New fire detection technology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Caceres Vinagre, F.J.

1995-01-01

Fire detection methods and systems have advanced rapidly in recent years. In practice, there are two categories of fire detection system: conventional, collective identification, and addressable, individual identification. Hybrid systems are also used. Most Spanish nuclear power plants are equipped with the first type, as they were the only types available when the plants were built. Individual identification systems have been a radical change and have opened up new possibilities for nuclear power plants not available using conventional systems. Conventional systems provide no indication of the exact provenance of the fire-alarm signal, which could even come from different rooms. When a new generation detector initiates an alarm, it identifies itself, and the location of the fire, explicity. Faculty detectors can be located and counted, for fast, efficient replacement, or recording if replacement is not necessary immediately. In the past HALON was used in situations that required an extinguishing agent that was clean for people and equipment such as electrical panels, and in control rooms. Now that it is no longer available, faster detection techniques have had to be developed, to avoid the need for generalized extinction or inadequate extinguishing agents. This presentation analyses the new detection technology, and the ways it is being applied to typical cases in nuclear power plants. (Author)

Nuclear power plant fire protection: fire detection (subsystems study Task 2)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Berry, D.L.

1977-12-01

This report examines the adequacy of fire detection in the context of nuclear power plant safety. Topics considered are: (1) establishing area detection requirements, (2) selecting specific detector types, (3) locating and spacing detectors, and (4) performing installation tests and maintenance. Based on a thorough review of fire detection codes and standards and fire detection literature, the report concludes that current design and regulatory guidelines alone are insufficient to ensure satisfactory fire detection system performance. To assure adequate fire detection, this report recommends the use of in-place testing of detectors under conditions expected to occur normally in areas being protected

Fire protection: no fire without smoke. CCTV breakthrough in fire detection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anon.

1997-01-01

A new CCTV-based fire detection system uses advanced software to detect and locate smoke and vapour from a fire before it becomes visible to the human eye, but is intelligent enough to avoid false alarms due to steam, moving machinery or operating staff in the monitored area. The starting point for the development effort was video motion detection software as used in the security industry. (author)

Fire protection for launch facilities using machine vision fire detection

Science.gov (United States)

Schwartz, Douglas B.

1993-02-01

Fire protection of critical space assets, including launch and fueling facilities and manned flight hardware, demands automatic sensors for continuous monitoring, and in certain high-threat areas, fast-reacting automatic suppression systems. Perhaps the most essential characteristic for these fire detection and suppression systems is high reliability; in other words, fire detectors should alarm only on actual fires and not be falsely activated by extraneous sources. Existing types of fire detectors have been greatly improved in the past decade; however, fundamental limitations of their method of operation leaves open a significant possibility of false alarms and restricts their usefulness. At the Civil Engineering Laboratory at Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida, a new type of fire detector is under development which 'sees' a fire visually, like a human being, and makes a reliable decision based on known visual characteristics of flames. Hardware prototypes of the Machine Vision (MV) Fire Detection System have undergone live fire tests and demonstrated extremely high accuracy in discriminating actual fires from false alarm sources. In fact, this technology promises to virtually eliminate false activations. This detector could be used to monitor fueling facilities, launch towers, clean rooms, and other high-value and high-risk areas. Applications can extend to space station and in-flight shuttle operations as well; fiber optics and remote camera heads enable the system to see around obstructed areas and crew compartments. The capability of the technology to distinguish fires means that fire detection can be provided even during maintenance operations, such as welding.

Using satellite fire detection to calibrate components of the fire weather index system in Malaysia and Indonesia.

Science.gov (United States)

Dymond, Caren C; Field, Robert D; Roswintiarti, Orbita; Guswanto

2005-04-01

Vegetation fires have become an increasing problem in tropical environments as a consequence of socioeconomic pressures and subsequent land-use change. In response, fire management systems are being developed. This study set out to determine the relationships between two aspects of the fire problems in western Indonesia and Malaysia, and two components of the Canadian Forest Fire Weather Index System. The study resulted in a new method for calibrating components of fire danger rating systems based on satellite fire detection (hotspot) data. Once the climate was accounted for, a problematic number of fires were related to high levels of the Fine Fuel Moisture Code. The relationship between climate, Fine Fuel Moisture Code, and hotspot occurrence was used to calibrate Fire Occurrence Potential classes where low accounted for 3% of the fires from 1994 to 2000, moderate accounted for 25%, high 26%, and extreme 38%. Further problems arise when there are large clusters of fires burning that may consume valuable land or produce local smoke pollution. Once the climate was taken into account, the hotspot load (number and size of clusters of hotspots) was related to the Fire Weather Index. The relationship between climate, Fire Weather Index, and hotspot load was used to calibrate Fire Load Potential classes. Low Fire Load Potential conditions (75% of an average year) corresponded with 24% of the hotspot clusters, which had an average size of 30% of the largest cluster. In contrast, extreme Fire Load Potential conditions (1% of an average year) corresponded with 30% of the hotspot clusters, which had an average size of 58% of the maximum. Both Fire Occurrence Potential and Fire Load Potential calibrations were successfully validated with data from 2001. This study showed that when ground measurements are not available, fire statistics derived from satellite fire detection archives can be reliably used for calibration. More importantly, as a result of this work, Malaysia and

Decision algorithms in fire detection systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ristić Jovan D.

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Analogue (and addressable fire detection systems enables a new quality in improving sensitivity to real fires and reducing susceptibility to nuisance alarm sources. Different decision algorithms types were developed with intention to improve sensitivity and reduce false alarm occurrence. At the beginning, it was free alarm level adjustment based on preset level. Majority of multi-criteria decision work was based on multi-sensor (multi-signature decision algorithms - using different type of sensors on the same location or, rather, using different aspects (level and rise of one sensor measured value. Our idea is to improve sensitivity and reduce false alarm occurrence by forming groups of sensors that work in similar conditions (same world side in the building, same or similar technology or working time. Original multi-criteria decision algorithms based on level, rise and difference of level and rise from group average are discussed in this paper.

Network-Based Real-time Integrated Fire Detection and Alarm (FDA) System with Building Automation

Science.gov (United States)

Anwar, F.; Boby, R. I.; Rashid, M. M.; Alam, M. M.; Shaikh, Z.

2017-11-01

Fire alarm systems have become increasingly an important lifesaving technology in many aspects, such as applications to detect, monitor and control any fire hazard. A large sum of money is being spent annually to install and maintain the fire alarm systems in buildings to protect property and lives from the unexpected spread of fire. Several methods are already developed and it is improving on a daily basis to reduce the cost as well as increase quality. An integrated Fire Detection and Alarm (FDA) systems with building automation was studied, to reduce cost and improve their reliability by preventing false alarm. This work proposes an improved framework for FDA system to ensure a robust intelligent network of FDA control panels in real-time. A shortest path algorithmic was chosen for series of buildings connected by fiber optic network. The framework shares information and communicates with each fire alarm panels connected in peer to peer configuration and declare the network state using network address declaration from any building connected in network. The fiber-optic connection was proposed to reduce signal noises, thus increasing large area coverage, real-time communication and long-term safety. Based on this proposed method an experimental setup was designed and a prototype system was developed to validate the performance in practice. Also, the distributed network system was proposed to connect with an optional remote monitoring terminal panel to validate proposed network performance and ensure fire survivability where the information is sequentially transmitted. The proposed FDA system is different from traditional fire alarm and detection system in terms of topology as it manages group of buildings in an optimal and efficient manner.Introduction

Efficient Forest Fire Detection Index for Application in Unmanned Aerial Systems (UASs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Henry Cruz

2016-06-01

Full Text Available This article proposes a novel method for detecting forest fires, through the use of a new color index, called the Forest Fire Detection Index (FFDI, developed by the authors. The index is based on methods for vegetation classification and has been adapted to detect the tonalities of flames and smoke; the latter could be included adaptively into the Regions of Interest (RoIs with the help of a variable factor. Multiple tests have been performed upon database imagery and present promising results: a detection precision of 96.82% has been achieved for image sizes of 960 × 540 pixels at a processing time of 0.0447 seconds. This achievement would lead to a performance of 22 f/s, for smaller images, while up to 54 f/s could be reached by maintaining a similar detection precision. Additional tests have been performed on fires in their early stages, achieving a precision rate of p = 96.62%. The method could be used in real-time in Unmanned Aerial Systems (UASs, with the aim of monitoring a wider area than through fixed surveillance systems. Thus, it would result in more cost-effective outcomes than conventional systems implemented in helicopters or satellites. UASs could also reach inaccessible locations without jeopardizing people’s safety. On-going work includes implementation into a commercially available drone.

Autonomous Forest Fire Detection

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Breejen, E. den; Breuers, M.; Cremer, F.; Kemp, R.A.W.; Roos, M.; Schutte, K.; Vries, J.S. de

1998-01-01

Forest fire detection is a very important issue in the pre-suppression process. Timely detection allows the suppression units to reach the fire in its initial stages and this will reduce the suppression costs considerably. The autonomous forest fire detection principle is based on temporal contrast

FUEGO — Fire Urgency Estimator in Geosynchronous Orbit — A Proposed Early-Warning Fire Detection System

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Scott Stephens

2013-10-01

Full Text Available Current and planned wildfire detection systems are impressive but lack both sensitivity and rapid response times. A small telescope with modern detectors and significant computing capacity in geosynchronous orbit can detect small (12 m2 fires on the surface of the earth, cover most of the western United States (under conditions of moderately clear skies every few minutes or so, and attain very good signal-to-noise ratio against Poisson fluctuations in a second. Hence, these favorable statistical significances have initiated a study of how such a satellite could operate and reject the large number of expected systematic false alarms from a number of sources. Here we present both studies of the backgrounds in Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES 15 data and studies that probe the sensitivity of a fire detection satellite in geosynchronous orbit. We suggest a number of algorithms that can help reduce false alarms, and show efficacy on a few. Early detection and response would be of true value in the United States and other nations, as wildland fires continue to severely stress resource managers, policy makers, and the public, particularly in the western US. Here, we propose the framework for a geosynchronous satellite with modern imaging detectors, software, and algorithms able to detect heat from early and small fires, and yield minute-scale detection times.

Forest Fire Finder - DOAS application to long-range forest fire detection

Science.gov (United States)

Valente de Almeida, Rui; Vieira, Pedro

2017-06-01

Fires are an important factor in shaping Earth's ecosystems. Plant and animal life, in almost every land habitat, are at least partially dependent on the effects of fire. However, their destructive force, which has often proven uncontrollable, is one of our greatest concerns, effectively resulting in several policies in the most important industrialised regions of the globe. This paper aims to comprehensively characterise the Forest Fire Finder (FFF), a forest fire detection system based mainly upon a spectroscopic technique called differential optical absorption spectroscopy (DOAS). The system is designed and configured with the goal of detecting higher-than-the-horizon smoke columns by measuring and comparing scattered sunlight spectra. The article covers hardware and software, as well as their interactions and specific algorithms for day mode operation. An analysis of data retrieved from several installations deployed in the course of the last 5 years is also presented. Finally, this paper features a discussion on the most prominent future improvements planned for the system, as well as its ramifications and adaptations, such as a thermal imaging system for short-range fire seeking or environmental quality control.

Nighttime Fire/Smoke Detection System Based on a Support Vector Machine

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chao-Ching Ho

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Currently, video surveillance-based early fire smoke detection is crucial to the prevention of large fires and the protection of life and goods. To overcome the nighttime limitations of video smoke detection methods, a laser light can be projected into the monitored field of view, and the returning projected light section image can be analyzed to detect fire and/or smoke. If smoke appears within the monitoring zone created from the diffusion or scattering of light in the projected path, the camera sensor receives a corresponding signal. The successive processing steps of the proposed real-time algorithm use the spectral, diffusing, and scattering characteristics of the smoke-filled regions in the image sequences to register the position of possible smoke in a video. Characterization of smoke is carried out by a nonlinear classification method using a support vector machine, and this is applied to identify the potential fire/smoke location. Experimental results in a variety of nighttime conditions demonstrate that the proposed fire/smoke detection method can successfully and reliably detect fires by identifying the location of smoke.

The Hazard Mapping System (HMS)-a Multiplatform Remote Sensing Approach to Fire and Smoke Detection

Science.gov (United States)

Kibler, J.; Ruminski, M. G.

2003-12-01

The HMS is a multiplatform remote sensing approach to detecting fires and smoke over the US and adjacent areas of Canada and Mexico that has been in place since June 2002. This system is an integral part of the National Environmental Satellite and Data Information Service (NESDIS) near realtime hazard detection and mitigation efforts. The system utilizes NOAA's Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES), Polar Operational Environmental Satellites (POES) and the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument on NASA's Terra and Aqua spacecraft. Automated detection algorithms are employed for each of the satellites for the fire detects while smoke is added by a satellite image analyst. In June 2003 the HMS underwent an upgrade. A number of features were added for users of the products generated on the HMS. Sectors covering Alaska and Hawaii were added. The use of Geographic Information System (GIS) shape files for smoke analysis is a new feature. Shape files show the progression and time of a single smoke plume as each analysis is drawn and then updated. The analyst now has the ability to view GOES, POES, and MODIS data in a single loop. This allows the fire analyst the ability to easily confirm a fire in three different data sets. The upgraded HMS has faster satellite looping and gives the analyst the ability to design a false color image for a particular region. The GOES satellites provide a relatively coarse 4 km infrared resolution at satellite subpoint for thermal fire detection but provide the advantage of a rapid update cycle. GOES imagery is updated every 15 minutes utilizing both GOES-10 and GOES-12. POES imagery from NOAA-15, NOAA-16 and NOAA-17 and MODIS from Terra and Aqua are employed with each satellite providing twice per day coverage (more frequent over Alaska). While the frequency of imagery is much less than with GOES the higher resolution of these satellites (1 km along the suborbital track) allows for detection of

WASTE HANDLING BUILDING FIRE PROTECTION SYSTEM DESCRIPTION DOCUMENT

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

J. D. Bigbee

2000-06-21

The Waste Handling Building Fire Protection System provides the capability to detect, control, and extinguish fires and/or mitigate explosions throughout the Waste Handling Building (WHB). Fire protection includes appropriate water-based and non-water-based suppression, as appropriate, and includes the distribution and delivery systems for the fire suppression agents. The Waste Handling Building Fire Protection System includes fire or explosion detection panel(s) controlling various detectors, system actuation, annunciators, equipment controls, and signal outputs. The system interfaces with the Waste Handling Building System for mounting of fire protection equipment and components, location of fire suppression equipment, suppression agent runoff, and locating fire rated barriers. The system interfaces with the Waste Handling Building System for adequate drainage and removal capabilities of liquid runoff resulting from fire protection discharges. The system interfaces with the Waste Handling Building Electrical Distribution System for power to operate, and with the Site Fire Protection System for fire protection water supply to automatic sprinklers, standpipes, and hose stations. The system interfaces with the Site Fire Protection System for fire signal transmission outside the WHB as needed to respond to a fire emergency, and with the Waste Handling Building Ventilation System to detect smoke and fire in specific areas, to protect building high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters, and to control portions of the Waste Handling Building Ventilation System for smoke management and manual override capability. The system interfaces with the Monitored Geologic Repository (MGR) Operations Monitoring and Control System for annunciation, and condition status.

WASTE HANDLING BUILDING FIRE PROTECTION SYSTEM DESCRIPTION DOCUMENT

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

J. D. Bigbee

2000-01-01

The Waste Handling Building Fire Protection System provides the capability to detect, control, and extinguish fires and/or mitigate explosions throughout the Waste Handling Building (WHB). Fire protection includes appropriate water-based and non-water-based suppression, as appropriate, and includes the distribution and delivery systems for the fire suppression agents. The Waste Handling Building Fire Protection System includes fire or explosion detection panel(s) controlling various detectors, system actuation, annunciators, equipment controls, and signal outputs. The system interfaces with the Waste Handling Building System for mounting of fire protection equipment and components, location of fire suppression equipment, suppression agent runoff, and locating fire rated barriers. The system interfaces with the Waste Handling Building System for adequate drainage and removal capabilities of liquid runoff resulting from fire protection discharges. The system interfaces with the Waste Handling Building Electrical Distribution System for power to operate, and with the Site Fire Protection System for fire protection water supply to automatic sprinklers, standpipes, and hose stations. The system interfaces with the Site Fire Protection System for fire signal transmission outside the WHB as needed to respond to a fire emergency, and with the Waste Handling Building Ventilation System to detect smoke and fire in specific areas, to protect building high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters, and to control portions of the Waste Handling Building Ventilation System for smoke management and manual override capability. The system interfaces with the Monitored Geologic Repository (MGR) Operations Monitoring and Control System for annunciation, and condition status

Fiber optic fire detection technology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hering, D.W.

1990-01-01

Electrostatic application of paint was, and still is, the most technically feasible method of reducing VOC (volatile organic compounds) emissions, while reducing the cost to apply the coatings. Prior to the use of electrostatics, only two sides of the traditional fire triangle were normally present in the booth, fuel (solvent), and oxygen (air). Now the third leg (the ignition source) was present at virtually all times during the production operation in the form of the electrostatic charge and the resulting energy in the system. The introduction of fiber optics into the field of fire detection was for specific application to the electrostatic painting industry, but specifically, robots used in the application of electrostatic painting in the automotive industry. The use of fiber optics in this hazard provided detection for locations that have been previously prohibited or inaccessible with the traditional fire detection systems. The fiber optic technology that has been adapted to the field of fire detection operates on the principle of transmission of photons through a light guide (optic fiber). When the light guide is subjected to heat, the cladding on the light guide melts away from the core and allows the light (photons) to escape. The controller, which contains the emitter and receiver is set-up to distinguish between partial loss of light and a total loss of light. Glass optical fibers carrying light offer distinct advantages over wires or coaxial cables carrying electricity as a transmission media. The uses of fiber optic detection will be expanded in the near future into such areas as aircraft, cable trays and long conveyor runs because fiber optics can carry more information and deliver it with greater clarity over longer distances with total immunity to all kinds of electrical interference

Fire Detection Tradeoffs as a Function of Vehicle Parameters

Science.gov (United States)

Urban, David L.; Dietrich, Daniel L.; Brooker, John E.; Meyer, Marit E.; Ruff, Gary A.

