Brand Lofting Above Large-Scale Fires.

Published

August 3, 1997

Author(s)

J P. Woycheese, P J. Pagni, D Liepmann

Abstract

Although lofting of burning brands in forest fires has received considerable attention, little research has quantified the transport of brands from burning structures. This mechanism of fire spread is of particular importance in post-earthquake and urban/wildland intermix fires. The 20 Octoer 1991 Oakland Hills Fire, which cost more than $1 billion, was propagated primarily by flaming brands deposited hundreds of meters ahead of the fire front. Perry estimated that for every burning house with a wood-shingle roof, 600 shingles were lofted. This model for brand lofting follows the seminal work of Taylor. Previous studies by Tarifa et al. and Lee et al. made the assumption of a constant vertical velocity above the fire source. Here a burning house is more accurately represented as an axismymmetric pool fire with a Baum and McCaffrey plume.

Proceedings Title

International Conference on Fire Research and Engineering (ICFRE2), Second (2nd). Proceedings. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and Society of Fire Protection Engineers (SFPE).

Conference Dates

August 3-8, 1997

Conference Location

Gaithersburg, MD

Pub Type

Conferences

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Keywords

fire research, fire protection engineering, large scale fire tests, computer models, damage, fire brands

Citation

Woycheese, J. , Pagni, P. and Liepmann, D. (1997), Brand Lofting Above Large-Scale Fires., International Conference on Fire Research and Engineering (ICFRE2), Second (2nd). Proceedings. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and Society of Fire Protection Engineers (SFPE). , Gaithersburg, MD, [online], https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=916802 (Accessed October 14, 2025)