANIZATIONS
This project has received significant funding from the US Forest Service and the Joint Fire Science Program under Project JFSP 03-2-1-03
The following publications are availabe in PDF format:
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