2016-01-01

Fire survivability depends on the detection of and response to a fire before it has produced an unacceptable environment in the vehicle. This detection time is the result of interplay between the fire burning and growth rates; the vehicle size; the detection system design; the transport time to the detector (controlled by the level of mixing in the vehicle); and the rate at which the life support system filters the atmosphere, potentially removing the detected species or particles. Given the large differences in critical vehicle parameters (volume, mixing rate and filtration rate) the detection approach that works for a large vehicle (e.g. the ISS) may not be the best choice for a smaller crew capsule. This paper examines the impact of vehicle size and environmental control and life support system parameters on the detectability of fires in comparison to the hazard they present. A lumped element model was developed that considers smoke, heat, and toxic product release rates in comparison to mixing and filtration rates in the vehicle. Recent work has quantified the production rate of smoke and several hazardous species from overheated spacecraft polymers. These results are used as the input data set in the lumped element model in combination with the transport behavior of major toxic products released by overheating spacecraft materials to evaluate the necessary alarm thresholds to enable appropriate response to the fire hazard.

The development of fire detection robot

OpenAIRE

Sucuoğlu, Hilmi Saygın

2015-01-01

The aim of this thesis is to design and manufacture a fire detection robot that especially operates in industrial areas for fire inspection and early detection. Robot is designed and implemented to track prescribed paths with obstacle avoidance function through obstacle avoidance and motion planning units and to scan the environment in order to detect fire source using fire detection unit. Robot is able to track patrolling routes using virtual lines that defined to the motion planning unit. ...

Pipeline oil fire detection with MODIS active fire products

Science.gov (United States)

Ogungbuyi, M. G.; Martinez, P.; Eckardt, F. D.

2017-12-01

We investigate 85 129 MODIS satellite active fire events from 2007 to 2015 in the Niger Delta of Nigeria. The region is the oil base for Nigerian economy and the hub of oil exploration where oil facilities (i.e. flowlines, flow stations, trunklines, oil wells and oil fields) are domiciled, and from where crude oil and refined products are transported to different Nigerian locations through a network of pipeline systems. Pipeline and other oil facilities are consistently susceptible to oil leaks due to operational or maintenance error, and by acts of deliberate sabotage of the pipeline equipment which often result in explosions and fire outbreaks. We used ground oil spill reports obtained from the National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) database (see www.oilspillmonitor.ng) to validate MODIS satellite data. NOSDRA database shows an estimate of 10 000 spill events from 2007 - 2015. The spill events were filtered to include largest spills by volume and events occurring only in the Niger Delta (i.e. 386 spills). By projecting both MODIS fire and spill as `input vector' layers with `Points' geometry, and the Nigerian pipeline networks as `from vector' layers with `LineString' geometry in a geographical information system, we extracted the nearest MODIS events (i.e. 2192) closed to the pipelines by 1000m distance in spatial vector analysis. The extraction process that defined the nearest distance to the pipelines is based on the global practices of the Right of Way (ROW) in pipeline management that earmarked 30m strip of land to the pipeline. The KML files of the extracted fires in a Google map validated their source origin to be from oil facilities. Land cover mapping confirmed fire anomalies. The aim of the study is to propose a near-real-time monitoring of spill events along pipeline routes using 250 m spatial resolution of MODIS active fire detection sensor when such spills are accompanied by fire events in the study location.

SOLID-STATE CONTROLLED FIRE HAZARD DETECTION AND ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Microcontrol/er based fire hazard detection and quenching .system is developed, tested and found working satisfactory. Its response is very fast to quench thefire hazard before it spreads out. It is smart to ffiJoid any false alarming in case of momentary fire occurrence. ,Special emphasis has been laid down in choosing.

Detection and Characterization of Low Temperature Peat Fires during the 2015 Fire Catastrophe in Indonesia Using a New High-Sensitivity Fire Monitoring Satellite Sensor (FireBird).

Science.gov (United States)

Atwood, Elizabeth C; Englhart, Sandra; Lorenz, Eckehard; Halle, Winfried; Wiedemann, Werner; Siegert, Florian

2016-01-01

Vast and disastrous fires occurred on Borneo during the 2015 dry season, pushing Indonesia into the top five carbon emitting countries. The region was affected by a very strong El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) climate phenomenon, on par with the last severe event in 1997/98. Fire dynamics in Central Kalimantan were investigated using an innovative sensor offering higher sensitivity to a wider range of fire intensities at a finer spatial resolution (160 m) than heretofore available. The sensor is onboard the TET-1 satellite, part of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) FireBird mission. TET-1 images (acquired every 2-3 days) from the middle infrared were used to detect fires continuously burning for almost three weeks in the protected peatlands of Sebangau National Park as well as surrounding areas with active logging and oil palm concessions. TET-1 detection capabilities were compared with MODIS active fire detection and Landsat burned area algorithms. Fire dynamics, including fire front propagation speed and area burned, were investigated. We show that TET-1 has improved detection capabilities over MODIS in monitoring low-intensity peatland fire fronts through thick smoke and haze. Analysis of fire dynamics revealed that the largest burned areas resulted from fire front lines started from multiple locations, and the highest propagation speeds were in excess of 500 m/day (all over peat > 2m deep). Fires were found to occur most often in concessions that contained drainage infrastructure but were not cleared prior to the fire season. Benefits of implementing this sensor system to improve current fire management techniques are discussed. Near real-time fire detection together with enhanced fire behavior monitoring capabilities would not only improve firefighting efforts, but also benefit analysis of fire impact on tropical peatlands, greenhouse gas emission estimations as well as mitigation measures to reduce severe fire events in the future.

Improving Nocturnal Fire Detection with the VIIRS Day-Night Band

Science.gov (United States)

Polivka, Thomas N.; Wang, Jun; Ellison, Luke T.; Hyer, Edward J.; Ichoku, Charles M.

2016-01-01

Building on existing techniques for satellite remote sensing of fires, this paper takes advantage of the day-night band (DNB) aboard the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) to develop the Firelight Detection Algorithm (FILDA), which characterizes fire pixels based on both visible-light and infrared (IR) signatures at night. By adjusting fire pixel selection criteria to include visible-light signatures, FILDA allows for significantly improved detection of pixels with smaller and/or cooler subpixel hotspots than the operational Interface Data Processing System (IDPS) algorithm. VIIRS scenes with near-coincident Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection (ASTER) overpasses are examined after applying the operational VIIRS fire product algorithm and including a modified "candidate fire pixel selection" approach from FILDA that lowers the 4-µm brightness temperature (BT) threshold but includes a minimum DNB radiance. FILDA is shown to be effective in detecting gas flares and characterizing fire lines during large forest fires (such as the Rim Fire in California and High Park fire in Colorado). Compared with the operational VIIRS fire algorithm for the study period, FILDA shows a large increase (up to 90%) in the number of detected fire pixels that can be verified with the finer resolution ASTER data (90 m). Part (30%) of this increase is likely due to a combined use of DNB and lower 4-µm BT thresholds for fire detection in FILDA. Although further studies are needed, quantitative use of the DNB to improve fire detection could lead to reduced response times to wildfires and better estimate of fire characteristics (smoldering and flaming) at night.

A Vision-Based Approach to Fire Detection

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pedro Gomes

2014-09-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a vision-based method for fire detection from fixed surveillance smart cameras. The method integrates several well-known techniques properly adapted to cope with the challenges related to the actual deployment of the vision system. Concretely, background subtraction is performed with a context-based learning mechanism so as to attain higher accuracy and robustness. The computational cost of a frequency analysis of potential fire regions is reduced by means of focusing its operation with an attentive mechanism. For fast discrimination between fire regions and fire-coloured moving objects, a new colour-based model of fire's appearance and a new wavelet-based model of fire's frequency signature are proposed. To reduce the false alarm rate due to the presence of fire-coloured moving objects, the category and behaviour of each moving object is taken into account in the decision-making. To estimate the expected object's size in the image plane and to generate geo-referenced alarms, the camera-world mapping is approximated with a GPS-based calibration process. Experimental results demonstrate the ability of the proposed method to detect fires with an average success rate of 93.1% at a processing rate of 10 Hz, which is often sufficient for real-life applications.

Detection and Characterization of Low Temperature Peat Fires during the 2015 Fire Catastrophe in Indonesia Using a New High-Sensitivity Fire Monitoring Satellite Sensor (FireBird)

Science.gov (United States)

Atwood, Elizabeth C.; Englhart, Sandra; Lorenz, Eckehard; Halle, Winfried; Wiedemann, Werner; Siegert, Florian

2016-01-01

Vast and disastrous fires occurred on Borneo during the 2015 dry season, pushing Indonesia into the top five carbon emitting countries. The region was affected by a very strong El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) climate phenomenon, on par with the last severe event in 1997/98. Fire dynamics in Central Kalimantan were investigated using an innovative sensor offering higher sensitivity to a wider range of fire intensities at a finer spatial resolution (160 m) than heretofore available. The sensor is onboard the TET-1 satellite, part of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) FireBird mission. TET-1 images (acquired every 2–3 days) from the middle infrared were used to detect fires continuously burning for almost three weeks in the protected peatlands of Sebangau National Park as well as surrounding areas with active logging and oil palm concessions. TET-1 detection capabilities were compared with MODIS active fire detection and Landsat burned area algorithms. Fire dynamics, including fire front propagation speed and area burned, were investigated. We show that TET-1 has improved detection capabilities over MODIS in monitoring low-intensity peatland fire fronts through thick smoke and haze. Analysis of fire dynamics revealed that the largest burned areas resulted from fire front lines started from multiple locations, and the highest propagation speeds were in excess of 500 m/day (all over peat > 2m deep). Fires were found to occur most often in concessions that contained drainage infrastructure but were not cleared prior to the fire season. Benefits of implementing this sensor system to improve current fire management techniques are discussed. Near real-time fire detection together with enhanced fire behavior monitoring capabilities would not only improve firefighting efforts, but also benefit analysis of fire impact on tropical peatlands, greenhouse gas emission estimations as well as mitigation measures to reduce severe fire events in the future. PMID:27486664

Cold Vacuum Drying facility fire protection system design description

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

PITKOFF, C.C.

1999-01-01

This document describes the Cold Vacuum Drying Facility (CVDF) fire protection system (FPS). The FPS provides fire detection, suppression, and loss limitation for the CVDF structure, personnel, and in-process spent nuclear fuel. The system provides, along with supporting interfacing systems, detection, alarm, and activation instrumentation and controls, distributive piping system, isolation valves, and materials and controls to limit combustibles and the associated fire loadings

Development of a Smart Residential Fire Protection System

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Juhwan Oh

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Embedded system is applied for the development of smart residential fire detection and extinguishing system. Wireless communication capability is integrated into various fire sensors and alarm devices. The system activates the fire alarm to warn occupants, executes emergency and rescue calls to remote residents and fire-fighting facility in an intelligent way. The effective location of extra-sprinklers within the space of interest for the fire extinguishing system is also investigated. Actual fire test suggests that the developed wireless system for the smart residential fire protection system is reliable in terms of sensors and their communication linkage.

Single vs. dual color fire detection systems: operational tradeoffs

Science.gov (United States)

Danino, Meir; Danan, Yossef; Sinvani, Moshe

2017-10-01

In attempt to supply a reasonable fire plume detection, multinational cooperation with significant capital is invested in the development of two major Infra-Red (IR) based fire detection alternatives, single-color IR (SCIR) and dual-color IR (DCIR). False alarm rate was expected to be high not only as a result of real heat sources but mainly due to the IR natural clutter especially solar reflections clutter. SCIR uses state-of-the-art technology and sophisticated algorithms to filter out threats from clutter. On the other hand, DCIR are aiming at using additional spectral band measurements (acting as a guard), to allow the implementation of a simpler and more robust approach for performing the same task. In this paper we present the basics of SCIR & DCIR architecture and the main differences between them. In addition, we will present the results from a thorough study conducted for the purpose of learning about the added value of the additional data available from the second spectral band. Here we consider the two CO2 bands of 4-5 micron and of 2.5-3 micron band as well as off peak band (guard). The findings of this study refer also to Missile warning systems (MWS) efficacy, in terms of operational value. We also present a new approach for tunable filter to such sensor.

Development of a Smart Residential Fire Protection System

OpenAIRE

Juhwan Oh; Zhongwei Jiang; Henry Panganiban

2013-01-01

Embedded system is applied for the development of smart residential fire detection and extinguishing system. Wireless communication capability is integrated into various fire sensors and alarm devices. The system activates the fire alarm to warn occupants, executes emergency and rescue calls to remote residents and fire-fighting facility in an intelligent way. The effective location of extra-sprinklers within the space of interest for the fire extinguishing system is also investigated. Actual...

Aging assessment for active fire protection systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ross, S.B.; Nowlen, S.P.; Tanaka, T.

1995-06-01

This study assessed the impact of aging on the performance and reliability of active fire protection systems including both fixed fire suppression and fixed fire detection systems. The experience base shows that most nuclear power plants have an aggressive maintenance and testing program and are finding degraded fire protection system components before a failure occurs. Also, from the data reviewed it is clear that the risk impact of fire protection system aging is low. However, it is assumed that a more aggressive maintenance and testing program involving preventive diagnostics may reduce the risk impact even further

Advanced Fire Information System - A real time fire information system for Africa

Science.gov (United States)

Frost, P. E.; Roy, D. P.

2012-12-01

The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) lead by the Meraka Institute and supported by the South African National Space Agency (SANSA) developed the Advanced Fire Information System (AFIS) to provide near real time fire information to a variety of operational and science fire users including disaster managers, fire fighters, farmers and forest managers located across Southern and Eastern Africa. The AFIS combines satellite data with ground based observations and statistics and distributes the information via mobile phone technology. The system was launched in 2004, and Eskom (South Africa' and Africa's largest power utility) quickly became the biggest user and today more than 300 Eskom line managers and support staff receive cell phone and email fire alert messages whenever a wildfire is within 2km of any of the 28 000km of Eskom electricity transmission lines. The AFIS uses Earth observation satellites from NASA and Europe to detect possible actively burning fires and their fire radiative power (FRP). The polar orbiting MODIS Terra and Aqua satellites provide data at around 10am, 15pm, 22am and 3am daily, while the European Geostationary MSG satellite provides 15 minute updates at lower spatial resolution. The AFIS processing system ingests the raw satellite data and within minutes of the satellite overpass generates fire location and FRP based fire intensity information. The AFIS and new functionality are presented including an incident report and permiting system that can be used to differentiate between prescribed burns and uncontrolled wild fires, and the provision of other information including 5-day fire danger forecasts, vegetation curing information and historical burned area maps. A new AFIS mobile application for IOS and Android devices as well as a fire reporting tool are showcased that enable both the dissemination and alerting of fire information and enable user upload of geo tagged photographs and on the fly creation of fire reports

Utilizing Multi-Sensor Fire Detections to Map Fires in the United States

Science.gov (United States)

Howard, S. M.; Picotte, J. J.; Coan, M. J.

2014-11-01

In 2006, the Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity (MTBS) project began a cooperative effort between the US Forest Service (USFS) and the U.S.Geological Survey (USGS) to map and assess burn severity all large fires that have occurred in the United States since 1984. Using Landsat imagery, MTBS is mandated to map wildfire and prescribed fire that meet specific size criteria: greater than 1000 acres in the west and 500 acres in the east, regardless of ownership. Relying mostly on federal and state fire occurrence records, over 15,300 individual fires have been mapped. While mapping recorded fires, an additional 2,700 "unknown" or undocumented fires were discovered and assessed. It has become apparent that there are perhaps thousands of undocumented fires in the US that are yet to be mapped. Fire occurrence records alone are inadequate if MTBS is to provide a comprehensive accounting of fire across the US. Additionally, the sheer number of fires to assess has overwhelmed current manual procedures. To address these problems, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Applied Sciences Program is helping to fund the efforts of the USGS and its MTBS partners (USFS, National Park Service) to develop, and implement a system to automatically identify fires using satellite data. In near real time, USGS will combine active fire satellite detections from MODIS, AVHRR and GOES satellites with Landsat acquisitions. Newly acquired Landsat imagery will be routinely scanned to identify freshly burned area pixels, derive an initial perimeter and tag the burned area with the satellite date and time of detection. Landsat imagery from the early archive will be scanned to identify undocumented fires. Additional automated fire assessment processes will be developed. The USGS will develop these processes using open source software packages in order to provide freely available tools to local land managers providing them with the capability to assess fires at the local level.

The Calculation and Design of Fire suppression system in the proton accelerator research center

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jeon, G. P.; Kim, J. Y.; Cho, J. H.; Min, Y. S.; Mun, K. J.; Cho, J. S.; Nam, J. M.; Park, S. S.; Joo, H. G.

2010-01-01

The fire protection system is composed of various fire suppression systems and fire detection and alarm systems. The primary function of the fire protection system is to protect life and property from a fire through detecting fires quickly and suppressing those fires that occur. In this paper, we described the fire suppression system only. The fire suppression system capacity for fire hydrant, the water mist system, sprinkler system and clean agent system is calculated and designed in compliance with the applicable Korean Acts that are applicable to fire protection and the NFSC code

Monitoring system of multiple fire fighting based on computer vision

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Jinlong; Wang, Li; Gao, Xiaorong; Wang, Zeyong; Zhao, Quanke

2010-10-01

With the high demand of fire control in spacious buildings, computer vision is playing a more and more important role. This paper presents a new monitoring system of multiple fire fighting based on computer vision and color detection. This system can adjust to the fire position and then extinguish the fire by itself. In this paper, the system structure, working principle, fire orientation, hydrant's angle adjusting and system calibration are described in detail; also the design of relevant hardware and software is introduced. At the same time, the principle and process of color detection and image processing are given as well. The system runs well in the test, and it has high reliability, low cost, and easy nodeexpanding, which has a bright prospect of application and popularization.

Proposal for the award of a blanket purchase contract for the design, supply, installation and maintenance of automatic fire-detection, fire-protection and voice-alarm systems for the Super Proton Synchrotron

CERN Document Server

2017-01-01

Proposal for the award of a blanket purchase contract for the design, supply, installation and maintenance of automatic fire-detection, fire-protection and voice-alarm systems for the Super Proton Synchrotron

Microfabricated Chemical Sensors for Aerospace Fire Detection Applications

Science.gov (United States)

Hunter, Gary W.; Neudeck, Philip G.; Fralick, Gustave; Thomas, Valarie; Makel, D.; Liu, C. C.; Ward, B.; Wu, Q. H.

