Forest resilience and post-fire conifer regeneration in the southern Cascades, Lassen Volcanic National Park California, USA

Emissions from biomass burning (BB) occurring at midlatitudes can reach the Arctic, where they influence the remote aerosol population. By using measurements of levoglucosan and black carbon, we identify seven BB events reaching Svalbard in 2020. We find that most of the BB events are significantly different to the rest of the year (nonevents) for most of the chemical and physical properties. Aerosol mass and number concentrations are enhanced by up to 1 order of magnitude during the BB events. During BB events, the submicrometer aerosol bulk composition changes from an organic- and sulfate-dominated regime to a clearly organic-dominated regime. This results in a significantly lower hygroscopicity parameter κ for BB aerosol (0.4 ± 0.2) compared to nonevents (0.5 ± 0.2), calculated from the nonrefractory aerosol composition. The organic fraction in the BB aerosol showed no significant difference for the O:C ratios (0.9 ± 0.3) compared to the year (0.9 ± 0.6). Accumulation mode particles were present during all BB events, while in the summer an additional Aitken mode was observed, indicating a mixture of the advected air mass with locally produced particles. BB tracers (vanillic, homovanillic, and hydroxybenzoic acid, nitrophenol, methylnitrophenol, and nitrocatechol) were significantly higher when air mass back trajectories passed over active fire regions in Eastern Europe, indicating agricultural and wildfires as sources. Our results suggest that the impact of BB on the Arctic aerosol depends on the season in which they occur, and agricultural and wildfires from Eastern Europe have the potential to disturb the background conditions the most.

Mine fires are common the underground exploitation of mineral raw materials. With the development of mining science and practice, the methods of extinguishing mine fires using new methods and materials were also developed. Today, in mining practice, direct fire extinguishing with water or fire extinguishers, isolation of oxidation zones with insulating walls, installation of torket concrete on the walls of the pit room or use of special foams are most often used. Methods based on ventilation methods or the use of inert gases can also be encountered. All these methods are used to extinguish local oxidation processes, fires are localized in a part of the pit, ventilation department or goafs. This paper presents methods of extinguishing a mine fire where the fire zone covered a larger area and it was not possible to localize it in one part of the underground mine, the pit is completely closed and isolated until the oxidation process subsides due to lack of oxygen. At the time of the complete closure and isolation of the pit, several gas detectors remained in operation in the pit, through which the change in the composition of the pit air could be monitored during the still active pit fire. At the same time, samples of the pit atmosphere behind the isolation walls were regularly taken, their analysis was performed and they were compared with the data obtained using active gas detectors. The key question was when to reopen the pit, conduct an inspection and try to reactivate the pit operations. Although it is an underground brown coal mine, some experiences and knowledge can be applied and used in underground mines of other mineral resources threatened by pit fires. Experiences can also be applied in case of fire, where it is possible to control the fire zone only through insulating walls. It was established that changes in the activity of the pit fire were manifested both on the insulation walls and on the active gas detectors.

Coupling fire and energy in the Anthropocene: Deploying scale to analyze social vulnerability to forced electricity outages in California

A plastic pellet manufacturing company in Pasuruan, Indonesia, is a company operating in the manufacturing sector and producing plastic pellets. Fire is one of the possible, unpredictably occurring risks during the manufacture of concrete. Unwanted fires can result in significant damage and human loss. Since it is impossible to foresee when or where a fire will strike, early prevention and response measures are required. Thus, as a preventive and mitigating action against the fire danger at a plastic pellet manufacturing In Pasuruan, Indonesia, the goal of this research is to assess the suitability of the active fire protection system. The research is observational and uses a descriptive method. The research findings show that plastic pellet manufacturing in Pasuruan, Indonesia, has an average suitability rate of 96% with regard to the implementation of the active fire protection system. The assessment of fire detector implementation, as per SNI 03-3985-2000, is classified as good (100%). The assessment of fire alarm implementation, as per SNI 03- 3985-2000, is classified as good (100%). The assessment of sprinkler implementation, as per SNI 03-3989-2000, is classified as sufficient (80%). The assessment of fire extinguisher implementation, as per the Ministry of Labour and Transmigration Regulation No. Per. 04/MEN/1980, is classified as good (100%). The assessment of hydrant implementation, as per SNI 03-1745-2000, is classified as good (100%). Conclusively, the suitability of the active protection system for plastic pellet manufacturing in Pasuruan, Indonesia, falls into the good category.

