NIST Outdoor Structure Separation Experiments (NOSSE) :

Maranghides, Alexander; Nazaré, Shonali; Link, Eric; Bundy, Matthew F.; Chernovsky, A.; Johnsson, Erik L.; Butler, Kathryn M.; Hawks, Steven R.; Bigelow, Frank H.; Mell, William E.; Bova, Anthony; McNamara, Derek; Milac, Tom; Gorham, Daniel J.; Hedayati, Faraz; Raymer, Bob; Frievalt, Frank; Walton, William

doi:10.6028/nist.tn.2199

Cited by 5 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The fire department might not have documented these more minor incidents as observed at the 2011 Texas Tanglewood Fire. This uncertainty highlights the need for experimental efforts (e.g., [36]) to understand better the role of SSD in fire spread. However, researchers can use databases like the NFIRS to help guide experiments.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Examining Exposure Fires from the United States National Fire Incident Reporting System between 2002 and 2020

McNamara,

Mell

2024

Fire

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Fires resulting from antecedent fires, known as exposure fires, can manifest across diverse environments, including suburban, urban, and rural areas. Notably, exposure fires represented by structure-destroying fires within the wildland–urban interface (WUI) can extend into non-WUI suburban and urban regions, presenting significant challenges. Leveraging data from the United States National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) spanning 2002 to 2020, this study investigates 131,739 exposure fire incidents impacting 348,089 features (incidents). We analyze reported economic costs, affected feature types, and property utilization patterns for these exposure fires. We also compare these exposure fires to information documented in other databases. Finally, we examine structure separation distance at residential dwellings and describe ignition pathways for selected fires. Reported property losses for some fire incidents amounted to USD 5,647,121,172, with content losses totaling USD 1,777,345,793. Prominent fire incident categories include buildings, vehicles, and natural vegetation fires, predominantly occurring in residential, outdoor, and storage areas. While the NFIRS lacked information on most major structure-destroying WUI fires, highlighting this analysis’s lack of statistical representation, it did provide insights into less extensive exposure fires, both WUI and non-WUI, unrecorded elsewhere. Our study reveals significant distinctions in the distribution of separation distances between damaged-to-damaged structures (average separation of 6.5 m) and damaged-to-not-damaged structures (average separation of 18.1 m). Notably, 84% of the incidents in exposure fires involved fire suppression defensive actions. These defensive actions contributed to the differences in structure separation distance distributions, highlighting the often-neglected role of these measures in assessing structure responses during WUI fires. We examined ignition pathways at select exposure fires, highlighting some common features involved in fire spread and challenges in documenting these pathways. Finally, we propose a set of idealized attributes for documenting exposure fires, accentuating the inherent difficulties in collecting such data across expansive geographical areas, particularly when striving for statistical representation. Our findings yield valuable insights into the multifaceted nature of exposure fires, informing future research and database development to aid in mitigating their impact on vulnerable communities.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Examining Exposure Fires from the United States National Fire Incident Reporting System between 2002 and 2020

McNamara,

Mell

2024

Fire

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…While this study provides insights into the firebrand hazard from woodpiles, other NIST studies have focused on the fire hazard from similar flaming sources. Structure separation experiments (SSE) with and without wind [12,13] have been performed to (a) study and compare the fire hazards for wood and steel storage sheds containing wood cribs to simulate high and low fuel loadings and (b) to determine the minimum safe separation distance of the sheds from a nearby structure. Although the wood cribs differ from woodpiles in geometry and the absence of bark, the results from these experiments demonstrate two important points that relate directly to the fire hazard from woodpiles.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The experimental design focused primarily on the firebrand hazard from woodpiles: A detailed study of the hazard from fire, including thermal radiation, convection, and flame contact, would have required woodpiles of a range of sizes arranged at closer separation distances from the structure than in all but a couple of cases in this study. For a study of the flame hazard from burning wood cribs, see the NIST reports on structure separation experiments [12,13].…”