2001-01-01

The detection of fires on-board commercial aircraft is extremely important for safety reasons. Although dependable fire detection equipment presently exists within the cabin, detection of fire within the cargo hold has been less reliable and susceptible to false alarms. A second, independent method of fire detection to complement the conventional smoke detection techniques, such as the measurement of chemical species indicative of a fire, will help reduce false alarms and improve aircraft safety. Although many chemical species are indicative of a fire, two species of particular interest are CO and CO2. This paper discusses microfabricated chemical sensor development tailored to meet the needs of fire safety applications. This development is based on progress in three types of technology: 1) Micromachining and microfabrication (Microsystem) technology to fabricate miniaturized sensors. 2) The use of nanocrystalline materials to develop sensors with improved stability combined with higher sensitivity. 3) The development of high temperature semiconductors, especially silicon carbide. The individual sensor being developed and their level of maturity will be presented.

Smouldering Fires in the Earth System

Science.gov (United States)

Rein, G.

2012-04-01

Smouldering fires, the slow, low-temperature, flameless burning, represent the most persistent type of combustion phenomena and the longest continuously fires on Earth system. Indeed, smouldering mega-fires of peatlands occur with some frequency during the dry session in, for example, Indonesia, Canada, Russia, UK and USA. Smouldering fires propagate slowly through organic layers of the ground and can reach depth >5 m if large cracks, natural piping or channel systems exist. It threatens to release sequestered carbon deep into the soil. Once ignited, they are particularly difficult to extinguish despite extensive rains, weather changes or fire-fighting attempts, and can persist for long periods of time (months, years) spreading deep and over extensive areas. Recent figures at the global scale estimate that average annual greenhouse gas emissions from smouldering fires are equivalent to 15% of man-made emissions. These fires are difficult or impossible to detect with current remote sensing methods because the chemistry is significantly different, their thermal radiation signature is much smaller, and the plume is much less buoyant. These wildfires burn fossil fuels and thus are a carbon-positive fire phenomena. This creates feedbacks in the climate system because soil moisture deficit and self-heating are enchanted under warmer climate scenarios and lead to more frequent fires. Warmer temperatures at high latitudes are resulting in more frequent Artic fires. Unprecedented permafrost thaw is leaving large soil carbon pools exposed to smouldering fires for the fist time since millennia. Although interactions between flaming fires and the Earth system have been a central focus, smouldering fires are as important but have received very little attention. DBut differences with flaming fires are important. This paper reviews the current knowledge on smouldering fires in the Earth system regarding combustion dynamics, damage to the soil, emissions, remote sensing and

Detecting fire in video stream using statistical analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Koplík Karel

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The real time fire detection in video stream is one of the most interesting problems in computer vision. In fact, in most cases it would be nice to have fire detection algorithm implemented in usual industrial cameras and/or to have possibility to replace standard industrial cameras with one implementing the fire detection algorithm. In this paper, we present new algorithm for detecting fire in video. The algorithm is based on tracking suspicious regions in time with statistical analysis of their trajectory. False alarms are minimized by combining multiple detection criteria: pixel brightness, trajectories of suspicious regions for evaluating characteristic fire flickering and persistence of alarm state in sequence of frames. The resulting implementation is fast and therefore can run on wide range of affordable hardware.

From Data to Knowledge — Faster: GOES Early Fire Detection System to Inform Operational Wildfire Response and Management

Science.gov (United States)

Koltunov, A.; Quayle, B.; Prins, E. M.; Ambrosia, V. G.; Ustin, S.

2014-12-01

Fire managers at various levels require near-real-time, low-cost, systematic, and reliable early detection capabilities with minimal latency to effectively respond to wildfire ignitions and minimize the risk of catastrophic development. The GOES satellite images collected for vast territories at high temporal frequencies provide a consistent and reliable source for operational active fire mapping realized by the WF-ABBA algorithm. However, their potential to provide early warning or rapid confirmation of initial fire ignition reports from conventional sources remains underutilized, partly because the operational wildfire detection has been successfully optimized for users and applications for which timeliness of initial detection is a low priority, contrasting to the needs of first responders. We present our progress in developing the GOES Early Fire Detection (GOES-EFD) system, a collaborative effort led by University of California-Davis and USDA Forest Service. The GOES-EFD specifically focuses on first detection timeliness for wildfire incidents. It is automatically trained for a monitored scene and capitalizes on multiyear cross-disciplinary algorithm research. Initial retrospective tests in Western US demonstrate significantly earlier identification detection of new ignitions than existing operational capabilities and a further improvement prospect. The GOES-EFD-β prototype will be initially deployed for the Western US region to process imagery from GOES-NOP and the rapid and 4 times higher spatial resolution imagery from GOES-R — the upcoming next generation of GOES satellites. These and other enhanced capabilities of GOES-R are expected to significantly improve the timeliness of fire ignition information from GOES-EFD.

Automatic Fire Detection: A Survey from Wireless Sensor Network Perspective

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bahrepour, M.; Meratnia, Nirvana; Havinga, Paul J.M.

2008-01-01

Automatic fire detection is important for early detection and promptly extinguishing fire. There are ample studies investigating the best sensor combinations and appropriate techniques for early fire detection. In the previous studies fire detection has either been considered as an application of a

An Architecture for Automated Fire Detection Early Warning System Based on Geoprocessing Service Composition

Science.gov (United States)

Samadzadegan, F.; Saber, M.; Zahmatkesh, H.; Joze Ghazi Khanlou, H.

2013-09-01

Rapidly discovering, sharing, integrating and applying geospatial information are key issues in the domain of emergency response and disaster management. Due to the distributed nature of data and processing resources in disaster management, utilizing a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) to take advantages of workflow of services provides an efficient, flexible and reliable implementations to encounter different hazardous situation. The implementation specification of the Web Processing Service (WPS) has guided geospatial data processing in a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) platform to become a widely accepted solution for processing remotely sensed data on the web. This paper presents an architecture design based on OGC web services for automated workflow for acquisition, processing remotely sensed data, detecting fire and sending notifications to the authorities. A basic architecture and its building blocks for an automated fire detection early warning system are represented using web-based processing of remote sensing imageries utilizing MODIS data. A composition of WPS processes is proposed as a WPS service to extract fire events from MODIS data. Subsequently, the paper highlights the role of WPS as a middleware interface in the domain of geospatial web service technology that can be used to invoke a large variety of geoprocessing operations and chaining of other web services as an engine of composition. The applicability of proposed architecture by a real world fire event detection and notification use case is evaluated. A GeoPortal client with open-source software was developed to manage data, metadata, processes, and authorities. Investigating feasibility and benefits of proposed framework shows that this framework can be used for wide area of geospatial applications specially disaster management and environmental monitoring.

AN ARCHITECTURE FOR AUTOMATED FIRE DETECTION EARLY WARNING SYSTEM BASED ON GEOPROCESSING SERVICE COMPOSITION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

F. Samadzadegan

2013-09-01

Full Text Available Rapidly discovering, sharing, integrating and applying geospatial information are key issues in the domain of emergency response and disaster management. Due to the distributed nature of data and processing resources in disaster management, utilizing a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA to take advantages of workflow of services provides an efficient, flexible and reliable implementations to encounter different hazardous situation. The implementation specification of the Web Processing Service (WPS has guided geospatial data processing in a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA platform to become a widely accepted solution for processing remotely sensed data on the web. This paper presents an architecture design based on OGC web services for automated workflow for acquisition, processing remotely sensed data, detecting fire and sending notifications to the authorities. A basic architecture and its building blocks for an automated fire detection early warning system are represented using web-based processing of remote sensing imageries utilizing MODIS data. A composition of WPS processes is proposed as a WPS service to extract fire events from MODIS data. Subsequently, the paper highlights the role of WPS as a middleware interface in the domain of geospatial web service technology that can be used to invoke a large variety of geoprocessing operations and chaining of other web services as an engine of composition. The applicability of proposed architecture by a real world fire event detection and notification use case is evaluated. A GeoPortal client with open-source software was developed to manage data, metadata, processes, and authorities. Investigating feasibility and benefits of proposed framework shows that this framework can be used for wide area of geospatial applications specially disaster management and environmental monitoring.

COUNTERMEASURE FOR MINIMIZE UNWANTED ALARM OF AUTOMATIC FIRE NOTIFICATION SYSTEM IN THE REPUBLIC OF KOREA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hasung Kong

2015-01-01

Full Text Available In this article investigated the cause of error through survey to building officials for minimizing the unwanted alarm of automatic fire notification and suggested countermeasure for minimizing the unwanted alarm. The main cause of the unwanted alarm is defective fire detector, interlocking with automatic fire detection system, lack in fire safety warden’s ability, worn-out fire detect receiving system. The countermeasure for minimizing unwanted alarm is firstly, tightening up the standard of model approval, Secondly, interlocking with cross-section circuit method fire extinguishing system or realizing automatic fire notification system interlocking with home network, thirdly, tightening up licensing examination of fire safety warden, lastly, it suggested term of use rule of fire detect receiving system.

General multiplex centralized fire-alarm display system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhu Liqun; Chen Jinming

2002-01-01

The fire-alarm display system is developed, which can connect with each type of fire controllers produced in the factory and SIGMASYS controllers. It can display whole alarm information. The display system software gathers communication, database and multimedia, has functions of inspecting fire, showing alarm, storing data, searching information and so on. The drawing software lets the user expediently add, delete, move and modify fire detection or fire fighting facilities on the building floor maps. The graphic transform software lets the display use the vectorgraph produced by popular plotting software such as Auto CAD. The system software provides the administration function, such as log book of changing shift and managing workers etc.. The software executed on Windows 98 platform. The user interface is friendly and reliable in operation

COUNTERMEASURE FOR MINIMIZE UNWANTED ALARM OF AUTOMATIC FIRE NOTIFICATION SYSTEM IN THE REPUBLIC OF KOREA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hasung Kong

2015-01-01

Full Text Available In this article investigated the cause of error through survey to building officials for minimizing the unwanted alarm of automatic fire notification and suggested countermeasure for minimizing the unwanted alarm. The main cause of the unwanted alarm is defective fire detector, interlocking with automatic fire detection system, lack in fire safety warden’s ability, worn-out fire detect receiving system. The countermeasure for minimizing unwanted alarm is firstly, tightening up the standard of model approval, Secondly, interlocking with cross-section circuit method fire extinguishing system or realizing automatic fire notification system interlocking with home network, thirdly, tightening up licensing examination of fire safety warden, lastly, it suggested term of use rule of fire detect receiving system. 

Combining satellite-based fire observations and ground-based lightning detections to identify lightning fires across the conterminous USA

Science.gov (United States)

Bar-Massada, A.; Hawbaker, T.J.; Stewart, S.I.; Radeloff, V.C.

2012-01-01

Lightning fires are a common natural disturbance in North America, and account for the largest proportion of the area burned by wildfires each year. Yet, the spatiotemporal patterns of lightning fires in the conterminous US are not well understood due to limitations of existing fire databases. Our goal here was to develop and test an algorithm that combined MODIS fire detections with lightning detections from the National Lightning Detection Network to identify lightning fires across the conterminous US from 2000 to 2008. The algorithm searches for spatiotemporal conjunctions of MODIS fire clusters and NLDN detected lightning strikes, given a spatiotemporal lag between lightning strike and fire ignition. The algorithm revealed distinctive spatial patterns of lightning fires in the conterminous US While a sensitivity analysis revealed that the algorithm is highly sensitive to the two thresholds that are used to determine conjunction, the density of fires it detected was moderately correlated with ground based fire records. When only fires larger than 0.4 km2 were considered, correlations were higher and the root-mean-square error between datasets was less than five fires per 625 km2 for the entire study period. Our algorithm is thus suitable for detecting broad scale spatial patterns of lightning fire occurrence, and especially lightning fire hotspots, but has limited detection capability of smaller fires because these cannot be consistently detected by MODIS. These results may enhance our understanding of large scale patterns of lightning fire activity, and can be used to identify the broad scale factors controlling fire occurrence.

A Wireless Sensor Network Deployment for Rural and Forest Fire Detection and Verification

Science.gov (United States)

Lloret, Jaime; Garcia, Miguel; Bri, Diana; Sendra, Sandra

2009-01-01

Forest and rural fires are one of the main causes of environmental degradation in Mediterranean countries. Existing fire detection systems only focus on detection, but not on the verification of the fire. However, almost all of them are just simulations, and very few implementations can be found. Besides, the systems in the literature lack scalability. In this paper we show all the steps followed to perform the design, research and development of a wireless multisensor network which mixes sensors with IP cameras in a wireless network in order to detect and verify fire in rural and forest areas of Spain. We have studied how many cameras, sensors and access points are needed to cover a rural or forest area, and the scalability of the system. We have developed a multisensor and when it detects a fire, it sends a sensor alarm through the wireless network to a central server. The central server selects the closest wireless cameras to the multisensor, based on a software application, which are rotated to the sensor that raised the alarm, and sends them a message in order to receive real-time images from the zone. The camera lets the fire fighters corroborate the existence of a fire and avoid false alarms. In this paper, we show the test performance given by a test bench formed by four wireless IP cameras in several situations and the energy consumed when they are transmitting. Moreover, we study the energy consumed by each device when the system is set up. The wireless sensor network could be connected to Internet through a gateway and the images of the cameras could be seen from any part of the world. PMID:22291533

A Wireless Sensor Network Deployment for Rural and Forest Fire Detection and Verification

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sandra Sendra

2009-10-01

Full Text Available Forest and rural fires are one of the main causes of environmental degradation in Mediterranean countries. Existing fire detection systems only focus on detection, but not on the verification of the fire. However, almost all of them are just simulations, and very few implementations can be found. Besides, the systems in the literature lack scalability. In this paper we show all the steps followed to perform the design, research and development of a wireless multisensor network which mixes sensors with IP cameras in a wireless network in order to detect and verify fire in rural and forest areas of Spain. We have studied how many cameras, sensors and access points are needed to cover a rural or forest area, and the scalability of the system. We have developed a multisensor and when it detects a fire, it sends a sensor alarm through the wireless network to a central server. The central server selects the closest wireless cameras to the multisensor, based on a software application, which are rotated to the sensor that raised the alarm, and sends them a message in order to receive real-time images from the zone. The camera lets the fire fighters corroborate the existence of a fire and avoid false alarms. In this paper, we show the test performance given by a test bench formed by four wireless IP cameras in several situations and the energy consumed when they are transmitting. Moreover, we study the energy consumed by each device when the system is set up. The wireless sensor network could be connected to Internet through a gateway and the images of the cameras could be seen from any part of the world.

Early Forest Fire Detection Using Low Energy Hydrogen Sensors

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jürgen Müller

2016-08-01

Full Text Available The North-east German Lowlands is a region with one of the highest forest fire risks in Europe. In order to keep damage levels as low as possible, it is important to have an effective early warning system. Such a system is being developed on the basis of a hydrogen sensor, which makes it possible to detect a smouldering forest fire before the development of open flames. The prototype hydrogen sensor produced at the Humboldt University Berlin has a metal/ solid electrolyte/insulator/ semiconductor (MEIS structure, which allows cost-effective production. Due to the low energy consumption, an autarchic working unit could be installed in the forest. Field trials have shown that it is possible to identify a forest fire in its early stages when hydrogen concentrations are still low. A significant change in the signal due to a fire was measured at a distance of about 100m. In view of the potential impacts of climate change, the innovative pre-ignition warning system is an important early diagnosis and monitoring module for the protection of the forests.

Fast and Accurate Residential Fire Detection Using Wireless Sensor Networks

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bahrepour, Majid; Meratnia, Nirvana; Havinga, Paul J.M.

2010-01-01

Prompt and accurate residential fire detection is important for on-time fire extinguishing and consequently reducing damages and life losses. To detect fire sensors are needed to measure the environmental parameters and algorithms are required to decide about occurrence of fire. Recently, wireless

GIS applied to location of fires detection towers in domain area of tropical forest.

Science.gov (United States)

Eugenio, Fernando Coelho; Rosa Dos Santos, Alexandre; Fiedler, Nilton Cesar; Ribeiro, Guido Assunção; da Silva, Aderbal Gomes; Juvanhol, Ronie Silva; Schettino, Vitor Roberto; Marcatti, Gustavo Eduardo; Domingues, Getúlio Fonseca; Alves Dos Santos, Gleissy Mary Amaral Dino; Pezzopane, José Eduardo Macedo; Pedra, Beatriz Duguy; Banhos, Aureo; Martins, Lima Deleon

2016-08-15

In most countries, the loss of biodiversity caused by the fires is worrying. In this sense, the fires detection towers are crucial for rapid identification of fire outbreaks and can also be used in environmental inspection, biodiversity monitoring, telecommunications mechanisms, telemetry and others. Currently the methodologies for allocating fire detection towers over large areas are numerous, complex and non-standardized by government supervisory agencies. Therefore, this study proposes and evaluates different methodologies to best location of points to install fire detection towers considering the topography, risk areas, conservation units and heat spots. Were used Geographic Information Systems (GIS) techniques and unaligned stratified systematic sampling for implementing and evaluating 9 methods for allocating fire detection towers. Among the methods evaluated, the C3 method was chosen, represented by 140 fire detection towers, with coverage of: a) 67% of the study area, b) 73.97% of the areas with high risk, c) 70.41% of the areas with very high risk, d) 70.42% of the conservation units and e) 84.95% of the heat spots in 2014. The proposed methodology can be adapted to areas of other countries. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Colour based fire detection method with temporal intensity variation filtration

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Trambitckii, K; Musalimov, V; Anding, K; Linß, G

2015-01-01

Development of video, computing technologies and computer vision gives a possibility of automatic fire detection on video information. Under that project different algorithms was implemented to find more efficient way of fire detection. In that article colour based fire detection algorithm is described. But it is not enough to use only colour information to detect fire properly. The main reason of this is that in the shooting conditions may be a lot of things having colour similar to fire. A temporary intensity variation of pixels is used to separate them from the fire. These variations are averaged over the series of several frames. This algorithm shows robust work and was realised as a computer program by using of the OpenCV library

Colour based fire detection method with temporal intensity variation filtration

Science.gov (United States)

Trambitckii, K.; Anding, K.; Musalimov, V.; Linß, G.