Trends and drivers of Arctic-boreal fire intensity between 2003 and 2022

Abstract. In the western United States, prolonged drought, a warming climate, and historical fuel buildup have contributed to larger and more intense wildfires as well as to longer fire seasons. As these costly wildfires become more common, new tools and methods are essential for improving our understanding of the evolution of fires and how extreme weather conditions, including heat waves, windstorms, droughts, and varying levels of active-fire suppression, influence fire spread. Here, we develop the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES)-Observed Fire Event Representation (GOFER) algorithm to derive the hourly fire progression of large wildfires and create a product of hourly fire perimeters, active-fire lines, and fire spread rates. Using GOES-East and GOES-West geostationary satellite detections of active fires, we test the GOFER algorithm on 28 large wildfires in California from 2019 to 2021. The GOFER algorithm includes parameter optimizations for defining the burned-to-unburned boundary and correcting for the parallax effect from elevated terrain. We evaluate GOFER perimeters using 12 h data from the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS)-derived Fire Event Data Suite (FEDS) and final fire perimeters from the California's Fire and Resource Assessment Program (FRAP). Although the GOES imagery used to derive GOFER has a coarser resolution (2 km at the Equator), the final fire perimeters from GOFER correspond reasonably well to those obtained from FRAP, with a mean Intersection-over-Union (IoU) of 0.77, in comparison to 0.83 between FEDS and FRAP; the IoU indicates the area of overlap over the area of the union relative to the reference perimeters, in which 0 is no agreement and 1 is perfect agreement. GOFER fills a key temporal gap present in other fire tracking products that rely on low-Earth-orbit imagery, where perimeters are available at intervals of 12 h or longer or at ad hoc intervals from aircraft overflights. This is particularly relevant when a fire spreads rapidly, such as at maximum hourly spread rates of over 5 km h−1. Our GOFER algorithm for deriving the hourly fire progression using GOES can be applied to large wildfires across North and South America and reveals considerable variability in the rates of fire spread on diurnal timescales. The resulting GOFER product has a broad set of potential applications, including the development of predictive models for fire spread and the improvement of atmospheric transport models for surface smoke estimates. The resulting GOFER product has a broad set of potential applications, including the development of predictive models for fire spread and the improvement of atmospheric transport models for surface smoke estimates (https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.8327264, Liu et al., 2023).

Overnight fires are emerging in North America with previously unknown drivers and implications. This notable phenomenon challenges the traditional understanding of the 'active day, quiet night' model of the diurnal fire cycle1-3 and current fire management practices4,5. Here we demonstrate that drought conditions promote overnight burning, which is a key mechanism fostering large active fires. We examined the hourly diurnal cycle of 23,557 fires and identified 1,095 overnight burning events (OBEs, each defined as a night when a fire burned through the night) in North America during 2017-2020 using geostationary satellite data and terrestrial fire records. A total of99% of OBEs were associated with large fires (>1,000 ha) and at least one OBE was identified in 20% of these large fires. OBEs were early onset after ignition and OBE frequency was positively correlated with fire size. Although warming is weakening the climatological barrier to night-time fires6, we found that the main driver of recent OBEs in large fires was the accumulated fuel dryness and availability (that is, drought conditions), which tended to lead to consecutive OBEs in a single wildfire for several days and even weeks. Critically, we show that daytime drought indicators can predict whether an OBE will occur the following night, which could facilitate early detection and management of night-time fires. We also observed increases in fire weather conditions conducive to OBEs over recentdecades, suggesting an accelerated disruption of the diurnal fire cycle.

