An empirical machine learning method for predicting potential fire control locations for pre-fire planning and operational fire management

2017 ◽  
Vol 26 (7) ◽  
pp. 587 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher D. O'Connor ◽  
David E. Calkin ◽  
Matthew P. Thompson
Keyword(s):  
Fire Suppression ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Weather Conditions ◽  
Fire Spread ◽  
Fire Control ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Active Fire ◽  
Management Objectives ◽  
Northern Nevada ◽  
Fire Planning

During active fire incidents, decisions regarding where and how to safely and effectively deploy resources to meet management objectives are often made under rapidly evolving conditions, with limited time to assess management strategies or for development of backup plans if initial efforts prove unsuccessful. Under all but the most extreme fire weather conditions, topography and fuels are significant factors affecting potential fire spread and burn severity. We leverage these relationships to quantify the effects of topography, fuel characteristics, road networks and fire suppression effort on the perimeter locations of 238 large fires, and develop a predictive model of potential fire control locations spanning a range of fuel types, topographic features and natural and anthropogenic barriers to fire spread, on a 34000km2 landscape in southern Idaho and northern Nevada. The boosted logistic regression model correctly classified final fire perimeter locations on an independent dataset with 69% accuracy without consideration of weather conditions on individual fires. The resulting fire control probability surface has potential for reducing unnecessary exposure for fire responders, coordinating pre-fire planning for operational fire response, and as a network of locations to incorporate into spatial fire planning to better align fire operations with land management objectives.

A 560-Year Record of Santa Ana Fires Reconstructed from Charcoal Deposited in the Santa Barbara Basin, California

1999 ◽  
Vol 51 (3) ◽  
pp. 295-305 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott A. Mensing ◽  
Joel Michaelsen ◽  
Roger Byrne
Keyword(s):  
Fire History ◽  
Fire Regime ◽  
Fire Suppression ◽  
Strong Relationship ◽  
Fire Control ◽  
Santa Barbara ◽  
Santa Barbara Basin ◽  
Santa Ana ◽  
Active Fire ◽  
Large Fires

AbstractMicroscopic charcoal from varved Santa Barbara Basin sediments was used to reconstruct a 560-yr record (A.D. 1425 to 1985) of Santa Ana fires. Comparison of large (>3750 μm2) charcoal with documented fire records in the Santa Barbara Ranger District shows that high accumulations correspond to large fires (>20,000 ha) that occurred during Santa Ana conditions. The charcoal record reconstructed a minimum of 20 large fires in the Santa Barbara region during the study period. The average time between fires shows no distinct change across three different land use periods: the Chumash period, apparently characterized by frequent burning, the Spanish/Early American period with nominal fire control, and the 20th century with active fire suppression. Pollen data support the conclusion that the fire regime has not dramatically changed during the last 500 yr. Comparison of large charcoal particle accumulation rates and precipitation reconstructed from tree rings show a strong relationship between climate and fire history, with large fires consistently occurring at the end of wet periods and the beginning of droughts.

Relating Burning Index to Wildfire Workload Over Broad Geographic Areas

1991 ◽  
Vol 1 (4) ◽  
pp. 235 ◽  
Author(s):  
R Mees ◽  
R Chase
Keyword(s):  
Southern California ◽  
Fire Suppression ◽  
Weather Conditions ◽  
Control Problems ◽  
Fire Control ◽  
Heavy Tailed Distributions ◽  
Heavy Tailed ◽  
Burning Index ◽  
The Right ◽  
In Fire

The burning index of the National Fire Danger Rating System is designed to measure potential fire workload over broad geographic areas that can be repre sented as being homogeneous with respect to fuel, topo graphic, and weather conditions. The utility of this index is confirmed by its relation to three measures of fire workload-number of fires, area burned, and number of personnel used in fire suppression for National Forests in southern California. The distributions of these mea sures over 15 years were skewed heavily to the right ("heavy-tailed distributions"). We selected the75 th, 90th, and 95th percentile values of each distribution at ten percentile values of the burning index to investigate and display the association between fire workload and the burning index. The results provide a distinct view of the direct relationship between wildfire workload and critical burning index values for the southern California area as a whole, and point to the potential value of this approach for anticipating fire control problems in other areas.

