An Evaluation of Forest Fire Initial Attack Resources

1984 ◽  
Vol 14 (5) ◽  
pp. 20-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. L. Martell ◽  
R. J. Drysdale ◽  
G. E. Doan ◽  
D. Boychuk
Keyword(s):  
2015 ◽  
Vol 24 (7) ◽  
pp. 964 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amy A. Morin ◽  
Alisha Albert-Green ◽  
Douglas G. Woolford ◽  
David L. Martell

This paper presents the results from employing survival analysis methods to model the probability distribution of the control time of forest fires. The Kaplan–Meier estimator, log–location–scale models, accelerated failure time models, and Cox proportional hazards (PH) models are described. Historical lightning and people-caused forest fire data from the Province of Ontario, Canada from 1989 through 2004 are employed to illustrate the use of the Cox PH model. We demonstrate how this methodology can be used to examine the association between the control time of a suppressed forest fire and local factors such as weather, vegetation and fuel moisture, as well as fire management variables including the response time between when a fire is reported and the initiation of suppression action. Significant covariates common to both the lightning and people-caused models were the size of the fire at the onset of initial attack, the Fine Fuel Moisture Code and the Initial Spread Index. The response time was also a significant predictor for the control time of lightning-caused fires, whereas the Drought Code and time of day of initial attack were significant for people-caused fires. Larger values of the covariates in these models were associated with larger survival probabilities.


2019 ◽  
Vol 49 (5) ◽  
pp. 531-542 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Cardil ◽  
M. Lorente ◽  
D. Boucher ◽  
J. Boucher ◽  
S. Gauthier

In the managed forest of Canada, forest fires are actively suppressed through efficient initial attack capability; however, the impact of different factors on the suppression success remains to be understood. The aim of this paper was to analyze the influence of operational suppression objectives (fire detection, initial attack, and fire control) along with fire intensity, fuel type, fire ignition cause, year, workload, and homogeneous fire regime zones on the achievement of the fire suppression objective (fire < 3 ha) using the Forest Fire Protection Agency of Quebec (SOPFEU) as a case study. The overall success of the suppression objective was very high (88%) over the study period (1994–2015). Both detection and control had significant effects on the suppression success through their interaction with fuel type, ignition cause, fire intensity, and zone variables. When the suppression objective was not achieved, final fire size was influenced by control, fuel type, fire intensity, and zone. The paper highlights the importance of the operational objectives and of regional differences for both fire suppression success and final fire size. Our results can help forest fire protection agencies to better understand their wildland fire suppression systems for a better adaptation to the upcoming fire regime changes.


1987 ◽  
Vol 63 (4) ◽  
pp. 272-277 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Kourtz

During the past 30 years air patrols have replaced lookouts as the main forest fire detection method. A brief history of that change is presented, and motivations for it are discussed. Problems with the present approach to detection include inflexible aircraft contracts, lack of appreciation of the complexity of the daily detection planning process, and lack of a daily fire prediction system. Under conditions of poor visibility human vision cannot detect all-important small fires, with the possible result of significant delays in initial attack. High altitude infrared detection systems offer the only solution to this problem. The concept of detection being a component in the total fire management system is discussed and a method is described to obtain a proper balance between detection and initial attack activity levels.


1998 ◽  
Vol 28 (10) ◽  
pp. 1448-1455 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kazi MS Islam ◽  
David L Martell

Each day, forest fire managers must deploy airtankers at initial attack bases to minimize initial attack response times. They must decide how many airtankers to deploy at each base and the initial attack range of each airtanker. We develop a daily airtanker simulation model and use it to investigate how airtanker system performance varies as a function of initial attack range, fire arrival rates, and time of day. Our results indicate that the optimal initial attack range decreases as the daily fire load increases. Fire managers can use this information to design airtanker dispatch policies that will minimize initial attack response times.


2020 ◽  
pp. 57-65
Author(s):  
Eusébio Conceiçã ◽  
João Gomes ◽  
Maria Manuela Lúcio ◽  
Jorge Raposo ◽  
Domingos Xavier Viegas ◽  
...  

This paper refers to a numerical study of the hypo-thermal behaviour of a pine tree in a forest fire environment. The pine tree thermal response numerical model is based on energy balance integral equations for the tree elements and mass balance integral equation for the water in the tree. The simulation performed considers the heat conduction through the tree elements, heat exchanges by convection between the external tree surfaces and the environment, heat exchanges by radiation between the flame and the external tree surfaces and water heat loss by evaporation from the tree to the environment. The virtual three-dimensional tree model has a height of 7.5 m and is constituted by 8863 cylindrical elements representative of its trunks, branches and leaves. The fire front has 10 m long and a 2 m high. The study was conducted taking into account that the pine tree is located 5, 10 or 15 m from the fire front. For these three analyzed distances, the numerical results obtained regarding to the distribution of the view factors, mean radiant temperature and surface temperatures of the pine tree are presented. As main conclusion, it can be stated that the values of the view factor, MRT and surface temperatures of the pine tree decrease with increasing distance from the pine tree in front of fire.


Author(s):  
S. D. AMBROSE ◽  
P. SCHLESINGER ◽  
T. A. STONE
Keyword(s):  

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