• Title/Summary/Keyword: prescribed fire

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Fuel Management in Ghana's Tropical Forests: Implications on Implementation Cost, Fuel Loading and Fire Behaviour

  • Barnes, Victor Rex;Swaine, Mike D.;Pinard, Michelle A.;Kyereh, Boateng
    • Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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    • v.36 no.4
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    • pp.298-310
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    • 2020
  • Fuel management can play enormous role in fire management in tropical dry forests. However, unlike the temperate forests, knowledge on implications of different fuel management methods in tropical forests is often inadequate. In this study, the implications of prescribed burning and hand thinning treatments on implementation cost, fuel loading and post-treatment fire behaviour were tested and compared in degraded forests and teak plantations in two forest reserves of different levels of dryness in Ghana. The study found that prescribed burning was less expensive (62.02 US Dollars ha-1) than hand thinning (95.37 US Dollars ha-1). The study also indicated that the two fuel management methods were able to reduce fuel loading in degraded forests and teak plantations. However, prescribed burning was more effective in reducing fuel loading than hand thinning. While the relative change of fuel reduction was 13% higher in prescribed burning than the hand thinning in degraded forest, it was 41% higher in prescribed burning than hand thinning in teak plantations. The fire behaviour of post-treatment experimental fire was also lower in prescribed burning than the hand thinning and control plots. Fuel management, therefore, has a great potential in fire management in degraded forests and teak plantations in Ghana.

An Empirical Study on the Standard Re-establishment of Water Discharge Performance for the Fire Engine Pump (소방차 펌프의 방수성능 기준 재정립을 위한 실증적 연구)

  • Min, Se-Hong;Kwon, Yong-Joon
    • Fire Science and Engineering
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    • v.26 no.5
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    • pp.85-91
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    • 2012
  • This paper analyzed firefighting officers' use situations such as the use time, maximum working pressure, hose diameter, etc. of fire pumps at fire sites and carried out various performance tests by pressures, hose diameters and quantities of fire pumps based on its results because the waterproof performance criterion for a fire pump installed in a fire engine is different from the operation situations at the site and is not clearly prescribed. As a result of site survey, the site uses a higher pressure than the standard water discharge pressure (0.85 MPa) or the high-pressure water discharge pressure (1.4 MPa) prescribed by the approval Standard of the fire pump performance on fire truck. In addition, as a result of pump performance test, the discharged water flow rate, water discharge pressure, etc. was measured to be very different from the currently prescribed the approval standard depending on the hose diameter and firefighting nozzle, so the result of this study proposes a new standard.

Above- and below-ground vegetative responses to prescribed fire regimes in a Chesapeake Bay tidal brackish marsh

  • Leonard, Cheryl A.;Ahn, Chang-Woo;Birch, Dixie
    • Journal of Ecology and Environment
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    • v.33 no.4
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    • pp.351-361
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    • 2010
  • The primary purposes for using fire are to enhance marsh vegetation to support waterfowl, and to manage invasive plant species. The study was conducted for two consecutive years in 2004 and 2005, investigating the effects of prescribed fire regimes on vegetation biomass in tidal brackish marsh areas of the Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge located on the eastern shore of Maryland, USA, that are under relatively similar environmental conditions. Four different burn regimes (i.e., annual burn, 3-5 year burn, 7-10 year burn, and no burn) were applied in the study. Above- and below-ground vegetation biomass samples as affected by the different burn regimes were harvested in each year for five plant species native to the marsh; Distichlis spicata, Spartina alterniflora, Schoenoplectus americanus, Spartina cynosuroides and Spartina patens. No significant difference was found either in total above-ground biomass or in above-ground biomass by species between burn regimes in 2004. However, more total above-ground biomass was produced in annual burn regime in 2005 than in the other burn regimes. There were no consistent effects of burning on vegetative biomass production by species, but it seemed D. spicata was somewhat benefited by prescribed burning for its biomass production. Moreover, the stem density for D. spicata under annual burn regime was significantly higher than that in the other burn regimes, showing some positive effects of burning on vegetation. The below-ground biomass was significantly greater in 2004 than in 2005, yet with no significant difference between burn regimes in either year. A longer-term monitoring is strongly recommended.