Abstract This paper proposes a risk assessment method based on the best‐worst method (BWM) and decision‐making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) to evaluate the fire safety level of alternative design schemes for cruise ships relative to the standard‐based options. Firstly, the analytic hierarchy model of fire safety assessment is constructed by analyzing the passive fire protection system, active fire protection system, and evacuation and escape capability of cruise ship large cabins. Then, the linguistic scale functions and Z‐numbers are used to deal with the fuzzy evaluation of fire safety factors by experts, and the maximizing consensus technique is adopted to determine the weight of each expert to enhance group consistency. Considering the influence degree of each factor on fire safety and the correlation between factors, the BWM is combined with DEMATEL to establish the risk source weight calculation model. The fire safety level of alternative cruise ship designs is further determined by the fuzzy comprehensive evaluation approach. Finally, to validate the effectiveness of the proposed method, a fire safety assessment is conducted on the alternative design scheme of a luxury cruise passenger restaurant. The results confirm that the proposed method can effectively evaluate the fire safety of alternative design compared to the standard‐based scheme.

Preparation and thermal responsiveness of microencapsulated fluorinated liquids for automatic fire extinguishing

Hotspots, indicating active fires and potential sources of air pollution, are a major concern due to their impact on air quality in West Kalimantan. In this study, an analysis was carried out regarding the relationship of hotspots to the Air Pollution Standard Index (ISPU) based on the carbon monoxide (CO) parameter. This study aimed to determine the relationship between forest fires and air pollution levels. The data used in this study is in the form of monthly average CO concentration data and coordinates of hotspots in 2017-2021. To determine the effect of CO concentration, CO concentration was converted into ISPU and then mapped using the Inverse Distance Weighting (IDW) interpolation method. In addition, the overlay technique is also applied to the map and the correlation coefficient calculation between ISPU data and hotspot data. The study results show that the annual average number of hotspots ranges from 769 to 3,612, while the average ISPU ranges from 22.21 to 59.03. The highest average number of hotspots occurred in 2019, with 3,612 hotspots and the highest average ISPU value of 59.03, categorized as moderate. However, when examined monthly, the highest average number of hotspots is observed in August and September, with 8,505 and 8,321 hotspots, respectively, and average ISPU values of 55.36 and 88.32, categorized as moderate. Furthermore, the correlation coefficient between the average number of hotspots and the average ISPU per month is 0.91, and per year is 0.98, indicating a very high relationship. Spatially, clustered hotspot locations correspond to higher ISPU values. This implies that as the number of hotspots increases, the ISPU value based on CO concentration increases.

ContextWildland-urban interface (WUI) areas are facing increased forest fire risks and extreme precipitation events due to climate change, which can lead to post-fire flood events. The city of Flagstaff in northern Arizona, USA experienced WUI forest thinning, fire, and record rainfall events, which collectively contributed to large floods and damages to the urban neighborhoods and city infrastructure.ObjectivesWe demonstrate multi-temporal, high resolution image applications from an unoccupied aerial vehicle (UAV) and terrestrial lidar in estimating landscape disturbance impacts within the WUI. Changes in forest vegetation and bare ground cover in WUIs are particularly challenging to estimate with coarse-resolution satellite images due to fine-scale landscape processes and changes that often result in mixed pixels.MethodsUsing Sentinel-2 satellite images, we document forest fire impacts and burn severity. Using 2016 and 2021 UAV multispectral images and Structure-from-Motion data, we estimate post-thinning changes in forest canopy cover, patch sizes, canopy height distribution, and bare ground cover. Using repeat lidar data within a smaller area of the watershed, we quantify geomorphic effects in the WUI associated with the fire and subsequent flooding.ResultsWe document that thinning significantly reduced forest canopy cover, patch size, tree density, and mean canopy height resulting in substantially reduced active crown fire risks in the future. However, the thinning equipment ignited a forest fire, which burned the WUI at varying severity at the top of the watershed that drains into the city. Moderate-high severity burns occurred within 3 km of downtown Flagstaff threatening the WUI neighborhoods and the city. The upstream burned area then experienced 100-year and 200–500-year rainfall events, which resulted in large runoff-driven floods and sedimentation in the city.ConclusionWe demonstrate that UAV high resolution images and photogrammetry combined with terrestrial lidar data provide detailed and accurate estimates of forest thinning and post-fire flood impacts, which could not be estimated from coarser-resolution satellite images. Communities around the world may need to prepare their WUIs for catastrophic fires and increase capacity to manage sediment-laden stormwater since both fires and extreme weather events are projected to increase.

