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PUBLICATIONS

Ignition of Mulch by Firebrands in Wildland/Urban Interface (WUI) Fires

Published

Author(s)

Samuel Manzello, John R. Shields, Thomas Cleary, Jiann C. Yang

Abstract

Firebrands or embers are produced as trees and structures burn in wildland/urban interface (WUI) fires. Hot firebrands ultimately come to rest and may ignite fuels far removed from the fire, resulting in fire spread. It is believed that firebrand showers created in WUI fires may ignite vegetation and mulch located near homes and structures. This, in turn, may lead to ignition of homes and structures due to burning vegetation and mulch. Understanding these ignition events due to firebrands are important to mitigate fire spread in communities.To assess the ignition propensity of such materials, firebrands were simulated by machining wood (pinus ponderosa) into small disks of uniform geometry and the size of the firebrands was varied. Firebrands were suspended and ignited within the test cell of the FE/DE apparatus. The Fire Emulator / Detector Evaluator (FE/DE) was used to investigate the influence of an air flow on the ignition propensity of a fuel bed. A similar methodology has been used to determine the ignition propensity of structural materials due to firebrand impact [1-4].Shredded hardwood mulch was used as the test fuel bed for the ignition experiments. The moisture content of this materials was varied. The total number of firebrands deposited upon the fuel beds was varied to assess the influence of multiple firebrand contact on ignition propensity. Ignition regime maps were generated for each material tested as a function of impacting firebrand size, number of deposited firebrands, air flow, and material moisture content.
Proceedings Title
The Joint Meeting of the Sixth Symposium on Fire and Forest Meteorology and the | 19th | Interior West Fire Council Meeting | AMS
Conference Dates
October 25-27, 2005
Conference Location
Alberta, 1, CA
Conference Title
International Symposium on Fire and Forest Meterology
Pub Type
Conferences
Fire and Buildings and Construction

Citation

Manzello, S. , Shields, J. , Cleary, T. and Yang, J. (2017), Ignition of Mulch by Firebrands in Wildland/Urban Interface (WUI) Fires, The Joint Meeting of the Sixth Symposium on Fire and Forest Meteorology and the | 19th | Interior West Fire Council Meeting | AMS, Alberta, 1, CA (Accessed December 26, 2024)

Issues

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Created February 19, 2017