2015-02-01

Development of video, computing technologies and computer vision gives a possibility of automatic fire detection on video information. Under that project different algorithms was implemented to find more efficient way of fire detection. In that article colour based fire detection algorithm is described. But it is not enough to use only colour information to detect fire properly. The main reason of this is that in the shooting conditions may be a lot of things having colour similar to fire. A temporary intensity variation of pixels is used to separate them from the fire. These variations are averaged over the series of several frames. This algorithm shows robust work and was realised as a computer program by using of the OpenCV library.

Wireless Sensor Network for Forest Fire Detection 2

OpenAIRE

João Gilberto Fernandes Gonçalves Teixeira

2017-01-01

The main purpose for this project is the development of a semi-autonomous wireless sensor network for fire detection in remote territory. Making use of the IEEE 802.15.4 standard, a wireless standard for low-power, low-rate wireless sensor networks, a real sensor network and web application will be developed and deployed with the ability to monitor sensor data, detect a fire occurrence and generate early fire alerts.

Forest Monitoring and Wildland Early Fire Detection by a Hierarchical Wireless Sensor Network

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Antonio Molina-Pico

2016-01-01

Full Text Available A wildland fire is an uncontrolled fire that occurs mainly in forest areas, although it can also invade urban or agricultural areas. Among the main causes of wildfires, human factors, either intentional or accidental, are the most usual ones. The number and impact of forest fires are expected to grow as a consequence of the global warming. In order to fight against these disasters, it is necessary to adopt a comprehensive, multifaceted approach that enables a continuous situational awareness and instant responsiveness. This paper describes a hierarchical wireless sensor network aimed at early fire detection in risky areas, integrated with the fire fighting command centres, geographical information systems, and fire simulators. This configuration has been successfully tested in two fire simulations involving all the key players in fire fighting operations: fire brigades, communication systems, and aerial, coordination, and land means.

Computer-aided system for fire fighting in an underground mine

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rosiek, F; Sikora, M; Urbanski, J [Politechnika Wroclawska (Poland). Instytut Gornictwa

1989-01-01

Discusses structure of an algorithm for computer-aided planning of fire fighting and rescue in an underground coal mine. The algorithm developed by the Mining Institute of the Wroclaw Technical University consists of ten options: regulations on fire fighting, fire alarm for miners working underground (rescue ways, fire zones etc.), information system for mine management, movements of fire fighting teams, distribution of fire fighting equipment, assessment of explosion hazards of fire gases, fire gas temperature control of blower operation, detection of endogenous fires, ventilation control. 2 refs.

Fire protection in ventilation systems and in case of fire operating ventilation systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zitzelsberger, J.

1983-01-01

The fire risks in ventilation systems are discussed. It follows a survey of regulations on fire prevention and fire protection in ventilation systems and smoke and heat exhaust systems applicable to nuclear installations in the Federal Republic of Germany. Fire protection concepts for normal systems and for systems operating also in case of fire will be given. Several structural elements for fire protection in those systems will be illustrated with regard to recent research findings

Electronic firing systems and methods for firing a device

Science.gov (United States)

Frickey, Steven J [Boise, ID; Svoboda, John M [Idaho Falls, ID

2012-04-24

An electronic firing system comprising a control system, a charging system, an electrical energy storage device, a shock tube firing circuit, a shock tube connector, a blasting cap firing circuit, and a blasting cap connector. The control system controls the charging system, which charges the electrical energy storage device. The control system also controls the shock tube firing circuit and the blasting cap firing circuit. When desired, the control system signals the shock tube firing circuit or blasting cap firing circuit to electrically connect the electrical energy storage device to the shock tube connector or the blasting cap connector respectively.

Animals as Mobile Biological Sensors for Forest Fire Detection

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yasar Guneri Sahin

2007-12-01

Full Text Available This paper proposes a mobile biological sensor system that can assist in earlydetection of forest fires one of the most dreaded natural disasters on the earth. The main ideapresented in this paper is to utilize animals with sensors as Mobile Biological Sensors(MBS. The devices used in this system are animals which are native animals living inforests, sensors (thermo and radiation sensors with GPS features that measure thetemperature and transmit the location of the MBS, access points for wireless communicationand a central computer system which classifies of animal actions. The system offers twodifferent methods, firstly: access points continuously receive data about animals’ locationusing GPS at certain time intervals and the gathered data is then classified and checked tosee if there is a sudden movement (panic of the animal groups: this method is called animalbehavior classification (ABC. The second method can be defined as thermal detection(TD: the access points get the temperature values from the MBS devices and send the datato a central computer to check for instant changes in the temperatures. This system may beused for many purposes other than fire detection, namely animal tracking, poachingprevention and detecting instantaneous animal death.

Use of multi-sensor active fire detections to map fires in the United States: the future of monitoring trends in burn severity

Science.gov (United States)

Picotte, Joshua J.; Coan, Michael; Howard, Stephen M.

2014-01-01

The effort to utilize satellite-based MODIS, AVHRR, and GOES fire detections from the Hazard Monitoring System (HMS) to identify undocumented fires in Florida and improve the Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity (MTBS) mapping process has yielded promising results. This method was augmented using regression tree models to identify burned/not-burned pixels (BnB) in every Landsat scene (1984–2012) in Worldwide Referencing System 2 Path/Rows 16/40, 17/39, and 1839. The burned area delineations were combined with the HMS detections to create burned area polygons attributed with their date of fire detection. Within our study area, we processed 88,000 HMS points (2003–2012) and 1,800 Landsat scenes to identify approximately 300,000 burned area polygons. Six percent of these burned area polygons were larger than the 500-acre MTBS minimum size threshold. From this study, we conclude that the process can significantly improve understanding of fire occurrence and improve the efficiency and timeliness of assessing its impacts upon the landscape.

A Contextual Fire Detection Algorithm for Simulated HJ-1B Imagery

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xiangsheng Kong

2009-02-01

Full Text Available The HJ-1B satellite, which was launched on September 6, 2008, is one of the small ones placed in the constellation for disaster prediction and monitoring. HJ-1B imagery was simulated in this paper, which contains fires of various sizes and temperatures in a wide range of terrestrial biomes and climates, including RED, NIR, MIR and TIR channels. Based on the MODIS version 4 contextual algorithm and the characteristics of HJ-1B sensor, a contextual fire detection algorithm was proposed and tested using simulated HJ-1B data. It was evaluated by the probability of fire detection and false alarm as functions of fire temperature and fire area. Results indicate that when the simulated fire area is larger than 45 m2 and the simulated fire temperature is larger than 800 K, the algorithm has a higher probability of detection. But if the simulated fire area is smaller than 10 m2, only when the simulated fire temperature is larger than 900 K, may the fire be detected. For fire areas about 100 m2, the proposed algorithm has a higher detection probability than that of the MODIS product. Finally, the omission and commission error were evaluated which are important factors to affect the performance of this algorithm. It has been demonstrated that HJ-1B satellite data are much sensitive to smaller and cooler fires than MODIS or AVHRR data and the improved capabilities of HJ-1B data will offer a fine opportunity for the fire detection.

Detection and Elimination of a Potential Fire in Engine and Battery Compartments of Hybrid Electric Vehicles

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Macam S. Dattathreya

2012-01-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a novel fuzzy deterministic noncontroller type (FDNCT system and an FDNCT inference algorithm (FIA. The FDNCT uses fuzzy inputs and produces a deterministic non-fuzzy output. The FDNCT is an extension and alternative for the existing fuzzy singleton inference algorithm. The research described in this paper applies FDNCT to build an architecture for an intelligent system to detect and to eliminate potential fires in the engine and battery compartments of a hybrid electric vehicle. The fuzzy inputs consist of sensor data from the engine and battery compartments, namely, temperature, moisture, and voltage and current of the battery. The system synthesizes the data and detects potential fires, takes actions for eliminating the hazard, and notifies the passengers about the potential fire using an audible alarm. This paper also presents the computer simulation results of the comparison between the FIA and singleton inference algorithms for detecting potential fires and determining the actions for eliminating them.

Asynchronous Processing of a Constellation of Geostationary and Polar-Orbiting Satellites for Fire Detection and Smoke Estimation

Science.gov (United States)

Hyer, E. J.; Peterson, D. A.; Curtis, C. A.; Schmidt, C. C.; Hoffman, J.; Prins, E. M.

2014-12-01

The Fire Locating and Monitoring of Burning Emissions (FLAMBE) system converts satellite observations of thermally anomalous pixels into spatially and temporally continuous estimates of smoke release from open biomass burning. This system currently processes data from a constellation of 5 geostationary and 2 polar-orbiting sensors. Additional sensors, including NPP VIIRS and the imager on the Korea COMS-1 geostationary satellite, will soon be added. This constellation experiences schedule changes and outages of various durations, making the set of available scenes for fire detection highly variable on an hourly and daily basis. Adding to the complexity, the latency of the satellite data is variable between and within sensors. FLAMBE shares with many fire detection systems the goal of detecting as many fires as possible as early as possible, but the FLAMBE system must also produce a consistent estimate of smoke production with minimal artifacts from the changing constellation. To achieve this, NRL has developed a system of asynchronous processing and cross-calibration that permits satellite data to be used as it arrives, while preserving the consistency of the smoke emission estimates. This talk describes the asynchronous data ingest methodology, including latency statistics for the constellation. We also provide an overview and show results from the system we have developed to normalize multi-sensor fire detection for consistency.

Early forest fire detection using low-energy hydrogen sensors

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

K. Nörthemann

2013-11-01

Full Text Available Most huge forest fires start in partial combustion. In the beginning of a smouldering fire, emission of hydrogen in low concentration occurs. Therefore, hydrogen can be used to detect forest fires before open flames are visible and high temperatures are generated. We have developed a hydrogen sensor comprising of a metal/solid electrolyte/insulator/semiconductor (MEIS structure which allows an economical production. Due to the low energy consumption, an autarkic working unit in the forest was established. In this contribution, first experiments are shown demonstrating the possibility to detect forest fires at a very early stage using the hydrogen sensor.

A New Supersensitive Flame Detector and its Use for Early Forest Fire Detection

CERN Document Server

Peskov, Vladimir

2007-01-01

A new flame detector, three orders of magnitude more powerful than the existing ones, is presented. This detector needs to be mass-produced for its use in order to be incorporated in an early forest fire detection system. A project able to implement its use to overcome the forest fire emergency is described.

FIRE PROTECTION SYSTEMS AND TECHNOLOGIES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Aristov Denis Ivanovich

2016-03-01

Full Text Available The All-Russian Congress “Fire Stop Moscow” was de-voted to the analysis of the four segments of the industry of fire protection systems and technologies: the design of fire protec-tion systems, the latest developments and technologies of active and passive fire protection of buildings, the state and the devel-opment of the legal framework, the practice of fire protection of buildings and structures. The forum brought together the repre-sentatives of the industry of fire protection systems, scientists, leading experts, specialists in fire protection and representatives of construction companies from different regions of Russia. In parallel with the Congress Industrial Exhibition of fire protection systems, materials and technology was held, where manufacturers presented their products. The urgency of the “Fire Stop Moscow” Congress in 2015 organized by the Congress Bureau ODF Events lies primarily in the fact that it considered the full range of issues related to the fire protection of building and construction projects; studied the state of the regulatory framework for fire safety and efficiency of public services, research centers, private companies and busi-nesses in the area of fire safety. The main practical significance of the event which was widely covered in the media space, was the opportunity to share the views and information between management, science, and practice of business on implementing fire protection systems in the conditions of modern economic relations and market realities. : congress, fire protection, systems, technologies, fire protection systems, exhibition

POWER SUPPLY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM DESIGN ON NODE EARLY WARNING SYSTEM FOR PEATLANDS FIRE MITIGATION

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Taufiq Muammar

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Early warning system is one of the technology to detect land fires by utilizing a network of wireless sensors. Constant data transmission by the sensor nodes consumes a large amount of energy on the nodes’ sides that could affect the battery’s longevity. This research is done to discover the amount of power consumption and battery longevity during fire emergencies, and during non-emergency situation on peatlands. Power saving on the fire detecting system uses an LM35 temperature sensor, ATmega8 micro-controller and HC-12 transmission module. The overall result of powered by a 9 volt battery during fire emergencies, and during non-emergency, the power consumption reaches up to 1 Wh, with various longevity levels of the battery. The implementation of sleep/wake up mode scheduling during fire emergencies and non-emergencies could save battery for 2 hours compared to those without the power saving mode implementation. Power saving during fire emergency could be minimalized by activating the sleep mode activation power-down on the micro controller and it can also set the data transmission schedule to minimalize data usage during fire emergency, so that the usage of sleep/wake up mode interval scheduling during transmission could minimalize energy consumption and elongate the power supply active period.

Miniature Intelligent Wireless Fire Detector System, Phase I

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The objective of this project is to develop a wireless intelligent dual-band photodetector system for advanced fire detection/recognition, combining UV/IR III...

Geostationary Sensor Based Forest Fire Detection and Monitoring: An Improved Version of the SFIDE Algorithm

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Valeria Di Biase

2018-05-01

Full Text Available The paper aims to present the results obtained in the development of a system allowing for the detection and monitoring of forest fires and the continuous comparison of their intensity when several events occur simultaneously—a common occurrence in European Mediterranean countries during the summer season. The system, called SFIDE (Satellite FIre DEtection, exploits a geostationary satellite sensor (SEVIRI, Spinning Enhanced Visible and InfraRed Imager, on board of MSG, Meteosat Second Generation, satellite series. The algorithm was developed several years ago in the framework of a project (SIGRI funded by the Italian Space Agency (ASI. This algorithm has been completely reviewed in order to enhance its efficiency by reducing false alarms rate preserving a high sensitivity. Due to the very low spatial resolution of SEVIRI images (4 × 4 km2 at Mediterranean latitude the sensitivity of the algorithm should be very high to detect even small fires. The improvement of the algorithm has been obtained by: introducing the sun elevation angle in the computation of the preliminary thresholds to identify potential thermal anomalies (hot spots, introducing a contextual analysis in the detection of clouds and in the detection of night-time fires. The results of the algorithm have been validated in the Sardinia region by using ground true data provided by the regional Corpo Forestale e di Vigilanza Ambientale (CFVA. A significant reduction of the commission error (less than 10% has been obtained with respect to the previous version of the algorithm and also with respect to fire-detection algorithms based on low earth orbit satellites.

Cold Vacuum Dryer (CVD) Facility Fire Protection System Design Description (SYS 24)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

SINGH, G.

2000-10-17

This system design description (SDD) addresses the Cold Vacuum Drying (CVD) Facility fire protection system (FPS). The primary features of the FPS for the CVD are a fire alarm and detection system, automatic sprinklers, and fire hydrants. The FPS also includes fire extinguishers located throughout the facility and fire hydrants to assist in manual firefighting efforts. In addition, a fire barrier separates the operations support (administrative) area from the process bays and process bay support areas. Administrative controls to limit combustible materials have been established and are a part of the overall fire protection program. The FPS is augmented by assistance from the Hanford Fire Department (HED) and by interface systems including service water, electrical power, drains, instrumentation and controls. This SDD, when used in conjunction with the other elements of the definitive design package, provides a complete picture of the FPS for the CVD Facility.

A Novel Arc Fault Detector for Early Detection of Electrical Fires.

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Kai; Zhang, Rencheng; Yang, Jianhong; Liu, Canhua; Chen, Shouhong; Zhang, Fujiang

2016-04-09

Arc faults can produce very high temperatures and can easily ignite combustible materials; thus, they represent one of the most important causes of electrical fires. The application of arc fault detection, as an emerging early fire detection technology, is required by the National Electrical Code to reduce the occurrence of electrical fires. However, the concealment, randomness and diversity of arc faults make them difficult to detect. To improve the accuracy of arc fault detection, a novel arc fault detector (AFD) is developed in this study. First, an experimental arc fault platform is built to study electrical fires. A high-frequency transducer and a current transducer are used to measure typical load signals of arc faults and normal states. After the common features of these signals are studied, high-frequency energy and current variations are extracted as an input eigenvector for use by an arc fault detection algorithm. Then, the detection algorithm based on a weighted least squares support vector machine is designed and successfully applied in a microprocessor. Finally, an AFD is developed. The test results show that the AFD can detect arc faults in a timely manner and interrupt the circuit power supply before electrical fires can occur. The AFD is not influenced by cross talk or transient processes, and the detection accuracy is very high. Hence, the AFD can be installed in low-voltage circuits to monitor circuit states in real-time to facilitate the early detection of electrical fires.

A Novel Arc Fault Detector for Early Detection of Electrical Fires

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Kai; Zhang, Rencheng; Yang, Jianhong; Liu, Canhua; Chen, Shouhong; Zhang, Fujiang

2016-01-01

Arc faults can produce very high temperatures and can easily ignite combustible materials; thus, they represent one of the most important causes of electrical fires. The application of arc fault detection, as an emerging early fire detection technology, is required by the National Electrical Code to reduce the occurrence of electrical fires. However, the concealment, randomness and diversity of arc faults make them difficult to detect. To improve the accuracy of arc fault detection, a novel arc fault detector (AFD) is developed in this study. First, an experimental arc fault platform is built to study electrical fires. A high-frequency transducer and a current transducer are used to measure typical load signals of arc faults and normal states. After the common features of these signals are studied, high-frequency energy and current variations are extracted as an input eigenvector for use by an arc fault detection algorithm. Then, the detection algorithm based on a weighted least squares support vector machine is designed and successfully applied in a microprocessor. Finally, an AFD is developed. The test results show that the AFD can detect arc faults in a timely manner and interrupt the circuit power supply before electrical fires can occur. The AFD is not influenced by cross talk or transient processes, and the detection accuracy is very high. Hence, the AFD can be installed in low-voltage circuits to monitor circuit states in real-time to facilitate the early detection of electrical fires. PMID:27070618

Development of Fire Detection Algorithm at Its Early Stage Using Fire Colour and Shape Information

Science.gov (United States)

Suleiman Abdullahi, Zainab; Hamisu Dalhatu, Shehu; Hassan Abdullahi, Zakariyya

2018-04-01

Fire can be defined as a state in which substances combined chemically with oxygen from the air and give out heat, smoke and flame. Most of the conventional fire detection techniques such as smoke, fire and heat detectors respectively have a problem of travelling delay and also give a high false alarm. The algorithm begins by loading the selected video clip from the database developed to identify the present or absence of fire in a frame. In this approach, background subtraction was employed. If the result of subtraction is less than the set threshold, the difference is ignored and the next frame is taken. However, if the difference is equal to or greater than the set threshold then it subjected to colour and shape test. This is done by using combined RGB colour model and shape signature. The proposed technique was very effective in detecting fire compared to those technique using only motion or colour clues.

