A high temperature water-cooled anemometer

Prior attempts to measure air velocity within and near fires have not been completely successful because of mechanical and electronic failures due to heat. A system of cooling critical mechanical and electronic parts of anemometers using liquids has been developed to overcome this problem. Note: Mr. Palmer is stationed at Riverside, California, and Mr. Northcutt’s current address is Division of Forest Fire and Atmospheric Sciences Research, Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, D.C. 20250.     

A fire danger rating system for Hawaii

Extremes in rainfall on the Hawaiian Islands make it difficult to judge forest fire danger conditions. The use of an automatic data collection and computer processing system helps to monitor the problem. Note: Messrs. Burgan and Fujioka are on the staff of the Pacific Southwest Forest and Range Experiment Station, Forest Service, U. S. Department of Agriculture. Mr. Hirata is with the National Weather Service. All three are stationed at Honolulu, Hawaii.     

Containment tables for initial attack on forest fires

Long-range planning of forest fire initial attack systems requires a method for evaluation of force effectiveness against an assumed pattern of fire occurrence on the planning unit. Note: The author is an Operations Research Analyst at the Pacific Southwest Forest and Range Experiment Station, Forest Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, stationed at Riverside, California.     

Evaluating fire prevention effectiveness through a probability model

A probability model has been developed to evaluate the effectiveness of fire prevention efforts applied under specific weather conditions. Note: Bradley B. Nickey is assigned to the Pacific Southwest Forest and Range Experiment Station, Forest Service, U. S. Department of Agriculture. Clifford B. Chapman is with the Department of Forestry, State of California.     

Handtools and chain saws outproduce hydraulic units

Field tests assessed forest fireline construction capabilities of two power-assisted tooling systems—a chain saw system and a hydraulic power unit system. These were compared with the conventional handtool system as to fireline construction rate, cost, and other considerations. Note: Irene A. Althaus is a Natural Resource Economist assigned to the Pacific Southwest Forest and Range Experiment Station, Forest Service, U. S. Department of Agriculture, Berkeley, California, stationed at Riverside, California. Robert W. Weaver is Fire Research Coordinator with the California Department of Forestry, Sacramento, California.     

Application of CMA program to wood charring

Experiments were conducted to test the ability of a computer program to describe the charring of ovendried wood. Note: Mr. White is a Forest Products Technologist and Dr. Schaffer is a Supervisory Research Engineer at the Forest Service's Forest Products Laboratory. The Laboratory is maintained at Madison, Wisconsin in cooperation with the University of Wisconsin. Note: The use of trade, firm, or corporation names in this publication is for the information and convenience of the reader. Such use does not constitute official endorsement or approval by the U.S. Department of Agriculture of any product or service to the exclusion of others that may be suitable.     

Measuring mass loss rates in free burning fires

Accurate data on mass loss rates of fuels in large, free-burning fires are scant. However, the authors report a method of making such measurements, which, when tested, provided reliable data. Note: Mr. Murray is now in the Forestry and Timber Bureau, Canberra, Australia; Mr. Northcutt is now in the Division of Forest Fire and Atmosphere Research, Forest Service, USDA, Washington, D. C.; and Mr. Countryman is stationed at Riverside, California.     

Mass fire characteristics in large-scale tests

The suburban sprawl into rural and wildland areas increases the potential for damage from mass fires, either through nuclear attack or natural disaster. But defenses against the devastating effects of mass fires suffer from lack of quantitative information on behavior of large intense fires. Laboratory-scale testing is not enough —it is very likely that a different set of controlling factors take over when a fire grows to a certain size and intensity. A series of large-scale tests using woodland fuels in ordered piles simulating built-up residential areas has been started to provide the missing data. Preliminary tests in the series are reported here. Note: This paper was presented at a fire research symposium sponsored by the Office of Civil Defense at Washington, D.C., May 17, 1965. It is based on a report “Mass Fires and Fire Behavior” (U.S.Forest Service Research Paper PSW-19, 1964, Contract Nos. OCD-OS-62-173 and OCD-PS-64-32 for the Office of Civil Defense) and is availiable from the Clearinghouse of Federal Scientific and Technical Information, U.S. Department of Commerce, Springfield, Virginia 22151. Note: This paper was presented at a fire research symposium sponsored by the Office of Civil Defense at Washington, D.C., May 17, 1965. It is based on a report “Mass Fires and Fire Behavior” (U.S.Forest Service Research Paper PSW-19, 1964, Contract Nos. OCD-OS-62-173 and OCD-PS-64-32 for the Office of Civil Defense) and is availiable from the Clearinghouse of Federal Scientific and Technical Information, U.S. Department of Commerce, Springfield, Virginia 22151.     

