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National Fire Danger Rating System
National Fire Danger Rating System (NFDRS) is used in the United States to provide a measure of the relative seriousness of burning conditions and threat of wildfires. Background John J. Keetch, a fire researcher in the southeast, wrote that "One of the prime objectives of the National Fire Danger Rating System (NFDRS) is to provide as accurate a measure as possible of the relative seriousness of burning conditions and thereby, NFDRS can serve as an aid to fire control programs." In 1954 there were eight different fire danger rating systems in use across the United States. Better communication and better transportation were beginning to make mutual assistance agreements between fire control agencies more practical than in the past. State compacts, and in the case of the federal government, interagency and interregional agreements were bringing fire control teams together from widely separated areas of the county. It became necessary to establish a national system for estimating ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spread Component
Spread Component (SC) (as used in the National Fire Danger Rating System) is a rating of the forward rate of spread of a headfire.Deeming, et al., (1977) Deeming states that "the spread component is numerically equal to the theoretical ideal rate of spread expressed in feet-per-minute." This carefully worded statement indicates both guidelines (theoretical) and cautions (ideal) that must be used when applying the spread component. Wind speed, slope, and fine fuel moisture are key inputs in the calculations of the spread component, thus accounting for a high variability from day to day. The spread component is expressed on an open-ended scale; it has no upper limit. References External links Inventory of the National Fire Danger Rating System Collection, 1911 - 2004 in the Forest History Society The Forest History Society is an American non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of forest and conservation history."Forest History Society." Echo Project. Center for His ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wildfire
A wildfire, forest fire, bushfire, wildland fire or rural fire is an unplanned, uncontrolled and unpredictable fire in an area of Combustibility and flammability, combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identified as a bushfire(bushfires in Australia, in Australia), desert fire, grass fire, hill fire, peat fire, prairie fire, vegetation fire, or veld fire. Fire ecology, Some natural forest ecosystems depend on wildfire. Wildfires are distinct from beneficial human usage of wildland fire, called controlled burn, controlled burning, although controlled burns can turn into wildfires. Fossil charcoal indicates that wildfires began soon after the appearance of terrestrial plants approximately 419 million years ago during the Silurian period. Earth's carbon-rich vegetation, seasonally dry climates, atmospheric oxygen, and widespread lightning and volcanic ignitions create favorable conditions for fires. The occurre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Slope Class
In mathematics, the slope or gradient of a Line (mathematics), line is a number that describes both the ''direction'' and the ''steepness'' of the line. Slope is often denoted by the letter ''m''; there is no clear answer to the question why the letter ''m'' is used for slope, but its earliest use in English appears in Matthew O'Brien (mathematician), O'Brien (1844) who wrote the equation of a straight line as and it can also be found in Isaac Todhunter, Todhunter (1888) who wrote it as "''y'' = ''mx'' + ''c''". Slope is calculated by finding the ratio of the "vertical change" to the "horizontal change" between (any) two distinct points on a line. Sometimes the ratio is expressed as a quotient ("rise over run"), giving the same number for every two distinct points on the same line. A line that is decreasing has a negative "rise". The line may be practical – as set by a Surveying, road surveyor, or in a diagram that models a road or a roof either as a description or as a plan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hazard Scales
A hazard is a potential source of harm. Substances, events, or circumstances can constitute hazards when their nature would allow them, even just theoretically, to cause damage to health, life, property, or any other interest of value. The probability of that harm being realized in a specific ''incident'', combined with the magnitude of potential harm, make up its risk, a term often used synonymously in colloquial speech. Hazards can be classified in several ways; they can be classified as Natural hazard, natural, Anthropogenic hazard, anthropogenic, technological, or any combination, such as in the case of the natural phenomenon of wildfire becoming more common due to human-made climate change or more harmful due to changes in building practices. A common theme across many forms of hazards in the presence of Potential energy, stored energy that, when released, can cause damage. The stored energy can occur in many forms: chemical, mechanical, thermal hazards and by the populations ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Firefighting In The United States
upright=1.5, ''Streets of New York'' (1869) Firefighting in the United States dates back to the earliest European colonies in the Americas. Early firefighters were simply community members who would respond to neighborhood fires with buckets. The first dedicated volunteer fire brigade was established in 1736 in Philadelphia. These volunteer companies were often paid by insurance companies in return for protecting their clients. As cities grew this method became unreliable, and the first professional fire department was established in Cincinnati in 1853. By the 20th century fire departments were forced to adapt to more modern hazards and dangers, such as high rise and hazardous material fires. They also began to expand their services to include other, non-fire, public safety needs including vehicle rescue and EMS service. As of 2018, 62% of fire departments offered some form of emergency medical response. Firefighters in the United States today are organized along paramilitar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fire Prevention