Evaluating the SEVIRI Fire Thermal Anomaly Detection Algorithm across the Central African Republic Using the MODIS Active Fire Product

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Patrick H. Freeborn

2014-02-01

Full Text Available Satellite-based remote sensing of active fires is the only practical way to consistently and continuously monitor diurnal fluctuations in biomass burning from regional, to continental, to global scales. Failure to understand, quantify, and communicate the performance of an active fire detection algorithm, however, can lead to improper interpretations of the spatiotemporal distribution of biomass burning, and flawed estimates of fuel consumption and trace gas and aerosol emissions. This work evaluates the performance of the Spinning Enhanced Visible and Infrared Imager (SEVIRI Fire Thermal Anomaly (FTA detection algorithm using seven months of active fire pixels detected by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS across the Central African Republic (CAR. Results indicate that the omission rate of the SEVIRI FTA detection algorithm relative to MODIS varies spatially across the CAR, ranging from 25% in the south to 74% in the east. In the absence of confounding artifacts such as sunglint, uncertainties in the background thermal characterization, and cloud cover, the regional variation in SEVIRI’s omission rate can be attributed to a coupling between SEVIRI’s low spatial resolution detection bias (i.e., the inability to detect fires below a certain size and intensity and a strong geographic gradient in active fire characteristics across the CAR. SEVIRI’s commission rate relative to MODIS increases from 9% when evaluated near MODIS nadir to 53% near the MODIS scene edges, indicating that SEVIRI errors of commission at the MODIS scene edges may not be false alarms but rather true fires that MODIS failed to detect as a result of larger pixel sizes at extreme MODIS scan angles. Results from this work are expected to facilitate (i future improvements to the SEVIRI FTA detection algorithm; (ii the assimilation of the SEVIRI and MODIS active fire products; and (iii the potential inclusion of SEVIRI into a network of geostationary

Proposal for the award of a blanket contract for automatic air-sampling systems for fire and gas detection in the LHC experiments

CERN Document Server

2004-01-01

This document concerns the award of a blanket contract for automatic air-sampling systems for fire and gas detection in the LHC experiments. Following a market survey carried out among 119 firms in ten Member States, a call for tenders (IT-2891/ST) was sent on 1 August 2003 to four firms, in three Member States. By the closing date, CERN had received two tenders from one firm and one consortium, in three Member States. The Finance Committee is invited to agree to the negotiation of a blanket contract with ICARE (FR), the lowest bidder, for the supply of automatic air-sampling systems for fire and gas detection in the LHC experiments for a total amount not exceeding 1 750 000 euros (2 714 000 Swiss francs), subject to revision for inflation from 1 January 2007 with options for air-sampling smoke detection systems for electrical racks, for an additional amount of 400 000 euros (620 000 Swiss francs), subject to revision for inflation from 1 January 2007, bringing the total amount to a maximum of 2 150 000 euros...

Smouldering Subsurface Fires in the Earth System

Science.gov (United States)

Rein, Guillermo

2010-05-01

Smouldering fires, the slow, low-temperature, flameless form of combustion, are an important phenomena in the Earth system. These fires propagate slowly through organic layers of the forest ground and are responsible for 50% or more of the total biomass consumed during wildfires. Only after the 2002 study of the 1997 extreme haze event in South-East Asia, the scientific community recognised the environmental and economic threats posed by subsurface fires. This was caused by the spread of vast biomass fires in Indonesia, burning below the surface for months during the El Niño climate event. It has been calculated that these fires released between 0.81 and 2.57 Gton of carbon gases (13-40% of global emissions). Large smouldering fires are rare events at the local scale but occur regularly at a global scale. Once ignited, they are particularly difficult to extinguish despite extensive rains or fire-fighting attempts and can persist for long periods of time (months, years) spreading over very extensive areas of forest and deep into the soil. Indeed, these are the oldest continuously burning fires on Earth. Earth scientists are interested in smouldering fires because they destroy large amounts of biomass and cause greater damage to the soil ecosystem than flaming fires do. Moreover, these fires cannot be detected with current satellite remote sensing technologies causing inconsistencies between emission inventories and model predictions. Organic soils sustain smouldering fire (hummus, duff, peat and coal) which total carbon pool exceeds that of the world's forests or the atmosphere. This have important implications for climate change. Warmer temperatures at high latitudes are resulting in unprecedented permafrost thaw that is leaving large soil carbon pools exposed to fires. Because the CO2 flux from peat fires has been measured to be about 3000 times larger that the natural degradation flux, permafrost thaw is a risk for greater carbon release by fire and subsequently

46 CFR 108.411 - Smoke detection system.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 46 Shipping 4 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Smoke detection system. 108.411 Section 108.411 Shipping... EQUIPMENT Fire Extinguishing Systems § 108.411 Smoke detection system. Each smoke accumulator in a smoke detection system must be located on the overhead of the compartment protected by the system in a location...

Potential fire detection based on Kalman-driven change detection

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Van Den Bergh, F

2009-07-01

Full Text Available A new active fire event detection algorithm for data collected with the Spinning Enhanced Visible and Infrared Imager (SEVIRI) sensor, based on the extended Kalman filter, is introduced. Instead of using the observed temperatures of the spatial...

FIRES: Fire Information Retrieval and Evaluation System - A program for fire danger rating analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Patricia L. Andrews; Larry S. Bradshaw

1997-01-01

A computer program, FIRES: Fire Information Retrieval and Evaluation System, provides methods for evaluating the performance of fire danger rating indexes. The relationship between fire danger indexes and historical fire occurrence and size is examined through logistic regression and percentiles. Historical seasonal trends of fire danger and fire occurrence can be...

Building 431 fire tests

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Alvares, N.J.; Beason, D.G.; Ford, H.W.; Magee, M.W.

1977-01-01

An extensive discussion of considerations for fire protection in the LLL mirror fusion test facility (MFTF) is presented. Because of the large volume and high bays of the building, sufficient data on fire detection is unavailable. Results of fire detection tests using controlled fire sources in the building are presented. Extensive data concerning the behavior of the building atmosphere are included. Candidate fire detection instrumentation and extinguishing systems for use in the building are briefly reviewed

Standpipe systems for fire protection

CERN Document Server

Isman, Kenneth E

2017-01-01

This important new manual goes beyond the published NFPA standards on installation of standpipe systems to include the rules in the International Building Code, municipal fire codes, the National Fire Code of Canada, and information on inspection, testing, and maintenance of standpipe systems. Also covered are the interactions between standpipe and sprinkler systems, since these important fire protection systems are so frequently installed together. Illustrated with design examples and practical applications to reinforce the learning experience, this is the go-to reference for engineers, architects, design technicians, building inspectors, fire inspectors, and anyone that inspects, tests or maintains fire protection systems. Fire marshals and plan review authorities that have the responsibility for reviewing and accepting plans and hydraulic calculations for standpipe systems are also an important audience, as are firefighters who actually use standpipe systems. As a member of the committees responsible for s...

System Detects Vibrational Instabilities

Science.gov (United States)

Bozeman, Richard J., Jr.

1990-01-01

Sustained vibrations at two critical frequencies trigger diagnostic response or shutdown. Vibration-analyzing electronic system detects instabilities of combustion in rocket engine. Controls pulse-mode firing of engine and identifies vibrations above threshold amplitude at 5.9 and/or 12kHz. Adapted to other detection and/or control schemes involving simultaneous real-time detection of signals above or below preset amplitudes at two or more specified frequencies. Potential applications include rotating machinery and encoders and decoders in security systems.

A Forest Early Fire Detection Algorithm Based on Wireless Sensor Networks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

CHENG Qiang

2014-03-01

Full Text Available Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN adopt GHz as their communication carrier, and it has been found that GHz carrier attenuation model in transmission path is associated with vegetation water content. In this paper, based on RSSI mechanism of WSN nodes we formed vegetation dehydration sensors. Through relationships between vegetation water content and carrier attenuation, we perceived forest vegetation water content variations and early fire gestation process, and established algorithms of early forest fires detection. Experiments confirm that wireless sensor networks can accurately perceive vegetation dehydration events and forest fire events. Simulation results show that, WSN dehydration perception channel (P2P representing 75 % amounts of carrier channel or more, it can meet the detection requirements, which presented a new algorithm of early forest fire detection.

OCULUS fire: a command and control system for fire management with crowd sourcing and social media interconnectivity

Science.gov (United States)

Thomopoulos, Stelios C. A.; Kyriazanos, Dimitris M.; Astyakopoulos, Alkiviadis; Dimitros, Kostantinos; Margonis, Christos; Thanos, Giorgos Konstantinos; Skroumpelou, Katerina

2016-05-01

AF3 (Advanced Forest Fire Fighting2) is a European FP7 research project that intends to improve the efficiency of current fire-fighting operations and the protection of human lives, the environment and property by developing innovative technologies to ensure the integration between existing and new systems. To reach this objective, the AF3 project focuses on innovative active and passive countermeasures, early detection and monitoring, integrated crisis management and advanced public information channels. OCULUS Fire is the innovative control and command system developed within AF3 as a monitoring, GIS and Knowledge Extraction System and Visualization Tool. OCULUS Fire includes (a) an interface for real-time updating and reconstructing of maps to enable rerouting based on estimated hazards and risks, (b) processing of GIS dynamic re-construction and mission re-routing, based on the fusion of airborne, satellite, ground and ancillary geolocation data, (c) visualization components for the C2 monitoring system, displaying and managing information arriving from a variety of sources and (d) mission and situational awareness module for OCULUS Fire ground monitoring system being part of an Integrated Crisis Management Information System for ground and ancillary sensors. OCULUS Fire will also process and visualise information from public information channels, social media and also mobile applications by helpful citizens and volunteers. Social networking, community building and crowdsourcing features will enable a higher reliability and less false alarm rates when using such data in the context of safety and security applications.

ASSESSMENT OF THE UTILITY OF THE ADVANCED HIMAWARI IMAGER TO DETECT ACTIVE FIRE OVER AUSTRALIA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

B. Hally

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Wildfire detection and attribution is an issue of importance due to the socio-economic impact of fires in Australia. Early detection of fires allows emergency response agencies to make informed decisions in order to minimise loss of life and protect strategic resources in threatened areas. Until recently, the ability of land management authorities to accurately assess fire through satellite observations of Australia was limited to those made by polar orbiting satellites. The launch of the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA Himawari-8 satellite, with the 16-band Advanced Himawari Imager (AHI-8 onboard, in October 2014 presents a significant opportunity to improve the timeliness of satellite fire detection across Australia. The near real-time availability of images, at a ten minute frequency, may also provide contextual information (background temperature leading to improvements in the assessment of fire characteristics. This paper investigates the application of the high frequency observation data supplied by this sensor for fire detection and attribution. As AHI-8 is a new sensor we have performed an analysis of the noise characteristics of the two spectral bands used for fire attribution across various land use types which occur in Australia. Using this information we have adapted existing algorithms, based upon least squares error minimisation and Kalman filtering, which utilise high frequency observations of surface temperature to detect and attribute fire. The fire detection and attribution information provided by these algorithms is then compared to existing satellite based fire products as well as in-situ information provided by land management agencies. These comparisons were made Australia-wide for an entire fire season - including many significant fire events (wildfires and prescribed burns. Preliminary detection results suggest that these methods for fire detection perform comparably to existing fire products and fire incident reporting

Weather Observation Systems and Efficiency of Fighting Forest Fires

Science.gov (United States)

Khabarov, N.; Moltchanova, E.; Obersteiner, M.

2007-12-01

Weather observation is an essential component of modern forest fire management systems. Satellite and in-situ based weather observation systems might help to reduce forest loss, human casualties and destruction of economic capital. In this paper, we develop and apply a methodology to assess the benefits of various weather observation systems on reductions of burned area due to early fire detection. In particular, we consider a model where the air patrolling schedule is determined by a fire hazard index. The index is computed from gridded daily weather data for the area covering parts Spain and Portugal. We conduct a number of simulation experiments. First, the resolution of the original data set is artificially reduced. The reduction of the total forest burned area associated with air patrolling based on a finer weather grid indicates the benefit of using higher spatially resolved weather observations. Second, we consider a stochastic model to simulate forest fires and explore the sensitivity of the model with respect to the quality of input data. The analysis of combination of satellite and ground monitoring reveals potential cost saving due to a "system of systems effect" and substantial reduction in burned area. Finally, we estimate the marginal improvement schedule for loss of life and economic capital as a function of the improved fire observing system.

Fire Behavior System for the Full Range of Fire Management Needs

Science.gov (United States)

Richard C. Rothermel; Patricia L. Andrews

1987-01-01

An "integrated fire behavior/fire danger rating system" should be "seamless" to avoid requiring choices among alternate, independent systems. Descriptions of fuel moisture, fuels, and fire behavior should be standardized, permitting information to flow easily through the spectrum of fire management needs. The level of resolution depends on the...

A methodology for analyzing the detection and suppression of fires in nuclear power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Siu, N.; Apostolakis, G.

1986-01-01

The assessment of the fire risk in nuclear power plants requires the analysis of fire scenarios within specified rooms. A methodology that integrates the fire protection features of a given room into an existing fire risk analysis framework is developed. An important component of this methodology is a model for the time required to detect and suppress a fire in a given room, called the ''hazard time.'' This model accounts for the reliability of fire detection and suppression equipment, as well as for the characteristics rates of the detection and suppression processes. Because the available evidence for fire detection and suppression in nuclear power plants is sparse and often qualitative, a second component of this methodology is a set of methods needed to employ imprecise information in a statistical analysis. These methods can be applied to a wide variety of problems

Influence of the input database in detecting fire space-time clusters

Science.gov (United States)

Pereira, Mário; Costa, Ricardo; Tonini, Marj; Vega Orozco, Carmen; Parente, Joana

2015-04-01

comprises a quite different number of fire records and lower fire size threshold. Therefore, it was necessary to restrict both databases to a common period and fire size range. In addition, the weather conditions during the temporal dimension of the most important detected clusters were investigated since they are often very well correlated with the fire incidence. Composite analysis was used to identify and characterize the synoptic patterns of large scale climatic and dynamical meteorological fields at different levels of the atmosphere. Kulldorff, M., Heffernan, R., Hartman, J., Assunção, R., Mostashari, F., 2005. A Space-Time Permutation Scan Statistic for Disease Outbreak Detection. PLoS medicine. 2(3), 216-224. http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.0020059. Pereira, M. G., Malamud, B. D., Trigo, R. M., and Alves, P. I., 2011. The history and characteristics of the 1980-2005 Portuguese rural fire database, Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 11, 3343-3358, http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/nhess-11-3343-2011. This work was supported by national funds by FCT - Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, under the project PEst-OE/AGR/UI4033/2014 and by the project SUSTAINSYS: Environmental Sustainable Agro-Forestry Systems (NORTE-07-0124-FEDER-000044), financed by the North Portugal Regional Operational Programme (ON.2 - O Novo Norte), under the National Strategic Reference Framework (QREN), through the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER), as well as by National Funds (PIDDAC) through the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT/MEC).

Highly Sensitive Sensors Based on Metal-Oxide Nanocolumns for Fire Detection

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kwangjae Lee

2017-02-01

Full Text Available A fire detector is the most important component in a fire alarm system. Herein, we present the feasibility of a highly sensitive and rapid response gas sensor based on metal oxides as a high performance fire detector. The glancing angle deposition (GLAD technique is used to make the highly porous structure such as nanocolumns (NCs of various metal oxides for enhancing the gas-sensing performance. To measure the fire detection, the interface circuitry for our sensors (NiO, SnO2, WO3 and In2O3 NCs is designed. When all the sensors with various metal-oxide NCs are exposed to fire environment, they entirely react with the target gases emitted from Poly(vinyl chlorides (PVC decomposed at high temperature. Before the emission of smoke from the PVC (a hot-plate temperature of 200 °C, the resistances of the metal-oxide NCs are abruptly changed and SnO2 NCs show the highest response of 2.1. However, a commercial smoke detector did not inform any warning. Interestingly, although the NiO NCs are a p-type semiconductor, they show the highest response of 577.1 after the emission of smoke from the PVC (a hot-plate temperature of 350 °C. The response time of SnO2 NCs is much faster than that of a commercial smoke detector at the hot-plate temperature of 350 °C. In addition, we investigated the selectivity of our sensors by analyzing the responses of all sensors. Our results show the high potential of a gas sensor based on metal-oxide NCs for early fire detection.

Monitoring of pipeline oil spill fire events using Geographical Information System and Remote Sensing

Science.gov (United States)

Ogungbuyi, M. G.; Eckardt, F. D.; Martinez, P.

2016-12-01

Nigeria, the largest producer of crude oil in Africa occupies sixth position in the world. Despite such huge oil revenue potentials, its pipeline network system is consistently susceptible to leaks causing oil spills. We investigate ground based spill events which are caused by operational error, equipment failure and most importantly by deliberate attacks along the major pipeline transport system. Sometimes, these spills are accompanied with fire explosion caused by accidental discharge, natural or illegal refineries in the creeds, etc. MODIS satellites fires data corresponding to the times and spill events (i.e. ground based data) of the Area of Interest (AOI) show significant correlation. The open source Quantum Geographical Information System (QGIS) was used to validate the dataset and the spatiotemporal analyses of the oil spill fires were expressed. We demonstrate that through QGIS and Google Earth (using the time sliders), we can identify and monitor oil spills when they are attended with fire events along the pipeline transport system accordingly. This is shown through the spatiotemporal images of the fires. Evidence of such fire cases resulting from bunt vegetation as different from industrial and domestic fire is also presented. Detecting oil spill fires in the study location may not require an enormous terabyte of image processing: we can however rely on a near-real-time (NRT) MODIS data that is readily available twice daily to detect oil spill fire as early warning signal for those hotspots areas where cases of oil seepage is significant in Nigeria.

Adsorber fires

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Holmes, W.