The spatial and temporal distribution of crop residue burning in the contiguous United States

Burning crop residue before and/or after harvest is a common farming practice however; there is no baseline estimate for cropland burned area in the contiguous U.S. (CONUS). We present the results of a study, using five years of remotely sensed satellite data to map the location and areal extent of crop residue burning in the CONUS. Our burned area approach combines 500 m Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Normalized Burn Ratio (dNBR) data, with 1 km MODIS active fire counts calibrated using coincident high resolution satellite data to generate area estimates. Our results show that cropland burning is an extensive and recurring annual event in several states in the CONUS. On average, 1,239,000 ha of croplands burn annually, which is equivalent to 43% of the annual average area of wildland fires in the U.S., as reported by the United States Forest Service for the same period. Several states experience high levels (> 30,000 ha yr^− 1) of crop residue burning, including Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas, and Washington. Validation with high resolution burn scar imagery and GPS data collected during targeted field campaigns showed a moderate to high-level accuracy for our burned area estimates, ranging from 78 to 90%. Our approach provides a more consistent methodology for quantifying cropland burned area at regional scales than the previously available U.S. national and state-level statistics on crop residue burning.     

A new fire management policy on Forest Service lands

A new Forest Service policy, effective February 1978, allows some wildfires to burn under prescribed conditions, urges a multidisciplinary approach to fire control, and has applications to rural and urban situations. Note: The author, formerly with the Pacific Southwest Forest and Range Experiment Station, Berkeley, Calif., is now with the Forest Fire and Atmospheric Sciences Research Staff, Washington, D.C.     

Game availability and hunter participation: A study of Washington elk hunting

A major issue in natural resources management is the effect of game availability on hunter participation. In this study, gravity potential measures of availability of elk hunting opportunities, as well as socio-economic data, are used as independent variables in estimation of probability and days of participation equations for elk hunting in Washington State. Days of participation equations are estimated with OLS regression. Probability equations are estimated with logit analysis. Game availability variables are statistically significant in all equations. Applications and extensions of the methodology are discussed.Research on ths paper was supported, in part, by financial assistance from the Division of Program Plans, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. Michael J. Hay and J. John Charbonneau of the Division of Program Plans provided valuable computational help. John Gilstrom and others at the Washington Game Department were very cooperative in providing information on elk availability in Washington. Of course, the author accepts responsibility for all errors of commission or omission.     

Managing the variability of fire behavior

Diversity of fuels, differences in their arrangement, and environmental changes such as in temperature, air pressure, wind velocity, and humidity are among the factors contributing to the variation in fire development. This paper presents a framework for modeling this variability so that product design and firesafety standards can reflect the total information provided by these actual fire tests. Modeling Systems Incorporated Note: The project upon which this paper is based was funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Policy Development and Research, Washington, DC. At the time the work was performed, the author was with the National Fire Protection Association, Boston, MA.     

Minimum ignition energies

In this, the final part of a two-part report, the authors take a look at the electrical energy required to ignite certain solids in air and in oxygen both at 1 atmosphere and at hyperbaric pressures. Increased use of oxygen-enriched atmospheres in medicine, undersea exploration, and the space program (twice with tragic results) has caused attention to be focused on the effects of oxygen enrichment on the flammability of materials. Note: This paper is based on research sponsored by the U.S. Public Health Service, Department of Health, Education and Welfare under Appropriation 7560370. Reference to trade names is made for identification only and does not imply endorsement by the Bureau of Mines.     

The effect of humidity,air temperature,and wind speed on fine fuel moisture content

A controlled environmental chamber was used to study the effects of relative humidity, air temperature, and wind speed on moisture content of tobosa grass. Prediction equations were developed to show rates of change in fine fuel moisture content and equilibrium fine fuel moisture content for both absorption and desorption. Note: Mr. Britton is a Research Associate at Texas Tech University; Mr. Countryman, a Project Leader, Forest Fire Laboratory, Riverside, California; Dr. Wright, Associate Professor of Range Management, Texas Tech University; and Dr. Walvekar, Associate Professor of Industrial Engineering, Texas Tech University. Mr. Britton’s current address is Range Science Department, Texas A & M University, College Station, Texas. Note: This paper is College of Agricultural Sciences, Texas Tech University Contribution No. T-9-111.     