Fire management has proven successful in reducing deforestation, preserving biodiversity and mitigating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. After years of zero burning policies in fire-adapted ecosystems, and resulting increases in fire hazards and risks, countries are moving towards integrated fire management (IFM) including prescribed burning (PB). With a primary focus on biodiversity, Brazilian governmental organizations endorsed this paradigm shift in 2014, with the introduction of IFM in a number of protected areas (PA) of the Cerrado. Reducing high intensity mid/late dry season (M/LDS) fires through PB in the early dry season (EDS) has proven successful in other savanna ecosystems, with demonstrated mitigation potential as EDS fires are associated with lower GHG emissions. In the present study, Earth observation data were used to analyze the seasonality of active fires, burned areas and fuel loads. A dynamic performance benchmark (control-treatment paired sample test) was applied to assess the effectiveness of existing IFM activities in promoting emission abatement over the pre-covid period 2014–2019. Compared against the responses of PAs without IFM-PB, the PAs with IFM-PB showed significant increases in EDS fires (+137% hotspots) and EDS burned areas (from a share of 11.2% to 29.5% of the total yearly burned area). Fuel fragmentation through EDS-PB, tracked through calibrated fuel load maps, also led to a 62% reduction in burned areas in the IFM period 2014–2019. Combined M/LDS burned areas decreased from 85.1% of the total yearly burned area to a share of 67.7%. When applying the observed shift in fire seasonality and the effect of burned area reduction to all the PA of the Cerrado for the same period, we estimate an emission abatement potential of 1085 764 tCO2e/y. Given the fact that IFM followed a biodiversity-centred approach in the Cerrado, an emission abatement-centered approach could result in even higher abatement potentials.

Abstract. We investigated long-term changes using a harmonised 22-year data set of aerosol light absorption measurements, in conjunction with air mass history and aerosol source analysis. The measurements were performed at Zeppelin Observatory, Svalbard, from 2002 to 2023. We report a statistically significant decreasing long-term trend for the light absorption coefficient. However, the last 8 years of 2016–2023 showed a slight increase in the magnitude of the light absorption coefficient for the Arctic haze season. In addition, we observed an increasing trend in the single-scattering albedo from 2002 to 2023. Five distinct source regions, representing different transport pathways, were identified. The trends involving air masses from the five regions showed decreasing absorption coefficients, except for the air masses from Eurasia. We show that the changes in the occurrences of each transport pathway cannot explain the reductions in the absorption coefficient observed at the Zeppelin station. An increase in contributions of air masses from more marine regions, with lower absorption coefficients, is compensated for by an influence from high-emission regions. The proportion of air masses en route to Zeppelin, which have been influenced by active fires, has undergone a noticeable increase starting in 2015. However, this increase has not impacted the long-term trends in the concentration of light-absorbing aerosol. Along with aerosol optical properties, we also show an increasing trend in accumulated surface precipitation experienced by air masses en route to the Zeppelin Observatory. We argue that the increase in precipitation, as experienced by air masses arriving at the station, can explain a quarter of the long-term reduction in the light absorption coefficient. We emphasise that meteorological conditions en route to the Zeppelin Observatory are critical for understanding the observed trends.

PT Wijaya Karya Beton Tbk. Pasuruan is a manufacturing company engaged in the ready-mix concrete industry. One of the potential unpredictable hazards during the concrete production process is fire. Fire is an unwanted ignition that is difficult to control, as it can result in losses of property, loss of life, and the interruption of the production process. Therefore, the objective of this research is to evaluate the compliance of the active fire protection system as a preventive and mitigating measure against the fire hazard at PT Wijaya Karya Beton Tbk. Pasuruan. The research is observational and uses a descriptive method. The research findings indicate that the level of compliance with the implementation of the active fire protection system at PT Wijaya Karya Beton Tbk. Pasuruan averages 83.33%. The evaluation of the implementation of fire extinguishers according to NFPA 10 is categorized as good (91%), the evaluation of hydrant implementation according to SNI 03-1745-2000 and Minister of Public Works Regulation No. 26/PRT/M/2008 is categorized as good (90%), and the evaluation of the implementation of fire alarms according to NFPA 72 is categorized as sufficient (68%). In conclusion, the compliance of the active protection system at PT Wijaya Karya Beton Tbk. Pasuruan is considered to be in the good category.