scholarly journals Contrasting large fire activity in the French Mediterranean

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (5) ◽  
pp. 1055-1066 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne Ganteaume ◽  
Renaud Barbero
Keyword(s):  
Fire Suppression ◽  
Sharp Decrease ◽  
Weather Conditions ◽  
Fire Spread ◽  
Return Level ◽  
Fire Season ◽  
Burned Area ◽  
The West ◽  
Forest Resilience ◽  
Large Fires

Abstract. In the French Mediterranean, large fires have significant socioeconomic and environmental impacts. We used a long-term georeferenced fire time series (1958–2017) to analyze both spatial and temporal distributions of large fires (LFs; ≥100 ha). The region was impacted in some locations up to six times by recurrent LFs and 21 % of the total area burned by LFs occurred on a surface that previously burned in the past, with potential impact on forest resilience. We found contrasting patterns between the east and the west of the study area, the former experiencing fewer LFs but of a larger extent compared to the latter, with an average time of occurrence between LFs exceeding 4000 ha < 7 years mostly in the eastern coastal area and > 50 years in the west. This longitudinal gradient in LF return level contrasts with what we would expect from mean fire weather conditions strongly decreasing eastwards during the fire season but is consistent with larger fuel cover in the east, highlighting the strong role of fuel continuity in fire spread. Additionally, our analysis confirms the sharp decrease in both LF frequency and burned area in the early 1990s, due to the efficiency of fire suppression and prevention reinforced at that time, thereby weakening the functional climate–fire relationship across the region.

scholarly journals Factors Affecting Trailer Thermal Environment Experienced by Market Pigs Transported in the US

Animals ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (11) ◽  
pp. 203
Author(s):  
Yijie Xiong ◽  
Richard Gates ◽  
Angela Green-Miller
Keyword(s):  
Quality Assurance ◽  
Spatial Distribution ◽  
Temperature Rise ◽  
Thermal Environment ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Weather Conditions ◽  
Ventilation Rate ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
The Us ◽  
Ventilation Pattern

Extreme weather conditions challenge pig thermoregulation during transport and are addressed by the National Pork Board (NPB) Transport Quality Assurance® (TQA) program that provides guidelines for trailer boarding, bedding, and misting. These guidelines are widely applied, yet very little is known about the microenvironment within the trailer. In this study, TQA guidelines (V4) were evaluated via extensive thermal environment measurements during transport in order to evaluate spatial variability and implications on ventilation pattern. Effects of trailer management strategies including bedding, boarding, and misting were examined and the trailer was monitored for interior temperature rise and THI responses within six separate zones. The trailer thermal environment was not uniformly distributed in the colder trips with the top front and bottom zones were the warmest, indicating these zones had the majority of outlet openings and experienced air with accumulated sensible and latent heat of the pigs. Relatively enhanced thermal environment uniformity was observed during hot trips, suggesting that ventilation patterns and ventilation rate were different for colder vs. warmer weather conditions. Misting applied prior to transport cooled interior air temperature, but also created high THI conditions in some cases. Neither boarding and bedding combinations in the TQA nor boarding position showed impacts on trailer interior temperature rise or spatial distribution of temperature inside the trailer.

scholarly journals A Review of Lithium-Ion Battery Fire Suppression

Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (19) ◽  
pp. 5117 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammadmahdi Ghiji ◽  
Vasily Novozhilov ◽  
Khalid Moinuddin ◽  
Paul Joseph ◽  
Ian Burch ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fire Suppression ◽  
Lithium Ion ◽  
Fire Risk ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Water Mist ◽  
Fire Control ◽  
Active Fire ◽  
Future Improvement ◽  
Flaming Combustion ◽  
Power And Energy