1987-01-01

The following conclusions are offered with respect to activated charcoal filter systems in nuclear power plants: (1) The use of activated charcoal in nuclear facilities presents a potential for deep-seated fires. (2) The defense-in-depth approach to nuclear fire safety requires that if an ignition should occur, fires must be detected quickly and subsequently suppressed. (3) Deep-seated fires in charcoal beds are difficult to extinguish. (4) Automatic water sprays can be used to extinguish fires rapidly and reliably when properly introduced into the burning medium. The second part of the conclusions offered are more like challenges: (1) The problem associated with inadvertent actuations of fire protection systems is not a major one, and it can be reduced further by proper design review, installation, testing, and maintenance. Eliminating automatic fire extinguishing systems for the protection of charcoal adsorbers is not justified. (2) Removal of automatic fire protection systems due to fear of inadvertent fire protection system operation is a case of treating the effect rather than the cause. On the other hand, properly maintaining automatic fire protection systems will preserve the risk of fire loss at acceptable levels while at the same time reducing the risk of damage presented by inadvertent operation of fire protection systems

30 CFR 75.1103-6 - Automatic fire sensors; actuation of fire suppression systems.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 30 Mineral Resources 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Automatic fire sensors; actuation of fire... Protection § 75.1103-6 Automatic fire sensors; actuation of fire suppression systems. Point-type heat sensors or automatic fire sensor and warning device systems may be used to actuate deluge-type water systems...

Comparison of Available Technologies for Fire Spots Detection via Linear Heat Detector

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Miksa František

2016-12-01

Full Text Available It is very demanding to detect fire spots under difficult conditions with high occurrence of interfering external factors such as large distances, airflow difficultly, high dustiness, high humidity, etc. Spot fire sensors do not meet the requirements due to the aforementioned conditions as well as large distances. Therefore, the detection of a fire spot via linear heat sensing cables is utilized.

Advanced fire information system

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Frost, PE

2007-01-01

Full Text Available The South African Advanced Fire Information System (AFIS) is the first near real-time satellite-based fire monitoring system in Africa. It was originally developed for, and funded by, the electrical power utility Eskom, to reduce the impact of wild...

Characterization of a mine fire using atmospheric monitoring system sensor data.

Science.gov (United States)

Yuan, L; Thomas, R A; Zhou, L

2017-06-01

Atmospheric monitoring systems (AMS) have been widely used in underground coal mines in the United States for the detection of fire in the belt entry and the monitoring of other ventilation-related parameters such as airflow velocity and methane concentration in specific mine locations. In addition to an AMS being able to detect a mine fire, the AMS data have the potential to provide fire characteristic information such as fire growth - in terms of heat release rate - and exact fire location. Such information is critical in making decisions regarding fire-fighting strategies, underground personnel evacuation and optimal escape routes. In this study, a methodology was developed to calculate the fire heat release rate using AMS sensor data for carbon monoxide concentration, carbon dioxide concentration and airflow velocity based on the theory of heat and species transfer in ventilation airflow. Full-scale mine fire experiments were then conducted in the Pittsburgh Mining Research Division's Safety Research Coal Mine using an AMS with different fire sources. Sensor data collected from the experiments were used to calculate the heat release rates of the fires using this methodology. The calculated heat release rate was compared with the value determined from the mass loss rate of the combustible material using a digital load cell. The experimental results show that the heat release rate of a mine fire can be calculated using AMS sensor data with reasonable accuracy.

Evaluation of Criteria for the Detection of Fires in Underground Conveyor Belt Haulageways.

Science.gov (United States)

Litton, Charles D; Perera, Inoka Eranda

2012-07-01

Large-scale experiments were conducted in an above-ground gallery to simulate typical fires that develop along conveyor belt transport systems within underground coal mines. In the experiments, electrical strip heaters, imbedded ~5 cm below the top surface of a large mass of coal rubble, were used to ignite the coal, producing an open flame. The flaming coal mass subsequently ignited 1.83-meter-wide conveyor belts located approximately 0.30 m above the coal surface. Gas samples were drawn through an averaging probe located approximately 20 m downstream of the coal for continuous measurement of CO, CO 2 , and O 2 as the fire progressed through the stages of smoldering coal, flaming coal, and flaming conveyor belt. Also located approximately 20 m from the fire origin and approximately 0.5 m below the roof of the gallery were two commercially available smoke detectors, a light obscuration meter, and a sampling probe for measurement of total mass concentration of smoke particles. Located upstream of the fire origin and also along the wall of the gallery at approximately 14 m and 5 m upstream were two video cameras capable of both smoke and flame detection. During the experiments, alarm times of the smoke detectors and video cameras were measured while the smoke obscuration and total smoke mass were continually measured. Twelve large-scale experiments were conducted using three different types of fire-resistant conveyor belts and four air velocities for each belt. The air velocities spanned the range from 1.0 m/s to 6.9 m/s. The results of these experiments are compared to previous large-scale results obtained using a smaller fire gallery and much narrower (1.07-m) conveyor belts to determine if the fire detection criteria previously developed (1) remained valid for the wider conveyor belts. Although some differences between these and the previous experiments did occur, the results, in general, compare very favorably. Differences are duly noted and their impact on fire

Early detection of fires by means of thermography; Frueherkennung von Braenden mit Thermografie

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Krauss, Matthias; Doeppner, Joerg; Pohl, Gisbert; Mahler, Guido; Dammass, Gunnar; Wendland, Georg [InfraTec GmbH, Dresden (Germany)

2012-11-01

The authors of the contribution under consideration report on the physical and technical fundamentals of an early detection of fires by means of thermal imaging. Hereupon, the technical implementation of these fundamentals into a modular automatic monitoring system by thermography is described. The authors report on practical experiences of this monitoring system.

Autonomous long-range open area fire detection and reporting

Science.gov (United States)

Engelhaupt, Darell E.; Reardon, Patrick J.; Blackwell, Lisa; Warden, Lance; Ramsey, Brian D.

2005-03-01

Approximately 5 billion dollars in US revenue was lost in 2003 due to open area fires. In addition many lives are lost annually. Early detection of open area fires is typically performed by manned observatories, random reporting and aerial surveillance. Optical IR flame detectors have been developed previously. They typically have experienced high false alarms and low flame detection sensitivity due to interference from solar and other causes. Recently a combination of IR detectors has been used in a two or three color mode to reduce false alarms from solar, or background sources. A combination of ultra-violet C (UVC) and near infra-red (NIR) detectors has also been developed recently for flame discrimination. Relatively solar-blind basic detectors are now available but typically detect at only a few tens of meters at ~ 1 square meter fuel flame. We quantify the range and solar issues for IR and visible detectors and qualitatively define UV sensor requirements in terms of the mode of operation, collection area issues and flame signal output by combustion photochemistry. We describe innovative flame signal collection optics for multiple wavelengths using UV and IR as low false alarm detection of open area fires at long range (8-10 km/m2) in daylight (or darkness). A circular array detector and UV-IR reflective and refractive devices including cylindrical or toroidal lens elements for the IR are described. The dispersion in a refractive cylindrical IR lens characterizes the fire and allows a stationary line or circle generator to locate the direction and different flame IR "colors" from a wide FOV. The line generator will produce spots along the line corresponding to the fire which can be discriminated with a linear detector. We demonstrate prototype autonomous sensors with RF digital reporting from various sites.

An Early Fire Detection Algorithm Using IP Cameras

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hector Perez-Meana

2012-05-01

Full Text Available The presence of smoke is the first symptom of fire; therefore to achieve early fire detection, accurate and quick estimation of the presence of smoke is very important. In this paper we propose an algorithm to detect the presence of smoke using video sequences captured by Internet Protocol (IP cameras, in which important features of smoke, such as color, motion and growth properties are employed. For an efficient smoke detection in the IP camera platform, a detection algorithm must operate directly in the Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT domain to reduce computational cost, avoiding a complete decoding process required for algorithms that operate in spatial domain. In the proposed algorithm the DCT Inter-transformation technique is used to increase the detection accuracy without inverse DCT operation. In the proposed scheme, firstly the candidate smoke regions are estimated using motion and color smoke properties; next using morphological operations the noise is reduced. Finally the growth properties of the candidate smoke regions are furthermore analyzed through time using the connected component labeling technique. Evaluation results show that a feasible smoke detection method with false negative and false positive error rates approximately equal to 4% and 2%, respectively, is obtained.

PG BN 1600 sodium fire protection system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bar, J.; Urbancik, L.

1978-12-01

A design was developed of a fire protection system for steam generator of a 1600 MW sodium cooled fast reactor (BN-1600). Chemical reactions are described of liquid sodium with atmospheric components and solid materials coming into contact with sodium in its release from the steam generator, and in safeguarding protection against sodium fires. The requirements for the purity of nitrogen as an atmosphere inert to liquid sodium are given. Characteristics and basic parameters are shown of level and spray fires, elementary terms are explained concerning the properties of aerosols formed during fires, the methods and means of release signalling and fire alarm are described as are fire precautions using fire-fighting equipment, modifying the support tank and the cell bottom and building sewage pits. The design of the system comprises an alarm system for liquid sodium using point and line electric contact sensors and flame photometer based aerosol sensors as well as a fire-fighting system based on the system of channelling liquid sodium into emergency discharge tanks filled with an inert gas, a set of fire extinguishers and other fire fighting material, and measures for the elimination of sodium fire consequences. (J.B.)

EFFICIENCY OF FIRE-FIGHTING PROTECTION OBJECTS IN PROVISION OF FIRE SAFETY AT INDUSTRIAL ENTERPRISES

OpenAIRE

A. V. Zhovna

2008-01-01

The paper gives an analysis of economic results pertaining to organization of a system for fire-fighting protection of industrial enterprises in theRepublicofBelarus. Statistical data on operational conditions of technical means of fire-fighting protection, particularly, automatic systems for detection and extinguishing of fires, systems of internal fire-fighting water-supply.  Requirements and provisions  of normative and technical documents are thoroughly studied. Observance of these docume...

Real Time Fire Reconnaissance Satellite Monitoring System Failure Model

Science.gov (United States)

Nino Prieto, Omar Ariosto; Colmenares Guillen, Luis Enrique

2013-09-01

In this paper the Real Time Fire Reconnaissance Satellite Monitoring System is presented. This architecture is a legacy of the Detection System for Real-Time Physical Variables which is undergoing a patent process in Mexico. The methodologies for this design are the Structured Analysis for Real Time (SA- RT) [8], and the software is carried out by LACATRE (Langage d'aide à la Conception d'Application multitâche Temps Réel) [9,10] Real Time formal language. The system failures model is analyzed and the proposal is based on the formal language for the design of critical systems and Risk Assessment; AltaRica. This formal architecture uses satellites as input sensors and it was adapted from the original model which is a design pattern for physical variation detection in Real Time. The original design, whose task is to monitor events such as natural disasters and health related applications, or actual sickness monitoring and prevention, as the Real Time Diabetes Monitoring System, among others. Some related work has been presented on the Mexican Space Agency (AEM) Creation and Consultation Forums (2010-2011), and throughout the International Mexican Aerospace Science and Technology Society (SOMECYTA) international congress held in San Luis Potosí, México (2012). This Architecture will allow a Real Time Fire Satellite Monitoring, which will reduce the damage and danger caused by fires which consumes the forests and tropical forests of Mexico. This new proposal, permits having a new system that impacts on disaster prevention, by combining national and international technologies and cooperation for the benefit of humankind.

Fire in the Earth system.

Science.gov (United States)

Bowman, David M J S; Balch, Jennifer K; Artaxo, Paulo; Bond, William J; Carlson, Jean M; Cochrane, Mark A; D'Antonio, Carla M; Defries, Ruth S; Doyle, John C; Harrison, Sandy P; Johnston, Fay H; Keeley, Jon E; Krawchuk, Meg A; Kull, Christian A; Marston, J Brad; Moritz, Max A; Prentice, I Colin; Roos, Christopher I; Scott, Andrew C; Swetnam, Thomas W; van der Werf, Guido R; Pyne, Stephen J

2009-04-24

Fire is a worldwide phenomenon that appears in the geological record soon after the appearance of terrestrial plants. Fire influences global ecosystem patterns and processes, including vegetation distribution and structure, the carbon cycle, and climate. Although humans and fire have always coexisted, our capacity to manage fire remains imperfect and may become more difficult in the future as climate change alters fire regimes. This risk is difficult to assess, however, because fires are still poorly represented in global models. Here, we discuss some of the most important issues involved in developing a better understanding of the role of fire in the Earth system.

Fire and Gas Detection in the LHC Experiments The Sniffer Project

CERN Document Server

Nunes, R W

2001-01-01

The LHC experiments, due to their complexity and size, present many safety challenges. Cryogenic gases are used in large quantities as well as certain flammable mixtures. The electrical power involved calls for analysis of the fire risks. Access is restricted to the minimum and environmental conditions are extremely harsh, due to strong magnetic fields and ionising radiation. This paper will describe the Combined Fire/Gas/Oxygen deficiency Detection systems proposed for inside the ATLAS and CMS Experiments and possibly for the two others, if they deem it necessary. The requirements of the experiments and the development and implementation of such a system will be discussed. In parallel, commercial procedures to implement these systems by industry shall be described, taking into consideration that a previous development has already been undertaken by CERN for the LEP experiments. The stage is set for inter-divisional collaboration in a project of utmost importance for the safety of people and protection of the...

A new proved field-tested system for early detection of smouldering fire at conveyor belt equipment; Ein neues betriebsreifes System zur Glimmbrandfrueherkennung an Gurtfoerderanlagen

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wick, H. [Bezirksregierung Arnsberg, Abt. Bergbau und Energie in NRW, Dortmund (Germany); Misz, Thomas [Zentralstab Kernbereich, RAG Deutsche Steinkohle AG, Herne (Germany)

2009-11-05

In underground mining, a CO (carbon oxide)-monitoring is not suitable, to detect a beginning fire in a very early stage and at its place of origin, especially when the ventilation current is very high. By the fibre-optical supervision system GESO, an additional early warning system was developed, which is very safe. It is used especially for belt conveyors in underground roadways. The technology for service temperature measurement, developed and extended for use in explosive atmosphere is state-of-the-art in industries on the surface. (orig.)

Coal fires in Northwest China. Detection, monitoring, and prediction using remote sensing data

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang, Xiangmin

1998-01-01

Coal fires in China occur within a region that stretches over 5,000 km in the east- western part and 750 km. in the north-southern part. These fires cause an economic and environmental threat by making a significant contribution to the global CO2 budget. The studies made in this thesis can be divided into two parts. Part one is based on field work and laboratory analysis that includes the dating of the paleo coal fires; part two concerns remote sensing applications for the active coal fires. In Chapter 2, the evolution of the paleo coal fires in Toutunhe and Xinjiang areas are studied. Several age groups of burnt rock have been recognized and their relationships with the river terraces will be discussed. The causes of the paleo coal fires are addressed, and the areas of coal fires with different ages have been dated. In Chapter 3, the physical basis of thermal infrared remote sensing for the detection and measurement of coal fires are addressed with an emphasis on the spatial, spectral, and radiometric resolution. In Chapter 4, a method to reduce the effect of solar heating, the main factor of confusion when investigating the thermal anomalies of coal fires, is discussed with the help of a DEM. In Chapter 5, as the coal fires normally occupy only part of one pixel of the Landsat TM thermal channel data, the capability of sub pixel coal fire detection is addressed. In Chapter 6, the airborne data from different wavelengths acquired at different times are studied to analyze the spatial thermal characteristics of the coal fires. Spreading direction and different types of coal fires are studied. Chapter 7 presents, based on multi-sensor data fusion techniques, a hierarchical methodology for detection and monitoring of the coal fires. 120 refs

FireDetective : Understanding Ajax Client/Server Interactions

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Matthijssen, N.; Zaidman, A.

2011-01-01

Ajax-enabled web applications are a new breed of highly interactive, highly dynamic web applications. Although Ajax allows developers to create rich web applications, Ajax applications can be difficult to comprehend and thus to maintain. FireDetective aims to facilitate the understanding of Ajax

Fire auto alarm system intelligent trend

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Du Chengbao

1997-01-01

The author gives the course and trend of the fire alarm system going to more computerized and more intelligent. It is described that only the system applied artificial intelligent and confusion control is the true intelligent fire alarm system. The author gives the detailed analysis on the signal treatment of artificial intelligent applied to analogue fire alarm system as well as the alarm system controlled by confusion technology and artificial nervous net

46 CFR 161.002-15 - Sample extraction smoke detection systems.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 46 Shipping 6 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Sample extraction smoke detection systems. 161.002-15..., CONSTRUCTION, AND MATERIALS: SPECIFICATIONS AND APPROVAL ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT Fire-Protective Systems § 161.002-15 Sample extraction smoke detection systems. The smoke detecting system must consist of a means for...

Using the Large Fire Simulator System to map wildland fire potential for the conterminous United States

Science.gov (United States)

LaWen Hollingsworth; James Menakis

2010-01-01

This project mapped wildland fire potential (WFP) for the conterminous United States by using the large fire simulation system developed for Fire Program Analysis (FPA) System. The large fire simulation system, referred to here as LFSim, consists of modules for weather generation, fire occurrence, fire suppression, and fire growth modeling. Weather was generated with...

A TBB-CUDA Implementation for Background Removal in a Video-Based Fire Detection System

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fan Wang

2014-01-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a parallel TBB-CUDA implementation for the acceleration of single-Gaussian distribution model, which is effective for background removal in the video-based fire detection system. In this framework, TBB mainly deals with initializing work of the estimated Gaussian model running on CPU, and CUDA performs background removal and adaption of the model running on GPU. This implementation can exploit the combined computation power of TBB-CUDA, which can be applied to the real-time environment. Over 220 video sequences are utilized in the experiments. The experimental results illustrate that TBB+CUDA can achieve a higher speedup than both TBB and CUDA. The proposed framework can effectively overcome the disadvantages of limited memory bandwidth and few execution units of CPU, and it reduces data transfer latency and memory latency between CPU and GPU.

Fire, safety and ventilation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hindle, D.

1999-02-01

Correct ventilation in tunnel environments is vital for the comfort and safety of the people passing through. This article gives details of products from several manufacturers of safety rescue and fire fighting equipment, fire and fume detection equipment, special fire resistant materials, fire resistant hydraulic oils and fire dampers, and ventilation systems. Company addresses and fax numbers are supplied. 4 refs., 5 tabs., 10 photos.

Fires in large scale ventilation systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gregory, W.S.; Martin, R.A.; White, B.W.; Nichols, B.D.; Smith, P.R.; Leslie, I.H.; Fenton, D.L.; Gunaji, M.V.; Blythe, J.P.