Active fire protection system in RSD. A. Dadi Tjokrodipo Bandar Lampung has not met the standards related to the Technical Requirements for Fire Protection Systems. Inside the building there is an alarm system and fire protection system that is not maintained and not functioning, there are no automatic sprinklers installed in the room, and there is no fire extinguishing system installed. permanent and uneven. The aim of this research is to determine the suitability analysis of RSD active fire protection system facilities. Dr.A Dadi Tjokrodipo, Bandar Lampung City, 2023. The aim of the research is to determine the risk factors for fire protection at RSD Dr. A. Dadi Tjokrodipo Bandar Lampung. This type of qualitative descriptive research uses an observation and documentation interview approach. The total sample was 4 respondents using purposive sampling technique. The research results show that active fire protection facilities are APAR, alarm, detector, sprinkler and hydrant with a total of 43 indicators, consisting of APAR (13 indicators), 12 indicators (90%) are met, 1 indicator (10%) is not met. . Of all these indicators. RSD dr. Dadi Tjokrodipo, Bandar Lampung City, 12 indicators were met (5.16%) and 34 (94.84%) other indicators were not met. It can be concluded that hospital fire response readiness in dealing with potential fires is still minimal and inadequate. It is hoped that the hospital will continue to improve the quality of facilities and infrastructure.

Drought-related wildfire accounts for one-third of the forest wildfires in subtropical China

Exploring CO2 anomalies in Brazilian biomes combining OCO-2 & 3 data: Linkages to wildfires patterns

Anthropic fires are hugely responsible for the deforestation of the Brazilian legal Amazon region, one of the world’s most important ecosystems. In this way, policies must be implemented to reduce such a phenomenon. Preventive policies must be manifold, but historical time series analysis and active fire behavior predictions might subside part of the actions. Following this track, the present study aims to understand the spatiotemporal dynamics of active fire, using historical data of active fire comprising all states in the Brazilian legal Amazon region from January 2000 to December 2022. We used information from the National Institute for Space Research to fit appropriate statistical models for counting time series and forecast the monthly behavior of active fire until May 2023. The results showed that approximately 73% of active fires were registered in Pará, Mato Grosso, and Rondônia states, mainly between 2000 and 2010. In Pará, the forecast obtained reflects the phenomenon’s seasonality, with a higher concentration between August and November. In summary, the adopted methodology provided results that facilitated an understanding of the dynamics of active fire in the Brazilian legal Amazon region and can be considered a relevant tool to help authorities formulate public policies for arson prevention.

Fire is one of the disasters that often occur and result in losses, both to people, assets, and productivity. Fires can occur due to the use of fire, gas explosions, electrical short circuits, HP exploding, natural factors, building conditions, such as the distance between buildings, materials, access to rescue, and weather factors. A school must meet the requirements of safety, health, comfort, and security. Schools must have a stable and sturdy building structure and a safe zone to withstand natural disasters. They should also have an active and/or passive fire protection system to prevent and deal with fire disasters. Knowledge and attitudes are the first parameters of preparedness, which form the basis of every school element’s behavior in disaster preparedness. The research objective is to determine the differences in knowledge scores before and after a fire simulation. This study uses a knowledge questionnaire that has been tested for validity. The sample size is 37 respondents, and the data is analyzed using a paired T-test. The results of the study showed differences in knowledge before and after the fire simulation (p-value = 0.002). Therefore, researchers suggest that schools routinely carry out simple fire simulations in collaboration with the Depok City Fire Department and incorporate topics regarding fire disasters in the curriculum. School can also conduct virtual fire drills or use other methods and media such as video fire simulations, fire safety posters, or safety inductions conducted before starting the first class of the day .