Lithium-ion batteries (LiBs) are a proven technology for energy storage systems, mobile electronics, power tools, aerospace, automotive and maritime applications. LiBs have attracted interest from academia and industry due to their high power and energy densities compared to other battery technologies. Despite the extensive usage of LiBs, there is a substantial fire risk associated with their use which is a concern, especially when utilised in electric vehicles, aeroplanes, and submarines. This review presents LiB hazards, techniques for mitigating risks, the suppression of LiB fires and identification of shortcomings for future improvement. Water is identified as an efficient cooling and suppressing agent and water mist is considered the most promising technique to extinguish LiB fires. In the initial stages, the present review covers some relevant information regarding the material constitution and configuration of the cell assemblies, and phenomenological evolution of the thermal runaway reactions, which in turn can potentially lead to flaming combustion of cells and battery assemblies. This is followed by short descriptions of various active fire control agents to suppress fires involving LiBs in general, and water as a superior extinguishing medium in particular. In the latter parts of the review, the phenomena associated with water mist suppression of LiB fires are comprehensively reviewed.

scholarly journals Megafires on the Southern Great Plains

2019 ◽  
pp. 164-179 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Todd Lindley ◽  
Douglas A. Speheger ◽  
Matthew A. Day ◽  
Gregory P. Murdoch ◽  
Bradley R. Smith ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Great Plains ◽  
Wildland Fire ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Weather Conditions ◽  
Fire Spread ◽  
The United States ◽  
Fire Policy ◽  
Southern Great Plains ◽  
Antecedent Precipitation ◽  
Complex Phenomena

A global increase in megafires has occurred since the mid-1990s. Defined as wildfires that burn more than 405 km2 (100 000 ac), megafires are complex phenomena with wide ranging societal impacts. In the United States, scientific literature and wildland fire policy has traditionally focused upon megafires in forests of the American West. However, megafires also pose a significant threat to life and property on the southern Great Plains. The southern Great Plains is characterized by grass-dominated prairie and is climatologically prone to dry and windy weather, which facilitates extreme rates of fire spread leading to some of the largest wildfires in North America. This study documents 16 megafires on the plains of New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas between 2006 and 2018. Most of these megafires occurred during southern Great Plains wildfire outbreaks, or plains firestorms, characterized by fire-effective low-level thermal ridges. Fuel and weather conditions supporting the 2006–2018 plains megafires are quantified by antecedent precipitation anomalies, fuel moisture, Energy Release Component, relative humidity, sustained wind speed, and temperature percentiles. Three modes of plains megafire evolution are identified by the analyses as short-duration, long-duration, and hybrid. Abrupt wind shifts and carryover fire in heavy dead fuels dictate megafire potential and evolutionary type. The presented analyses define favorable fuel and weather conditions that allow forecasters to discriminate megafire environments from typical plains fire episodes. Further, predictive signals for plains megafire conceptual model types can improve anticipation of southern Great Plains megafire evolution, threats, and management strategies.

Factors affecting fire suppression costs as identified by incident management teams

2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janie Canton-Thompson ◽  
Brooke Thompson ◽  
Krista Gebert ◽  
David Calkin ◽  
Geoff Donovan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fire Suppression ◽  
Management Teams ◽  
Incident Management ◽  
Factors Affecting

scholarly journals A Deep Learning Approach to Downscale Geostationary Satellite Imagery for Decision Support in High Impact Wildfires

Forests ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 294
Author(s):  
Nicholas F. McCarthy ◽  
Ali Tohidi ◽  
Yawar Aziz ◽  
Matt Dennie ◽  
Mario Miguel Valero ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Deep Learning ◽  
Decision Support ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Forest Fires ◽  
Wildland Fire ◽  
Fire Spread ◽  
Low Earth Orbit ◽  
Practical Implementation ◽  
Spatiotemporal Resolution ◽  
Active Fire