Section: Limitationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wind-driven fire spread to a structure from firewood piles

Johnsson

2023

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A series of field experiments was conducted to examine the effects on fire spread toward a structure for firewood piles under conditions that may be encountered in a wildland-urban interface (WUI) fire. The fire behavior of a variety of firewood types in multiple configurations was studied under various wind conditions. The 62 experiments conducted included long range firebrand travel and mitigation experiments. Wood types included kiln-dried oak, maple, pine, and undried oak. Configuration variations included woodpile height, orientation, and elevation on a rack. A wind machine provided a mean wind speed between 6 m/s and 14 m/s (13 mi/h to 31 mi/h). The woodpiles were ignited by a propane burner on the ground at the end farthest from a small structure located between 0 m and 7.32 m (0 ft to 24 ft) downwind of the woodpile. A target mulch bed at the base of the structure tested the ability of firebrands produced by the burning woodpile to ignite spot fires that threatened the structure. The experiments in this study demonstrated that firewood piles can be rapid sources of spot fire ignitions and can easily spread fire to nearby structures. Rapid fire growth on and substantial flames from the woodpiles were found for all wood types and configurations. Fire behavior was classified as mostly high with medium hazard for only the lowest wind condition. In all cases, spot fire generation was affected by the wind field; the structure created both upward flow (enhanced by buoyancy) and a vortex that deposited firebrands next to the structure. During all experiments, the burning woodpile produced firebrands that ignited spot fires in the target mulch bed. In long range experiments, firebrands from a woodpile caused ignitions over 26 m (85 ft) downwind. This study of the fire hazard of woodpiles is part of a series designed to better inform standards and codes regarding placement of landscape features around homes that are at risk of exposure to wildland-urban interface fires.

show abstract

“…The resulting shed fire then ignites Residence 3 along path B4, through direct flame and radiation. This shed-to-structure ignition path is currently being studied at NIST [63,64].…”

Section: Hazardous Scenariosmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The same radiation exchange and convective transport of hot gases between burning parallel surfaces that led to eruptive behavior for parallel wood fences can potentially result in highly hazardous situations for other closely spaced parallel surfaces. As one approach, the Structure Separation Experiments project at NIST [63,64] is addressing the question of how far apart residences should be from other nearby structures.…”

Section: S1 Study the Effects On Fire Behavior Of Closely Spaced Para...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Wind-driven fire spread to a structure from fences and mulch

Butler

2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A series of field experiments was conducted to examine the effects on fire spread toward a structure for combustible fences and mulch under conditions that may be encountered in a wildland-urban interface (WUI) fire. The fire behavior of a variety of materials, designs, and configurations were studied under various wind conditions. The 187 experiments were split into five categories: mulch only, fence only, fence plus mulch, parallel fences, and long range firebrand experiments. Fence materials included western redcedar, California redwood, pine, vinyl, and wood-plastic composites, and fence styles included privacy, lattice, and good neighbor (board on board). The tested mulch types were shredded hardwood, mini pine bark nuggets, pine straw, rubber, and artificial turf. A wind machine provided a mean wind speed between 6 m/s and 14 m/s (13 mi/h to 31 mi/h). The fence and/or mulch bed was ignited by a propane burner on the ground at the end farthest from the structure. A small structure was located between 0 m and 1.83 m (0 ft to 6 ft) downwind of the fence or mulch bed as a target for flames and firebrands. A target mulch bed at the base of the structure tested the ability of firebrands produced by the burning fence and mulch bed to ignite spot fires that threatened the structure.

show abstract

NIST Outdoor Structure Separation Experiments (NOSSE) :

Cited by 5 publications

References 0 publications

Examining Exposure Fires from the United States National Fire Incident Reporting System between 2002 and 2020

Examining Exposure Fires from the United States National Fire Incident Reporting System between 2002 and 2020

Wind-driven fire spread to a structure from firewood piles

Wind-driven fire spread to a structure from fences and mulch

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About