Fire behavior associated with the 1994 South Canyon fire on Storm King Mountain, Colorado

Butler, Bret W.; Bartlette, Roberta; Bradshaw, Larry; Cohen, Jack D.; Andrews, Patricia L.; Putnam, Ted; Mangan, Richard J.

doi:10.2737/rmrs-rp-9

Cited by 65 publications

(60 citation statements)

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“…The prediction of spot fires is very important in the simulation of forest fire propagation as they can greatly modify the behaviour of the fire, creating problems for fire suppression tactics and to the safety of firefighting personnel. It was observed that many accidents that are described in the literature [26][27][28] were triggered by spot fires and it is also recognized by Cohen [29] that one of the main mechanisms of house destruction by a fire in the wild-land urban interface is spotting.…”

Section: Spot Firesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Overview of Forest Fire Propagation Research

Viegas¹

2011

Fire Safety Science - Proceedings of the 10th International Sym

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Forest fires are one of the major threats to natural and human built environments and have shown a tendency to increase in recent years. They are the result of several combined natural and social factors making their study and management particularly difficult and requiring the intervention of several scientific fields. One of the major issues of forest fires is associated with the combustion and propagation processes. An overview of physical processes linked to fire propagation, especially under extreme conditions will be presented. Emphasis will be given to fire safety and to the protection of human life during fire spread. Case studies and the results of the research program carried out by the author are presented to illustrate some of the topics dealt with in the presentation.

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Section: Spot Firesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Overview of Forest Fire Propagation Research

Viegas¹

2011

Fire Safety Science - Proceedings of the 10th International Sym

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“…But if Butler et al (1998) presented the fire behavior in some cases as an explosive event, it is only from a visual point of view. They state that the occurrence of a GBF in the forest is simply a fast transition from a low intensity fire with a slow ROS to a high intensity fire with a very fast ROS.…”

Section: Vocs' Theorymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…According to some researchers (Viegas, 2004a, Butler et al, 1998, the phenomenon referred to as "GBF" by the firefighters would be an extreme behavior of a forest fire, a kind of runaway related to many factors (topography, weather, own fire properties, etc.). Viegas (2004a) describes eruptive fire behavior as an extreme case of dynamic fire behaviour, in which the fire Rate of Spread (ROS) changes suddenly in the course of time even when the other factors are constant.…”

Section: Physical Issues: Eruptive Firesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Carbonell et al (2004) described some accidents that occurred in the USA (e.g. the Storm King Mountain accident reported by Butler et al, 1998), as well as some eruptions that occurred in France, where the most commonly known one was the Palasca accident reported by Dold et al (2009a). The two main avenues of research inspired by the firefighter's comments were gas explosion and canyon effect.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Instantaneousness is the main characteristic which explains the name given to the phenolmenon by firefighters, although its relevance is questionable. Actually, if a flashover in an enclosed space is well known (NFPA 921, 2011) especially in fire safety science (NFPA 555, 2000), the GBF must be compared to blowup fires, defined by Butler et al (1998) as a rapid transition from a surface fire exhibiting relatively low intensity to a fire burning in the whole vegetation complex, from surface to canopy and demonstrating dramatically larger flame heights, higher energy release rates, and faster rates of spread. When blowups occur in single layer fuels, the definition of eruptive fires is used and characterized by Viegas (2004a) as a fire in which a sudden change of the rate of spread of the head fire occurs in a very short lapse of time with or without the influence of any changes of the fire's temporal or spatial boundary conditions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Generalized Blaze Flash, a “Flashover” Behavior for Forest Fires—Analysis from the Firefighter’s Point of View

Chatelon¹,

Sauvagnargues²,

Dusserre³

et al. 2014

OJF

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The phenomenon called "flashover" or "eruptive fire" in forest fires is characterized by a sudden change in fire behavior: everything seems to burst into flames instantly and firefighters are overwhelmed by a sort of eruption, spreading at a speed at far several meters per second. Unfortunately it has cost several lives in the past. The reasons for such an accident always create controversy in the research field. Different theories are highlighted and especially two major axes are currently subject to discussion because they are very popular among people involved in firefighting. The one with regard to VOCs emissions is the best-known among firemen. Under great heat, during summer or with a fire approaching, plants emit VOCs and the more the temperature grows, the more the amount of VOCs emitted grows. Under specific conditions (essentially topographical, meteorological and atmospheric), the cloud of gas can accumulate in an appropriate zone. The concentration of VOCs may therefore reach the Lower Explosive Limit, triggering the burst of the cloud when in contact with the fire. The second theory depends on physical considerations. An example is based on a convective flow created by the fire itself. When a fire spreads on a slope, it creates an aspiration phenomenon in a way to supply the fire with oxygen. The more this phenomenon is important, the more the flames tilt and increase the rate of speed, needing even more oxygen and thus induced flow. This vicious circle can stabilize or have an erratic behavior to trigger off a fire eruption. This article presents these two theories, and especially the new advances on this research subject. KeywordsFire Behavior, Flashover, Blow up, Induced Wind, VOC F.-J. Chatelon et al. 548

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Sensitivity of atypical lateral fire spread to wind and slope

Simpson

Sharples

Evans

2016

Geophysical Research Letters

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This study presents new knowledge of the environmental sensitivity of a dynamic mode of atypical wildland fire spread on steep lee‐facing slopes. This is achieved through a series of idealized numerical simulations performed with the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) and WRF‐Fire coupled atmosphere‐fire models. The sensitivity of the atypical lateral fire spread across lee slopes is tested for a varying background wind speed, wind direction relative to the terrain aspect, and lee slope steepness. The results indicate that the lateral spread characteristics are highly sensitive to each of these environmental conditions, and there is a broad agreement with the empirical thresholds calculated for lateral spread events observed in the 2003 Canberra bushfires. A theory to explain these environmental thresholds and their apparent interdependency is presented. The results are expected to have important implications for the management of wildland fires in rugged terrain.

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Fire behavior associated with the 1994 South Canyon fire on Storm King Mountain, Colorado

Cited by 65 publications

References 0 publications

Overview of Forest Fire Propagation Research

Overview of Forest Fire Propagation Research

Generalized Blaze Flash, a “Flashover” Behavior for Forest Fires—Analysis from the Firefighter’s Point of View

Sensitivity of atypical lateral fire spread to wind and slope

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