Automatic Fire Detector Spacing Calculation for Performance Based Design (성능위주설계를 위한 화재감지기배치의 공학적연구)

  • Park, Dong-Ha
    • Fire Science and Engineering
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    • v.24 no.1
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    • pp.15-23
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    • 2010
  • Placement method for fire detectors prescribed in current fire safety regulation is just about placing a prescribed number of detectors according to the areas. However, this regulation has no scientific basis and standards from foreign countries are just introduced and fire detectors are installed complying with them. There are two standards in designing fire protection systems; Prescriptive-Based Design that follows stipulated regulations like fire safety standards and Performance-Based Design based on engineering knowledge such as fire dynamics, structural dynamics, mechanics of materials, fluid mechanics, and thermo dynamics. Recently, Fire Protection System Construction Business Act was revised so that fire protection systems can be designed using Performance-Based Design method ('05. 8. 4), though the method has not activated until now. In addition, the enforcement decree defines the range for specific objects of fire protection to which Performance-Based Design is applied ('07, 1. 24). At the moment, by manufacturing simulator so that formulas can be introduced and calculated with software in order to install fire detector of automatic fire detection systems keeping optimized distance, comparing the results with the state of fire detector placed according to Performance-Based Design and analyzing them, this study was intended to settle Performance-Based Design method in the future.

Numerical Evaluations of Fire Resistance of Railcar Floor (철도차량 바닥구조물 내화성능 수치 평가)

  • Park, Won-Hee;Lee, Duck-Hee;Jung, Woo-Sung
    • Proceedings of the KSR Conference
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    • 2011.10a
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    • pp.2697-2704
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    • 2011
  • Fire resistance of a floor of a railcar is prescribed in the "Guidelines of standard of railcar safety (Minister of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs, 2010)". A floor of a railcar should retain its fire resistance for 15 or 20 minutes according its risk level. To evaluate fire resistance of the floor materials which are composed of ceramic board or aluminum foam with weight lightening, fire resistance of railcar floor is numerically analyzed.

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Effect of Prescribed Burning to Avian Community in Sihwa Grassland, Korea (시화호 초지대의 계획소각에 의한 조류군집의 영향)

  • Yoo, Seung-Hwa;Kang, Tae-Han;Paik, In-Hwan;Kim, Ho-Joon;Lee, Han-Soo;Kim, In-Kyu
    • Korean Journal of Environment and Ecology
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    • v.23 no.4
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    • pp.317-325
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    • 2009
  • This study was presented to effect of prescribed burning to the avian fauna and was conducted from March to October 2007 in Sihwa grassland, Gyeonggi-do, Korea. Prescribed burning was conducted at Sihwa grassland of Songjeong-ri Mado-myeon, Hwaseong city from 28th February to 1 st March 2007. Thirty birds species were observed and sum of the maximum count was 181 individuals at the prescribed burning area for all survey time. Observed species was 24 species and sum of the maximum count was 154 individuals on the unburned area. Number of species and sum of the maximum count at the prescribed burning area was greater than unburned area. There is no differences in the dominant species between prescribed and unburned area. Average number of species, number of individuals, species diversity and species richness of the prescribed burning area were greater than unburned area in early stage (from March to June) after prescribed burning. Community indices in burned area during early season were different with unburned area by prediscribed burning. However, the indices had became similar between burned and unburned area as time goes by. Disturbance by prescribed burning created new habitat and feeding site temporarily for the avian species in grassland. We would suggest that prescribed burning is most effective method to maintain grassland ecosystem from the invading bush or tree and periodical prescribed burning is a good method to preserve and manage the grassland ecosystem.