Scarcity in wildland fire progression data as well as considerable uncertainties in forecasts demand improved methods to monitor fire spread in real time. However, there exists at present no scalable solution to acquire consistent information about active forest fires that is both spatially and temporally explicit. To overcome this limitation, we propose a statistical downscaling scheme based on deep learning that leverages multi-source Remote Sensing (RS) data. Our system relies on a U-Net Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) to downscale Geostationary (GEO) satellite multispectral imagery and continuously monitor active fire progression with a spatial resolution similar to Low Earth Orbit (LEO) sensors. In order to achieve this, the model trains on LEO RS products, land use information, vegetation properties, and terrain data. The practical implementation has been optimized to use cloud compute clusters, software containers and multi-step parallel pipelines in order to facilitate real time operational deployment. The performance of the model was validated in five wildfires selected from among the most destructive that occurred in California in 2017 and 2018. These results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed methodology in monitoring fire progression with high spatiotemporal resolution, which can be instrumental for decision support during the first hours of wildfires that may quickly become large and dangerous. Additionally, the proposed methodology can be leveraged to collect detailed quantitative data about real-scale wildfire behaviour, thus supporting the development and validation of fire spread models.

Le feu : agent de contrôle des insectes

1994 ◽  
Vol 70 (4) ◽  
pp. 468-472
Author(s):  
M. Martin Dupuis
Keyword(s):  
Forest Fires ◽  
Insect Pests ◽  
Weather Conditions ◽  
Fire Intensity ◽  
Fire Control ◽  
Fire Use ◽  
Wild Fire ◽  
Controlled Burning ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Evolution Understanding

For millenia, fire and insects have played an important role in forested land evolution. Understanding the roles they play can be important in helping us not only to control them, but to use them as an ecological tool. Also, we notice some important interactions between these two agents. As insects affect fire, fire may control insect pests. Controlled burning may provide excellent results, but allows a very slight margin for possible errors. Fire use as an insect mangement tool, requires a very precise and wide knowledge of weather conditions, fire intensity, insect's life cycle, available fuels, and type of ecosystem involved.After a long run of experiences and research, we notice that fire has been and will always be an important factor in equilibrium of some ecosystems. Since wild fire prevention campaigns and the emergence of insecticides, some forests have become excessively vulnerable to insect pests. Proper knowledge, and use of fire control, rather than immediate suppression of forest fires, would allow us to conserve various ecosystems in a healthy balance.

scholarly journals Drone Swarms in Fire Suppression Activities: A Conceptual Framework

Drones ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 17
Author(s):  
Elena Ausonio ◽  
Patrizia Bagnerini ◽  
Marco Ghio
Keyword(s):  
Technological Development ◽  
Fire Suppression ◽  
Water Flow Rate ◽  
Cellular Automata Model ◽  
Fire Propagation ◽  
Active Fire ◽  
Fire Front ◽  
Main Factors ◽  
Mediterranean Scrub ◽  
In Fire

The recent huge technological development of unmanned aerial Vehicles (UAVs) can provide breakthrough means of fighting wildland fires. We propose an innovative forest firefighting system based on the use of a swarm of hundreds of UAVs able to generate a continuous flow of extinguishing liquid on the fire front, simulating the effect of rain. Automatic battery replacement and extinguishing liquid refill ensure the continuity of the action. We illustrate the validity of the approach in Mediterranean scrub first computing the critical water flow rate according to the main factors involved in the evolution of a fire, then estimating the number of linear meters of active fire front that can be extinguished depending on the number of drones available and the amount of extinguishing fluid carried. A fire propagation cellular automata model is also employed to study the evolution of the fire. Simulation results suggest that the proposed system can provide the flow of water required to fight low-intensity and limited extent fires or to support current forest firefighting techniques.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document