Fire prevention is a function of many fire departments. The goal of fire prevention is to educate the public on the precautions which should be taken to prevent potentially harmful fires and how to survive these fires in the event that they do occur. It is a proactive method of preventing fire-based emergencies and reducing the damage caused by them. Many fire departments have one or more Fire Prevention Officers, which may also be a routine duty of firefighters. In the general sense of preventing harmful fires, many aspects are discussed in the articles Fire protection and Fire safety. In the United States, national work on best practices is in the Vision 2020 program. Target audiences Students Children are the primary target of fire prevention knowledge. Firefighters will often visit schools and teach students the basics of fire prevention and fire safety, including how to evacuate from a burning building and how to prevent fires by avoiding dangerous activities such as playi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Durham, North Carolina
Durham ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Durham County, North Carolina, Durham County. Small portions of the city limits extend into Orange County, North Carolina, Orange County and Wake County, North Carolina, Wake County. With a population of 283,506 in the 2020 United States Census, 2020 Census, Durham is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, 4th-most populous city in North Carolina, and the List of United States cities by population, 74th-most populous city in the United States. The city is located in the east-central part of the Piedmont (United States), Piedmont region along the Eno River. Durham is the core of the four-county Research Triangle#Office of Management and Budget Definition, Durham-Chapel Hill Metropolitan Area, which has a population of 649,903 as of 2020 U.S. Census. The Office of Management and Budget also includes Durham as a part of the Raleigh, North Carolina, Raleigh-Durham-Cary Combined Statistical Area, com ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Forest History Society
The Forest History Society is an American non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation of forest and conservation history."Forest History Society." Echo Project. Center for History and New Media, George Mason University. http://echo.gmu.edu/node/144 The society was established in 1946 and incorporated in 1955. The Forest History Society headquarters in Durham, North Carolina, include the Alvin J. Huss Archives and the Carl A. Weyerhaeuser Library, which combine to provide a comprehensive compilation of materials related to the topic of forest history. The archives house large collections from several national organizations and companies such as the Society of American Foresters, the American Forest and Paper Association, the American Forestry Association, the American Tree Farm System, and the Weyerhaeuser Company as well as many other smaller collections of national and international significance. Additionally, the Forest History Society maintains a publication progr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fuel Models
A fuel is any material that can be made to react with other substances so that it releases energy as thermal energy or to be used for work. The concept was originally applied solely to those materials capable of releasing chemical energy but has since also been applied to other sources of heat energy, such as nuclear energy (via nuclear fission and nuclear fusion). The heat energy released by reactions of fuels can be converted into mechanical energy via a heat engine. Other times, the heat itself is valued for warmth, cooking, or industrial processes, as well as the illumination that accompanies combustion. Fuels are also used in the cells of organisms in a process known as cellular respiration, where organic molecules are oxidized to release usable energy. Hydrocarbons and related organic molecules are by far the most common source of fuel used by humans, but other substances, including radioactive metals, are also utilized. Fuels are contrasted with other substances or dev ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Burning Index
Burning Index (BI) is a number used by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to describe the potential amount of effort needed to contain a single fire in a particular fuel type within a rating area. The National Fire Danger Rating System (NFDRS) uses a modified version of Bryam's equation for flame length – based on the Spread Component (SC) and the available energy (ERC) – to calculate flame length from which the Burning Index is computed. The equation for flame length is listed below: ::F_L=j\left left(\frac\right) (25(ERC))\right where: :''j'' is a scaling factor, :''SC'' is the spread component Spread Component (SC) (as used in the National Fire Danger Rating System) is a rating of the forward rate of spread of a headfire.Deeming, et al., (1977) Deeming states that "the spread component is numerically equal to the theoretical ideal rate o ..., :and ''ERC'' is the Energy Release Component. Consequently, the equation for the Burning Index is: ::BI= ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fire
Fire is the rapid oxidation of a material (the fuel) in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction Product (chemistry), products. At a certain point in the combustion reaction, called the ignition point, flames are produced. The ''flame'' is the visible portion of the fire. Flames consist primarily of carbon dioxide, water vapor, oxygen and nitrogen. If hot enough, the gases may become ionized to produce Plasma (physics), plasma. Depending on the substances alight, and any impurities outside, the color of the flame and the fire's Intensity (heat transfer), intensity will be different. Fire in its most common form can result in conflagration, which has the potential to cause physical damage through burning. Fire is an important process that affects ecological systems around the globe. The positive effects of fire include stimulating growth and maintaining various ecological systems. Its negative effects include hazard to life and pr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