1991-01-01

This paper summarizes the experience gained simulating fires in large scale ventilation systems patterned after ventilation systems found in nuclear fuel cycle facilities. The series of experiments discussed included: (1) combustion aerosol loading of 0.61x0.61 m HEPA filters with the combustion products of two organic fuels, polystyrene and polymethylemethacrylate; (2) gas dynamic and heat transport through a large scale ventilation system consisting of a 0.61x0.61 m duct 90 m in length, with dampers, HEPA filters, blowers, etc.; (3) gas dynamic and simultaneous transport of heat and solid particulate (consisting of glass beads with a mean aerodynamic diameter of 10μ) through the large scale ventilation system; and (4) the transport of heat and soot, generated by kerosene pool fires, through the large scale ventilation system. The FIRAC computer code, designed to predict fire-induced transients in nuclear fuel cycle facility ventilation systems, was used to predict the results of experiments (2) through (4). In general, the results of the predictions were satisfactory. The code predictions for the gas dynamics, heat transport, and particulate transport and deposition were within 10% of the experimentally measured values. However, the code was less successful in predicting the amount of soot generation from kerosene pool fires, probably due to the fire module of the code being a one-dimensional zone model. The experiments revealed a complicated three-dimensional combustion pattern within the fire room of the ventilation system. Further refinement of the fire module within FIRAC is needed. (orig.)

IoT-Based Intelligent Modeling of Smart Home Environment for Fire Prevention and Safety

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Faisal Saeed

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Fires usually occur in homes because of carelessness and changes in environmental conditions. They cause threats to the residential community and may result in human death and property damage. Consequently, house fires must be detected early to prevent these types of threats. The immediate notification of a fire is the most critical issue in domestic fire detection systems. Fire detection systems using wireless sensor networks sometimes do not detect a fire as a consequence of sensor failure. Wireless sensor networks (WSN consist of tiny, cheap, and low-power sensor devices that have the ability to sense the environment and can provide real-time fire detection with high accuracy. In this paper, we designed and evaluated a wireless sensor network using multiple sensors for early detection of house fires. In addition, we used the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM to avoid false alarms. To test the results of our fire detection system, we simulated a fire in a smart home using the Fire Dynamics Simulator and a language program. The simulation results showed that our system is able to detect early fire, even when a sensor is not working, while keeping the energy consumption of the sensors at an acceptable level.

Fire-detection device with an ionization chamber

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Conforti, F J; Ogden, W L

1974-10-14

The invention fire-detector in which a detecting circuit of adjustable sensitivity is connected to an ionization chamber sensitive to combustion products. An appropriate circuit is adapted to check the operation and to determine if: the apparatus is duly fed with power; the detector is working; and the apparatus is working at the appropriate sensitivity.

Detection and control of fires and heatings in shallow, abandoned coal mines

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sullivan, P.

1991-01-01

Heatings and fires in shallow, abandoned coal mines create an environmentally undesirable hazard in the Witbank area in South Africa, as well as locations in Europe and North America. A research program was set up in South Africa to detect and control the occurrence and extent of subsurface heatings and fires. Prior to any remedial action being taken to control or extinguish a heating or fire, it is essential to evaluate underground conditions in order to determine the most effective control method. Normally, such workings cannot physically be entered due to poor ground conditions and the presence of heat and toxic gases. Two novel detection methods have been developed by the Chamber of Mines Research Organization (COMRO) for the purpose of identifying the nature and extent of such heatings remotely, via surface boreholes. Temperature monitoring allows for the detection of heating intensity and location. To determine areas of uncontrolled air infiltration into the workings, tracer gas technology is used. In addition, a method for controlling a fire which has been successfully used in South Africa is described

Intelligent buildings, automatic fire alarm and fire-protection control system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tian Deyuan

1999-01-01

The author describes in brief the intelligent buildings, and the automatic fire alarm and fire-protection control system. On the basis of the four-bus, three-bus and two-bus, a new transfer technique was developed

EFFICIENCY OF FIRE-FIGHTING PROTECTION OBJECTS IN PROVISION OF FIRE SAFETY AT INDUSTRIAL ENTERPRISES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. V. Zhovna

2008-01-01

Full Text Available The paper gives an analysis of economic results pertaining to organization of a system for fire-fighting protection of industrial enterprises in theRepublicofBelarus. Statistical data on operational conditions of technical means of fire-fighting protection, particularly, automatic systems for detection and extinguishing of fires, systems of internal fire-fighting water-supply.  Requirements and provisions  of normative and technical documents are thoroughly studied. Observance of these documents is to ensure the required level of  fire safety. On the basis of the obtained results concerning  economic analysis of efficiency optimization directions are defined for selection of technical means of fire-fighting protection at objects of industrial purpose.

Fire danger and fire behavior modeling systems in Australia, Europe, and North America

Science.gov (United States)

Francis M. Fujioka; A. Malcolm Gill; Domingos X. Viegas; B. Mike Wotton

2009-01-01

Wildland fire occurrence and behavior are complex phenomena involving essentially fuel (vegetation), topography, and weather. Fire managers around the world use a variety of systems to track and predict fire danger and fire behavior, at spatial scales that span from local to global extents, and temporal scales ranging from minutes to seasons. The fire management...

Impacts of fire, fire-fighting chemicals and post-fire stabilization techniques on the soil-plant system

OpenAIRE

Fernández Fernández, María

2017-01-01

Forest fires, as well as fire-fighting chemicals, greatly affect the soil-plant system causing vegetation loss, alterations of soil properties and nutrient losses through volatilization, leaching and erosion. Soil recovery after fires depends on the regeneration of the vegetation cover, which protects the soil and prevents erosion. Fire-fighting chemicals contain compounds potentially toxic for plants and soil organisms, and thus their use might hamper the regeneration of burnt ecosystems. In...

Cold Climate Structural Fire Danger Rating System?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maria-Monika Metallinou

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Worldwide, fires kill 300,000 people every year. The fire season is usually recognized to be in the warmer periods of the year. Recent research has, however, demonstrated that the colder season also has major challenges regarding severe fires, especially in inhabited (heated wood-based structures in cold-climate areas. Knowledge about the effect of dry cellulose-based materials on fire development, indoor and outdoor, is a motivation for monitoring possible changes in potential fire behavior and associated fire risk. The effect of wind in spreading fires to neighboring structures points towards using weather forecasts as information on potential fire spread behavior. As modern weather forecasts include temperature and relative humidity predictions, there may already be sufficient information available to develop a structural fire danger rating system. Such a system may include the following steps: (1 Record weather forecasts and actual temperature and relative humidity inside and outside selected structures; (2 Develop a meteorology-data-based model to predict indoor relative humidity levels; (3 Perform controlled drying chamber experiments involving typical hygroscopic fire fuel; (4 Compare the results to the recorded values in selected structures; and (5 Develop the risk model involving the results from drying chamber experiments, weather forecasts, and separation between structures. Knowledge about the structures at risk and their use is also important. The benefits of an automated fire danger rating system would be that the society can better plan for potentially severe cold-climate fires and thereby limit the negative impacts of such fires.

Using Space Technologies for a timely detection of forest fires: the experience of end-users in 3 Italian Regions

Science.gov (United States)

Filizzola, Carolina; Belloni, Antonella; Benigno, Giuseppe; Biancardi, Alberto; Corrado, Rosita; Coviello, Irina; De Costanzo, Giovanni; Genzano, Nicola; Lacava, Teodosio; Lisi, Mariano; Marchese, Francesco; Mazzeo, Giuseppe; Merzagora, Cinzio; Paciello, Rossana; Pergola, Nicola; Sannazzaro, Filomena; Serio, Salvatore; Tramutoli, Valerio

2013-04-01

Every year, hundreds of thousands of hectares of European forests are destroyed by fires. Due to the particular topography, landscape and demographic distribution in Europe (very different from typical scenarios of China, USA, Canada and Australia), rapidity in fire sighting is still the determining factor in limiting damages to people and goods. Moreover, the possibility of early fire detection means also potentially to reduce the size of the event to be faced, the necessary fire fighting resources and, therefore, even the reaction times. In such a context, integration of satellite technologies (mainly high temporal resolution data) and traditional surveillance systems within the fire fighting procedures seems to positively impact on the effectiveness of active fire fighting as demonstrated by recent experiences over Italian territory jointly performed by University of Basilicata, IMAA-CNR and Local Authorities. Real time implementation was performed since 2007, during fire seasons, over several Italian regions with different fire regimes and features, in order to assess the actual potential of different satellite-based fire detection products to support regional and local authorities in efficiently fighting fires and better mitigating their negative effects. Real-time campaigns were carried out in strict collaboration with end-users within the framework of specific projects (i.e. the AVVISA, AVVISTA and AVVISA-Basilicata projects) funded by Civil Protection offices of Regione Lombardia, Provincia Regionale di Palermo and Regione Basilicata in charge of fire risk management and mitigation. A tailored training program was dedicated to the personnel of Regional Civil Protection offices in order to ensure the full understanding and the better integration of satellite based products and tools within the existing fire fighting protocols. In this work, outcomes of these practices are shown and discussed, especially highlighting the impact that a real time satellite

Multi-Sensor Building Fire Alarm System with Information Fusion Technology Based on D-S Evidence Theory

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Qian Ding

2014-10-01

Full Text Available Multi-sensor and information fusion technology based on Dempster-Shafer evidence theory is applied in the system of a building fire alarm to realize early detecting and alarming. By using a multi-sensor to monitor the parameters of the fire process, such as light, smoke, temperature, gas and moisture, the range of fire monitoring in space and time is expanded compared with a single-sensor system. Then, the D-S evidence theory is applied to fuse the information from the multi-sensor with the specific fire model, and the fire alarm is more accurate and timely. The proposed method can avoid the failure of the monitoring data effectively, deal with the conflicting evidence from the multi-sensor robustly and improve the reliability of fire warning significantly.

IoT-Based Intelligent Modeling of Smart Home Environment for Fire Prevention and Safety

OpenAIRE

Faisal Saeed; Anand Paul; Abdul Rehman; Won Hwa Hong; Hyuncheol Seo

2018-01-01

Fires usually occur in homes because of carelessness and changes in environmental conditions. They cause threats to the residential community and may result in human death and property damage. Consequently, house fires must be detected early to prevent these types of threats. The immediate notification of a fire is the most critical issue in domestic fire detection systems. Fire detection systems using wireless sensor networks sometimes do not detect a fire as a consequence of sensor failure....

Recommendations for ionization chamber smoke detectors for commercial and industrial fire protection systems (1988)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1989-01-01

Ionization chamber smoke detectors (ICSDs) utilising a radioactive substance as the source of ionization are used to detect the presence of smoke and hence give early warning of a fire. These recommendations are intended to ensure that the use of ICSDs incorporating radium-226 and americium-241 in commercial/industrial fire protection systems does not give rise to any unnecessary radiation exposure

FOCUS: a fire management planning system -- final report

Science.gov (United States)

Frederick W. Bratten; James B. Davis; George T. Flatman; Jerold W. Keith; Stanley R. Rapp; Theodore G. Storey

1981-01-01

FOCUS (Fire Operational Characteristics Using Simulation) is a computer simulation model for evaluating alternative fire management plans. This final report provides a broad overview of the FOCUS system, describes two major modules-fire suppression and cost, explains the role in the system of gaming large fires, and outlines the support programs and ways of...

Southern African advanced fire information system

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

McFerren, G

2009-05-01

Full Text Available of ecosystems, yet fires threaten natural systems, infrastructure and life. Spatio-temporal awareness of fire likelihood, occurrence and behaviour is key to appropriate prevention, response and management. This paper focuses on wildfire risk to infrastructure... to pinpoint the location and possibly information on fire temperature and size. Previously, Eskom line managers depended on local residents for necessary information about fire occurrences and locations. Eskom and CSIR, a South African research institute...

Self compensating fire detection device

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cholin, J. M.

1985-01-01

A device employing ionization principles for fire detection disclosing a configuration which allows compensation for adverse effects due to the flow of the gas through the device or due to the accumulation of dust and dirt therein. The detecting device includes two ionization chambers, each having a first member, such as a cylindrically shaped cup, having first and second conductive surface portions. Each chamber also incudes a second member, such as a circular, electrode disc having two conductive surface portions. There is disposed in each chamber a radioactive source for ionizing the gas in the volumes intervening between respective pairs of surfaces. The area dimensions of the respective pairs of surfaces, the interventing volumes and the distances there between, and the relative orientation of the respective pairs are calculated and placed such that the ionization currents flowing between pairs of conductive surfaces are substantially equal and orthogonal to each other

The Fire Effects Information System - serving managers since before the Yellowstone fires

Science.gov (United States)

Jane Kapler Smith; Janet L. Fryer; Kristin Zouhar

2009-01-01

This presentation will describe the current status of the Fire Effects Information System (FEIS) and explore lessons learned from this 23-yearold project about the application of science to fire management issues. FEIS contains literature reviews covering biology and fire ecology for approximately 1,100 species in North America: plants and animals, native and nonnative...

Providing satellite-based early warnings of fires to reduce fire flashovers on South Africa’s transmission lines

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Frost, PE

2007-07-01

Full Text Available The Advanced Fire Information System (AFIS) is the first near real time operational satellite-based fire monitoring system of its kind in Africa. The main aim of AFIS is to provide information regarding the prediction, detection and assessment...

Current Status of Fire Risk Assessment in Germany

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Berg, H. P.

2002-01-01

The approach for fire risk assessment to be applied within periodic safety reviews of nuclear power plants in Germany starts with a screening process providing critical fire zones in which a fully developed fire has the potential to both cause an initiating event and impair the function of at least one component or system critical to safety. The second step is to perform a quantitative analysis. For that purpose, a standard event tree has been developed with elements for fire initiation, ventilation of the room, fire detection, fire suppression, and fire propagation. This standard event tree has to be adapted to each critical fire zone or room. In a final step, the fire induced frequency of initiating events, the main contributors and the calculated hazard state frequency for the fire event are determined. In order to perform a quantitative fire risk assessment, a basic data base must be established which should, e.g., include initiating frequencies, reliability data for all fire protection measures, fire barriers, etc. Detailed plant-specific information is needed on ignition sources, detection and extinguishing systems, manual fire fighting, stationary fire suppression systems. As one contributor to fire specific PSA input data, reliability data for the active fire protection measures are required for the application in the fire specific event tree analysis. These data needed to be estimated are unavailabilities per demand or failure rates per hour of plant operation for those components or systems belonging to the active fire protection means. The data on potential failures or unavailabilities per demand of the respective fire protection measures were gained from the plant specific documentation of inspection and maintenance. The assessment whether the detected findings are estimated as failures or only as deficiencies or deteriorations requires a deep insight in the plant specific operating conditions for the fire protection means and needs careful engineering

National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS)

Data.gov (United States)

Department of Homeland Security — The National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) is a reporting standard that fire departments use to uniformly report on the full range of their activities, from...

Fire protection at hot laboratories: Prevention, surveillance and fire-fighting

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chappellier, A.M.

1976-01-01

After pointing out that fire in a hot laboratory can be an important factor contributing to a radioactivity accident, the author briefly recalls the items to be taken into account in a fire hazard analysis. He then describes various important aspects of prevention, detection and fire-fighting which - at the French Commissariat a l'Energie Atomique - are governed by already defined rules or by guidelines which are sufficiently advanced to give a clear idea of the final conclusions to be drawn therefrom. From the point of view protection, the concept of fire sector has been evolved, at hot laboratories, becomes the fire and contamination sector, so as to ensure under all circumstances the containment of any radioactive materials dispersed in the premises on fire. Regarding fire detection, a study should be made on the constraints specific to the facility and liable to affect detector operation. These include ventilation, radiations, neutral or corrosive atmosphere, etc. As regards fire-fighting, two particular aspects are dealt with, namely the question of using water in case of fire and action to be taken concerning ventilation. A practical example - the protection of a ventilation system - is described. In conclusion the paper refers to the need for a thorough analysis specific to each hot laboratory, and to the importance of preparing an operational plan so as to avoid any dangerous improvisations in case of an accident. (author)

Live Fire Evaluation of the Expeditionary Fire Suppression System (EFSS); Phase I

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Kalberer, Jennifer

2004-01-01

.... The system uses AFFF-based compressed air foam and PKP dry chemical. Phase I evaluated the effectiveness of the modified-commercially available EFSS on live fires on static pool and running fuel fires...

Arming and firing system for DISTANT RUNNER

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Skenandore, L.H.; Johnson, J.P.

1982-01-01

Sandia A and F systems Division 1132 provided arming and firing support for the DISTANT RUNNER Test Program at White Sands Missile Range. This report describes the field support and the firing system that was used

The vulcain N expert fire system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Roche, A.

1989-03-01

The Institute for Nuclear Safety and Protection (IPSN) has begun work on an expert system to aid in the diagnosis of fire hazards in nuclear installations. This system is called Vulcain N and is designed as a support tool for the analyses carried out by the IPSN. Vulcain N, is based on the Vulcain expert system already developed by Bertin for its own needs and incorporates the specific rules and know-how of the IPSN experts. The development of Vulcain N began in October 1986 with the drawing up of the technical specifications, and should be completed by the end of 1988. Vulcain N brings together knowledge from a number of different domains: the locations of the combustible materials, the thermal characteristics of the combustible materials and of the walls of the room, the ventilation conditions and, finally, knowledge of fire experts concerning the development of fire. The latter covers four levels of expert knowledge: standards and their associated calculations, the simplified physics of the fire enabling more precise values to be obtained for the figures given by the standards, the rules and knowledge which enables a certain number of deductions to be made concerning the development of the fire, and a numerical simulation code which can be used to monitor the variation of certain characteristic parameters with time. For a given fire out-break scenario, Vulcain N performs diagnosis of different aspects: development of fire, effect of ventilation, emergency action possibilities, propagation hazards, etc. Owing to its flexibility, it can be used in the analysis of fire hazards to simulate a number of possible scenarios and to very rapidly deduce the essential, predominant factors. It will also be used to assist in drafting emergency procedures for application in facilities with nuclear hazards

Climate data system supports FIRE

Science.gov (United States)

Olsen, Lola M.; Iascone, Dominick; Reph, Mary G.

