Forest Machinery Fires

Rien Visser,Okey Francis Obi,Samuel Lloyd Mcdell

doi:10.5552/crojfe.2021.702

Rien Visser, Okey Francis Obi + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.5552/crojfe.2021.702

Copy DOI

Abstract

Fires in forest machines are typically catastrophic in terms of machine destruction and can develop rapidly to be a risk to the machine operator. They are an issue worldwide and there can be larger consequences such as starting a major forest fire. This paper describes trends in machine fire occurrences in the New Zealand forest harvesting sector. A total of 224 machinery fire incidents were recorded over an 8 year period from 2007 to 2014. Trends in forest machinery fires in the sector were identified and summarized. Late morning (10 am-noon) and mid-afternoon (2–4 pm) showed the highest incidence of machine fire, corresponding to periods with the highest level of work. Excluding the main holiday months, there was a correlation of machine fires to average monthly temperature. Summary statistics on causes of fire ignition showed that 40% were attributed to electrical and hydraulic faults; however, some remain unidentified as the fires commenced after work was completed. A short survey of industry managers was carried out to ascertain machine fire perceptions. 67% agreed that machine fire was an issue, and only 33% thought the current industry procedures were sufficient to mitigate them. The report concludes with proactive measures to reduce the incidence of forest machine fire risk.

Highlights

Fires are a source of concern in all industries, but especially in forestry as they can cause significant damage in terms of cost and social disturbance (Byram 1959, Chandler et al 1983, Luke and McArthur 1986)
42% of the responders suggest that current industry procedures are not sufficient to mitigate machinery fire hazards, 50% of the total responders agree that there is the need for an industry standard for the prevention of possible machinery fires
This study provides empirical evidence as to the occurrence of machinery fires in New Zealand forest harvesting sector

Summary

Introduction

Fires are a source of concern in all industries, but especially in forestry as they can cause significant damage in terms of cost and social disturbance (Byram 1959, Chandler et al 1983, Luke and McArthur 1986). In forestry, it is the forest itself that is at risk, but machinery used during forest harvesting operations can self-ignite (Baxter 2002). In addition to the economic loss of the machine, other losses include lost working hours, damage to immediate and surrounding forest

Methods

Results

Conclusion