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A simple laboratory-scale experimental method was developed to study firebrand generation processes. As part of these experiments, Japanese wind facilities were used to elucidate the effect of wind speed on the firebrand generation. It was found that very
A shared feature in the rapid spread of large outdoor fires are the production or generation of new, far smaller combustible fragments from the original fire source referred to as firebrands. A simplified experimental protocol has been developed that
Fire spread occurs via radiation, flame contact, and firebrands. While firebrand showers are known to be a cause of spot fires which ignite fuels far from the main fire front, in the case of short distance spot fires, radiation from the main fire may play
As part of recent building code change discussions, it has been suggested that by increasing the spacing of boards, it may be possible to mitigate ignition of wood decking assemblies from wind-driven firebrand showers. An experimental series was undertaken
Samuel L. Manzello, Sayaka Suzuki, Michael Gollner, A C. Fernandez-Pello
Large outdoor fires are an increasing danger to the built environment. Wildfires that spread into com- munities, labeled as Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) fires, are an example of large outdoor fires. Other examples of large outdoor fires are urban fires
Samuel L. Manzello, Sayaka Suzuki, Tomohiro Naruse
The production of firebrands during large outdoor fires remains unresolved in spite of many advances in the fire safety science discipline. To better grasp this complex problem, multiple experiments were undertaken using full-scale re-entrant corner
Mixing rules are proposed and used to correlate well-mixed forest fuel bed fire spread data from the literature using the dimensionless correlations previously developed for single-species forest fuel bed fire spread with the help of dimensional analysis
Samuel L. Manzello, Sara McAllister, Sayaka Suzuki, Raphaele Blanchi, Elsa Pastor, Ronchi Enrico
A workshop of the permanent working group, sponsored by the International Association for Fire Safety Science (IAFSS), entitled Large Outdoor Fires and the Built Environment(LOF&BE) was held from 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm on Sunday June 30, 2019. The workshop was
Ruggiero Lovreglio, Erica D. Kuligowski, Steve Gwynne, Ken Strahan
The occurrence of wildfire threats has dramatically increased in the last few decades creating serious challenges for hundreds of thousands of communities around the world. Understanding the physical and social dynamics characterizing wildfires is
Firebrand showers have been identified as the primary mechanism of fire spread and cause of destruction in wildland-urban interface fires. The heat transfer processes that follow deposition and lead to ignition have received little attention until recently
Experiments were conducted using mock-ups of full-scale roofing assemblies to determine if any insight into firebrand generation from real-scale structures as well as actual urban and wildland-urban interface (WUI) fires was possible using simpler
Pre-Fire and Post-Fire Data Studies in the WUI are a systematic effort to document and understand the fire and ember exposure, and consequential damage, from a wildland fire which burned into a developed area. The purpose of such studies is to provide a
Firebrands are produced from combustion of both vegetative and structural fuels in large outdoor fires. It is well known that firebrand generation, transport, and ignition mechanisms result in rapid and potentially devastating fire spread processes in
Firebrand production from structure combustion becomes a key factor in the magnitude of how quickly a large outdoor fire may spread. Post‐fire disaster investigations suggest that attached building components, such as wood fencing assemblies are known to
Steve Gwynne, Ronchi Enrico, Noureddine Benichou, Max Kinateder, Erica D. Kuligowski, Islam Gomaa, Masoud Adelzadeh
Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) incidents are likely to become more severe and will affect more and more people. Given their scale and complexity, WUI incidents require a multi-domain approach to assess their impact and the effectiveness of any mitigation
Ryan L. Falkenstein-Smith, Kevin B. McGrattan, Blaza Toman, Marco G. Fernandez
This report documents the measurement of the wind resistance of different types of vegetation. The measurements are made in a wind tunnel with a 2.0 m test section and 0.5 m by 0.5 m cross- section. Samples of vegetation have been cut into cubical volumes
Lauren Folk, Erica D. Kuligowski, Steve Gwynne, John Gales
With more frequent and destructive wildfires occurring in the growing wildland-urban interface (WUI), the ability to ensure the safe evacuation of potentially large groups of people is of increasing importance. This is a challenging task made only more
David T. Butry, David H. Webb, Cheyney M. O'Fallon, Harvey Cutler
This report develops an approach to evaluate the direct and indirect impacts from wildland-urban interface (WUI) fires that result in the loss of functionality of the built environment, for a regional economy. While direct losses from WUI fires are largely
Samuel L. Manzello, Sara McAllister, Sayaka Suzuki, Raphaele Blanchi, Elsa Pastor, Ronchi Enrico
The kickoff workshop of the new permanent working group, sponsored by the International Association for Fire Safety Science (IAFSS), entitled Large Outdoor Fires and the Built Environment was held from 3:00 pm to 4:30 pm on Sunday October 21, 2018. The
Large outdoor fires have the potential to negatively impact the built environment. Wildland fires that spread into communities, known as wildland-urban interface (WUI) fires have become a global problem. Large urban fires, including those that have