Developing a cost-effective fire management plan for California’s Kern Plateau

The Kern Plateau in Sequoia National Forest was selected as a pilot study area for the development and application of a new fire management planning process. Note: Jason M. Greenlee is President of Fire and Land Management Enterprises (FLAME), Boulder Creek, California. Carl C. Wilson was formerly National Fire Specialist for the Forest Service, USDA, and is now a Forest Fire Consultant at Berkeley, California.     

Pre-prototype hand-held fire detectors

An important and often difficult part of fire extinguishing operations is locating concealed, smoldering fires and hot spots. A rapidresponse infrared-sensitive fire detector, which is suitable for fire department use, has been designed. The author describes the device, and reports the results of laboratory and field tests made on several pre-prototype models. HRB-Singer, Inc. Note: This paper was presented at a fire research symposium, Washington, D.C., on May 17, 1965, sponsored by the Office of Civil Defense. It is based on a report of the same title, No. 76711-F, dated 15 March 1965, by HRB-Singer, Inc., State College, Pa., under Contract No. OCD-OS-65-11 for the Office of Civil Defense, Washington, D. C. Copies of the report are available from the Clearinghouse for Federal Scientific and Technical Information, U. S. Department of Commerce, Springfield, Virginia 22151.     

The modeling of pulsating fires

The authors present scaling relationships for modeling pulsating fires. Data gathered from various sizes of pulsating fires compared favorably with the predicted relationships between fire diameter and pulsation frequency. Note: Mr. Byram is Principal Physicist and Mr. Nelson a Forest Products Technologist with the Southern Forest Fire Laboratory. The paper was presented at the fall meeting, Western States Section, The Combustion Institute, La Jolla, California, October 27 and 28, 1969.     

Extinguishment of alkali metal fires

New uses of sodium, potassium, NaK, lithium, rubidium, and cesium have required further knowledge of effective extinguishing agents to handle fires involving these materials. The effectiveness of inert gas blanketing and oxygen partial pressures was evaluated. Met-L-X and TEC powder (a ternary eutectic compound developed in England) were found to be the most effective agents for all but lithium, where graphite is preferred. MSA Research Corporation Note: Based on a report with the same title identified as Technical Documentary Report No. APL TDR 64-114 prepared by the MSA Research Corporation, Callery, Pennsylvania, for the Air Force Systems Command, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, and dated October 1964. Copies of the complete report are available from the Office of Technical Services, U. S. Department of Commerce, Washington 25, D. C.     

The Border Industry Program and the impacts of expenditures by Mexican Border Industry employees on a U.S. Border Community: An empirical study of nogales

The Border Industries Program was initiated in 1965 as a series of agreements between Mexico and the United States to bring U.S. industries to the Mexican side of the border, and thereby provide employment and income opportunities in a region of relatively high unemployment. Since 1965, many U. S. industries have taken advantage of the Program, and located firms on the Mexican and U.S. side of the border. Supposedly this has fostered economic development of not only the Mexican border region, but also U.S. border communities. Part of this impact has resulted from the expenditures of Mexican Border Industry employees in the adjacent U.S. town. The objective of the research presented in the present article is to empirically estimate the impact of these expenditures on income, employment, and population in a specific U.S. border community. An input-output model of the Nogales, Arizona, area is used in a case study in making the analysis. The results indicate that the impact of the Mexican Border Industry wage payments on the Nogales, Arizona, economy have been significant. Policy implications for those interested in regional economic development are given.The authors wish to thank Dr. Sylvia Lane, Dr. George Learning, Dr. William Martin, and Mr. Harry Plumlee for comments and suggestions on an earlier draft. The research reported herein is a contribution to Western Regional Research Project W-113, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Agricultural Experiment Station of the University of Arizona College of Agriculture. The article is Journal Paper No. 2057 of the Arizona Agricultural Experiment Station.     

Part I Ignition temperatures and flame spread rates

Part I of this two-part report deals with the effects of oxygen enrichment on ignition temperatures and flame spread rates of materials that might be found in hospital hyperbaric chambers. Part II will be carried in the November issue. Increased use of oxygen-enriched atmospheres in medicine, undersea exploration, and the space program (twice with tragic results) has caused attention to be focused on the effects of oxygen enrichment on the flammability of, materials. Note: This paper is based on research sponsored by the U.S. Public Health Service, Department of Health, Education and Welfare, under Appropriation 7560370. Reference to specific brandse is, made for identification only and does not imply endorsement by the Bureau of Mines.