A Study on Improvement of Hazardous Material Safety Supervisor Lecturing Education (위험물안전관리자 강습교육의 개선방안에 관한 연구)

  • Hyun, Seong-Ho;Song, Yun-Suk;Jung, Doo-Kyun
    • Fire Science and Engineering
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    • v.21 no.1 s.65
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    • pp.29-36
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    • 2007
  • This study has grasped weakness factor fire safety and way aspect of fire analyzing hazardous material accident, and has investigated how by legal present kind and scale of hazardous material work that must assign hazardous material safety supervisor are prescribed. We have proposed efficient lecturing education time analyzing about validity and efficiency of education time about hazardous material safety supervisor lecturing education with question investigation to people who take hazardous material safety supervisor lecturing education that manage in korea fire safety association.

Temperature-time analysis for steel structures under fire conditions

  • Wong, M.B.;Ghojel, J.I.;Crozier, D.A.
    • Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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    • v.6 no.3
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    • pp.275-289
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    • 1998
  • The objective of the paper is to present a method whereby the time required for a steel structure to sustain the effects of a prescribed temperature rise according to real fire curves can be calculated. The method is divided into two parts. The first part deals with the post-yield behaviour of steel structures at elevated temperatures. It takes into account the variation of the properties of steel material with temperature in an incremental elastoplastic analysis so that the safety factor of the structure under certain fire conditions can be assessed. The second part deals with the heat transfer problem of bare steel members in real fire. Factors affecting the heat transfer process are examined and a model for predicting the temperature variation with time under real fire conditions is proposed. This model results in more accurate temperature predictions for steel members than those obtained from previously adopted model.

Performance Based Fire Engineering in Japan

  • Kohno, Mamoru;Okazaki, Tomohito
    • International Journal of High-Rise Buildings
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    • v.2 no.1
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    • pp.23-30
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    • 2013
  • This paper explains the Japanese present situations relevant to the fire resistance performance. Performance-based fire provisions was introduced in 1998 for the first time when the Building Standard Law was amended. However, performance-based fire resistance design had been used since long before the official introduction of performance-based provisions. A Comprehensive Technology Development Project of Ministry of Construction from 1982 to 1986 established a technical basis for performance-based fire safety engineering in Japan. A system of calculation methods for fire resistance verification was prescribed in the Ministry Notification in 2000 utilizing the results of this project as a background. This method, referred to as the Fire Resistance Verification Method (FRVM), is the standard method to verify the fire resistance performance of principal building parts such as columns, beams, and walls of steel, concrete, or wood structured buildings. For tall buildings, however, more advanced method for performance verification is often necessary because new building materials or structural systems are often used for these buildings. An example project of tall building owned by a major newspaper company is presented in this paper. Advanced thermal deformation analysis is executed to secure the fire resistance of the building.

An Analysis of Combustion Characteristics of Residential Facilities through Real Fire Tests in a Small Residential Space (소규모 주거 공간 실물화재실험을 통한 적재 가연물의 연소특성 분석)

  • Yang, So Yeon;Moon, Min Ho;Won, Jeong Hun
    • Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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    • v.37 no.4
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    • pp.73-79
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    • 2022
  • In this study, real fire tests were performed on representative combustibles of residential facilities to analyze the fire behavior and combustion characteristics in a small residential space. The considered combustibles were a sofa, a combination of a desk and a chair, and a combination of a mattress and an electric mat. A compartment space fire test was performed using the room corner test equipment prescribed in the KS F ISO 9705 specification. Three real fire tests were conducted by placing the combustible material inside a small compartment with insulation and finishing materials and by igniting the combustible material. Results showed that the peak heat release rate and peak smoke production rate occurred in the combination of the mattress and electric mat. Furthermore, from the result of the fire rate analysis, it was estimated that the fire risk of the mattress and electric mat combination was the highest, followed by the sofa and thedesk and chair combination.