1990-01-01

The NASA Climate Data System (NCDS) at Goddard Space Flight Center is serving as the FIRE Central Archive, providing a centralized data holding and data cataloging service for the FIRE project. NCDS members are carrying out their responsibilities by holding all reduced observations and data analysis products submitted by individual principal investigators in the agreed upon format, by holding all satellite data sets required for FIRE, by providing copies of any of these data sets to FIRE investigators, and by producing and updating a catalog with information about the FIRE holdings. FIRE researchers were requested to provide their reduced data sets in the Standard Data Format (SDF) to the FIRE Central Archive. This standard format is proving to be of value. An improved SDF document is now available. The document provides an example from an actual FIRE SDF data set and clearly states the guidelines for formatting data in SDF. NCDS has received SDF tapes from a number of investigators. These tapes were analyzed and comments provided to the producers. One product which is now available is William J. Syrett's sodar data product from the Stratocumulus Intensive Field Observation. Sample plots from all SDF tapes submitted to the archive will be available to FSET members. Related cloud products are also available through NCDS. Entries describing the FIRE data sets are being provided for the NCDS on-line catalog. Detailed information for the Extended Time Observations is available in the general FIRE catalog entry. Separate catalog entries are being written for the Cirrus Intensive Field Observation (IFO) and for the Marine Stratocumulus IFO. Short descriptions of each FIRE data set will be installed into the NCDS Summary Catalog.

Development of the fire PSA methodology and the fire analysis computer code system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Katsunori, Ogura; Tomomichi, Ito; Tsuyoshi, Uchida; Yusuke, Kasagawa

2009-01-01

Fire PSA methodology has been developed and was applied to NPPs in Japan for power operation and LPSD states. CDFs of preliminary fire PSA for power operation were the higher than that of internal events. Fire propagation analysis code system (CFAST/FDS Network) was being developed and verified thru OECD-PRISME Project. Extension of the scope for LPSD state is planned to figure out the risk level. In order to figure out the fire risk level precisely, the enhancement of the methodology is planned. Verification and validation of phenomenological fire propagation analysis code (CFAST/FDS Network) in the context of Fire PSA. Enhancement of the methodology such as an application of 'Electric Circuit Analysis' in NUREG/CR-6850 and related tests in order to quantify the hot-short effect precisely. Development of seismic-induced fire PSA method being integration of existing seismic PSA and fire PSA methods is ongoing. Fire PSA will be applied to review the validity of fire prevention and mitigation measures

Monitoring Fires from Space: a case study in transitioning from research to applications

Science.gov (United States)

Justice, C. O.; Giglio, L.; Vadrevu, K. P.; Csiszar, I. A.; Schroeder, W.; Davies, D.

2012-12-01

This paper discusses the heritage and relationships between science and applications in the context of global satellite-based fire monitoring. The development of algorithms for satellite-based fire detection has been supported primarily by NASA for the polar orbiters with a global focus, and initially by NOAA and more recently by EUMETSAT for the geostationary satellites, with a regional focus. As the feasibility and importance of space-based fire monitoring was recognized, satellite missions were designed to include fire detection capabilities. As a result, the algorithms and accuracy of the detections have improved. Due to the role of fire in the Earth System and its relevance to society, at each step in the development of the sensing capability the research has made a transition into fire-related applications to such an extent that there is now broad use of these data worldwide. The origin of the polar-orbiting satellite fire detection capability was with the AVHRR sensor beginning in the early 1980s, but was transformed with the launch of the EOS MODIS instruments, which included sensor characteristics specifically for fire detection. NASA gave considerable emphasis on the accuracy assessment of the fire detection and the development of fire characterization and burned area products from MODIS. Collaboration between the MODIS Fire Team and the RSAC USFS, initiated in the context of the Montana wildfires of 2001, prompted the development of a Rapid Response System for fire data and eventually led to operational use of MODIS data by the USFS for strategic fire monitoring. Building on this success, the Fire Information for Resource Management Systems (FIRMS) project was funded by NASA Applications to further develop products and services for the fire information community. The FIRMS was developed as a web-based geospatial tool, offering a range of geospatial data services, including SMS text messaging and is now widely used. This system, developed in the research

Remote sensing of vegetation fires and its contribution to a fire management information system

Science.gov (United States)

Stephane P. Flasse; Simon N. Trigg; Pietro N. Ceccato; Anita H. Perryman; Andrew T. Hudak; Mark W. Thompson; Bruce H. Brockett; Moussa Drame; Tim Ntabeni; Philip E. Frost; Tobias Landmann; Johan L. le Roux

2004-01-01

In the last decade, research has proven that remote sensing can provide very useful support to fire managers. This chapter provides an overview of the types of information remote sensing can provide to the fire community. First, it considers fire management information needs in the context of a fire management information system. An introduction to remote sensing then...

AT89S52 microcontroller Based A Fire Extinguisher Robot Using Ultrasonic and Ultraviolet Sensor

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wahyu Sapto Aji

2009-12-01

Full Text Available The fire often takes many victims. Fire detection system sometime can not prevent this from happening. Therefore, it is essential to develop a robot that can detect the present of fire as well as extinguish it. This research aimed to design a fire extinguisher robot using AT89S52 microcontroller as its controller. A DC fan controlled by a relay is utilized to put out the fire and a fire sensor (UV-Tron is used to detect the presence of fire. The movement of the robot is driven by motor DC. The robot can detect the surrounding obstacles and possess an ultrasound-based navigation system. If the ultrasound system detects an obstacle, the robot will automatically turn without colliding the obstacle or other things around it. The result has shown that this fire extinguisher robot can be built using hardware and software controlled by an AT89S52 microcontroller. It can be concluded from the tests that the robot can detect fire as far as 5 meter distance and able to successfully put out the fire.

Microwave Radiometers for Fire Detection in Trains: Theory and Feasibility Study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Federico Alimenti

2016-06-01

Full Text Available This paper introduces the theory of fire detection in moving vehicles by microwave radiometers. The system analysis is discussed and a feasibility study is illustrated on the basis of two implementation hypotheses. The basic idea is to have a fixed radiometer and to look inside the glass windows of the wagon when it passes in front of the instrument antenna. The proposed sensor uses a three-pixel multi-beam configuration that allows an image to be formed by the movement of the train itself. Each pixel is constituted by a direct amplification microwave receiver operating at 31.4 GHz. At this frequency, the antenna can be a 34 cm offset parabolic dish, whereas a 1 K brightness temperature resolution is achievable with an overall system noise figure of 6 dB, an observation bandwidth of 2 GHz and an integration time of 1 ms. The effect of the detector noise is also investigated and several implementation hypotheses are discussed. The presented study is important since it could be applied to the automatic fire alarm in trains and moving vehicles with dielectric wall/windows.

Ventilation system in fire modelization

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cordero Garcia, S.

2012-01-01

There is a model of fire in an enclosure formed by two rooms. In one of them, it will cause the fire and check how the system of ventilation in different configurations responds. In addition, the behavior of selected targets, which will be a configuration of cables similar to those found in nuclear power stations will be analyzed.

PLCs for nuclear fire control system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McArthur, Neil

1990-01-01

The new Thermal Oxide Reprocessing Plant (THORP) at British Nuclear Fuel's Sellafield site is a very large and complex system. This article describes the computerized control system used for fire damage control in the two main production areas, the head end and the chemical separation segments. Over one thousand fire dampers are controlled by an interlinking system of small computers linked to a main system in the central control room. The choice of hardware and software is also described. (UK)

46 CFR 153.460 - Fire protection systems.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 46 Shipping 5 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Fire protection systems. 153.460 Section 153.460... Requirements for Flammable Or Combustible Cargoes § 153.460 Fire protection systems. Each self-propelled ship... protection system listed beside the cargo in Table 1 and described in the footnotes to Table 1. (b) The...

Modeling regional-scale wildland fire emissions with the wildland fire emissions information system

Science.gov (United States)

Nancy H.F. French; Donald McKenzie; Tyler Erickson; Benjamin Koziol; Michael Billmire; K. Endsley; Naomi K.Y. Scheinerman; Liza Jenkins; Mary E. Miller; Roger Ottmar; Susan Prichard

2014-01-01

As carbon modeling tools become more comprehensive, spatial data are needed to improve quantitative maps of carbon emissions from fire. The Wildland Fire Emissions Information System (WFEIS) provides mapped estimates of carbon emissions from historical forest fires in the United States through a web browser. WFEIS improves access to data and provides a consistent...

OECD-FIRE PR02. Summary report to finalize project stage 1 (2002-2005)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kolar, L.

2005-12-01

The report is structured as follows: (1) Project background; (2) Project goals; (3) Project infrastructure; (4) Database scope; (5) Data collection history and current status; (6) Database structure; (7) Statistical observations; (8) Conclusions. The following data are presented in graphs: Fire extinguishing database; Building (site) of fire incidence and total number of incidences in the database; Component on which fire was initiated; Mechanism of combustion; Root cause of the fire; Fire detection types; Technical data of the fire detection system; Fire detector type; Fuel/flammable material/fire load; Fire extinguishing type; Technical data of the fire extinguishing system; Who extinguished the fire; Fire consequences. (P.A.)

Analysis of the moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer contextual algorithm for small fire detection, Journal of Applied Remote Sensing Vol.3

Science.gov (United States)

W. Wang; J.J. Qu; X. Hao; Y. Liu

2009-01-01

In the southeastern United States, most wildland fires are of low intensity. A substantial number of these fires cannot be detected by the MODIS contextual algorithm. To improve the accuracy of fire detection for this region, the remote-sensed characteristics of these fires have to be...

Report on task I: fire protection system study

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bernard, E.A.; Cano, G.L.

1977-02-01

This study (1) evaluates, on a comparative basis, the national and international regulatory and insurance standards that serve as guidance for fire protection within the nuclear power industry; (2) analyzes the recommendations contained in the major reports on the Browns Ferry Fire; (3) proposes quantitative safety goals and evaluation methods for Nuclear Power Plant Fire Protection Systems (NPPFPS); (4) identifies potential improvements that may be incorporated into NPPFPS; and (5) recommends a plan of action for continuation of the fire protections systems study

33 CFR 149.419 - Can the water supply for the helicopter deck fire protection system be part of a fire water system?

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 33 Navigation and Navigable Waters 2 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Can the water supply for the... § 149.419 Can the water supply for the helicopter deck fire protection system be part of a fire water system? (a) The water supply for the helicopter deck fire protection system required under § 149.420 or...

Introduction of Sodium Fire Extinguishing System for STELLA-1

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gam, Dayoung; Kim, Jong-Man; Jung, Min-Hwan; Eoh, Jae-Hyuk; Jeong, Eoh Jiyoung [Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2015-05-15

This characteristic is a big advantage as a thermal transfer fluid. However, the high reactivity of sodium, especially with water and oxygen, and white aerosol in the event of fire can cause serious accidents. Thus, large sodium facility needs a specific-developed fire extinguishing system for a safe experiment. Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) has conducted sodium heat transfer experiments using the facility named the Sodium Integral Effect Test Loop for Safety Simulation and Assessment (STELLA-1). STELLA-1 fully equipped a sodium fire extinguishing system for the safe experiment and fire spread prevention. In this paper, a preparation of the fire extinguishing system of STELLA-1 facility is introduced. This paper can provide an example of how to design a sodium fire extinguishing system for a large sodium experiment facility. In this paper, a preparation of the fire extinguishment system for STELLA-1 as a large sodium experiment facility was introduced and explained. For safe operation of the liquid sodium utility, it is important to equip specific-developed fire extinguishing system because of the chemical characteristics of sodium. Operators should know the process and operating manual before conducting an experiment to prevent hazardous situation. Though the dry chemical extinguishing agent put out the fire target, removing agent at high temperature state can cause re-combustion. Thus, extinguishment confirmation work should be conducted after sufficient cooling time to stabilize the surface. And in case of fire at a sealed room, a method making the percentage of oxygen low(injecting nitrogen gas or argon gas) is effective.

Introduction of Sodium Fire Extinguishing System for STELLA-1

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gam, Dayoung; Kim, Jong-Man; Jung, Min-Hwan; Eoh, Jae-Hyuk; Jeong, Eoh Jiyoung

2015-01-01

This characteristic is a big advantage as a thermal transfer fluid. However, the high reactivity of sodium, especially with water and oxygen, and white aerosol in the event of fire can cause serious accidents. Thus, large sodium facility needs a specific-developed fire extinguishing system for a safe experiment. Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) has conducted sodium heat transfer experiments using the facility named the Sodium Integral Effect Test Loop for Safety Simulation and Assessment (STELLA-1). STELLA-1 fully equipped a sodium fire extinguishing system for the safe experiment and fire spread prevention. In this paper, a preparation of the fire extinguishing system of STELLA-1 facility is introduced. This paper can provide an example of how to design a sodium fire extinguishing system for a large sodium experiment facility. In this paper, a preparation of the fire extinguishment system for STELLA-1 as a large sodium experiment facility was introduced and explained. For safe operation of the liquid sodium utility, it is important to equip specific-developed fire extinguishing system because of the chemical characteristics of sodium. Operators should know the process and operating manual before conducting an experiment to prevent hazardous situation. Though the dry chemical extinguishing agent put out the fire target, removing agent at high temperature state can cause re-combustion. Thus, extinguishment confirmation work should be conducted after sufficient cooling time to stabilize the surface. And in case of fire at a sealed room, a method making the percentage of oxygen low(injecting nitrogen gas or argon gas) is effective

Evaluating Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reporting Systems for Agricultural Waste Burning Using MODIS Active Fires

Science.gov (United States)

Lin, H.; Jin, Y.; Giglio, L.; Foley, J. A.; Randerson, J. T.

2010-12-01

Fires in agricultural ecosystems emit greenhouse gases and aerosols that influence climate on multiple spatial and temporal scales. Annex 1 countries of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), many of which ratified the Kyoto Protocol, are required to report emissions of CO2, CH4 and N2O from these fires annually. We evaluated several aspects of this reporting system, including the optimality of the crops targeted by the UNFCCC globally and within Annex 1 countries and the consistency of emissions reporting among countries. We also evaluated the success of the individual countries in capturing interannual variability and long-term trends in agricultural fire activity. We combined global crop maps with Terra and Aqua Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) active fire detections. At a global scale, we recommend adding ground nuts, cocoa, cotton and oil palm, and removing potato, oats, pulse other and rye from the UNFCCC list of 14 crops. This leads to an overall increase of 6% of the active fires covered by the reporting system. Optimization led to a different recommended list for Annex 1 countries. Extending emissions reporting to all Annex 1 countries (from the current set of 19 countries) would increase the efficacy of the reporting system from 10% to 20%, and further including several non-Annex 1 countries (Argentina, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Kazakhstan, Mexico and Nigeria) would capture over 58% of active fires in croplands worldwide. Analyses of interannual trends from the U.S. and Australia showed the importance of both intensity of fire use and crop production in controlling year-to-year variations in agricultural fire emissions. Remote sensing provides an efficient tool for an independent assessment of current UNFCCC emissions reporting system; and, if combined with census data, field experiments and expert opinion, has the potential for improving the robustness of the next generation inventory

Fire Risk in MTBF Evaluation for UPS System

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stefano Elia

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The reliability improvement of no-break redundant electrical systems is the first aim of the proposed strategy. The failure of some UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply system may lead to the fire occurrence. The most used electrical configurations are presented and discussed in the paper. The innovation of the proposed method consists of taking into account the fire risk to improve the accuracy of wiring configuration and component’s failure rate. Thorough research on MTBF (Mean Time Between Failure data has been performed for each wiring component and UPS. The fire risk is taken into account introducing an equivalent fire block in the Reliability Block Diagram scheme; it has an MTBF value calculated form yearly statistics of UPS fire events. The reliability of the most used UPS electrical configurations is evaluated by means of the RBD method. Different electrical systems have been investigated and compared based on MTBF. The importance of fire compartmentation between two or more UPS’ connected in parallel is proved here.

Fire monitoring capability of the joint Landsat and Sentinel 2 constellation

Science.gov (United States)

Murphy, S.; Wright, R.

2017-12-01

Fires are a global hazard. Landsat and Sentinel 2 can monitor the Earth's surface every 2 - 4 days. This provides an important opportunity to complement the operational (lower resolution) fire monitoring systems. Landsat-class sensors can detect small fires that would be missed by MODIS-classed sensors. All large fires start out as small fires. We analyze fire patterns in California from 1984 to 2017 and compare the performance of Landsat-type and MODIS-type sensors. Had an operational Landsat-Sentinel 2 fire detection system been in place at the time of the Soberanes fire last year (i.e. August 2016), the cost of suppressing of this fire event (US $236 million) could potentially have been reduced by an order of magnitude.

Fire Hazard Analysis for the Cold Neutron Source System

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Choi, Jung Won; Kim, Young Ki; Wu, Sang Ik; Park, Young Cheol; Kim, Bong Soo; Kang, Mee Jin; Oh, Sung Wook

2006-04-15

As the Cold Neutron Source System for its installation in HANARO has been designing, the fire hazard analysis upon the CNS system becomes required under No. 2003-20 of the MOST notice, Technical Standard about the Fire Hazard Analysis. As a moderator, the strongly flammable hydrogen is filled in the hydrogen system of CNS. Against the fire or explosion in the reactor hall, accordingly, the physical damage on the reactor safety system should be evaluated in order to reflect the safety protection precaution in the design of CNS system. For the purpose of fire hazard analysis, the accident scenarios were divided into three: hydrogen leak during the hydrogen charging in the system, hydrogen leak during the normal operation of CNS, explosion of hydrogen buffer tank by the external fire. The analysis results can be summarized as follows. First, there is no physical damage threatening the reactor safety system although all hydrogen gas came out of the system then ignited as a jet fire. Second, since the CNS equipment island (CEI) is located enough away from the reactor, no physical damage caused by the buffer tank explosion is on the reactor in terms of the overpressure except the flying debris so that the light two-hour fireproof panel is installed in an one side of hydrogen buffer tank. Third, there are a few combustibles on the second floor of CEI so that the fire cannot be propagated to other areas in the reactor hall; however, the light two-hour fireproof panel will be built on the second floor against the external or internal fire so as to play the role of a fire protection area.

Fire Hazard Analysis for the Cold Neutron Source System

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Choi, Jung Won; Kim, Young Ki; Wu, Sang Ik; Park, Young Cheol; Kim, Bong Soo; Kang, Mee Jin; Oh, Sung Wook

2006-04-01

As the Cold Neutron Source System for its installation in HANARO has been designing, the fire hazard analysis upon the CNS system becomes required under No. 2003-20 of the MOST notice, Technical Standard about the Fire Hazard Analysis. As a moderator, the strongly flammable hydrogen is filled in the hydrogen system of CNS. Against the fire or explosion in the reactor hall, accordingly, the physical damage on the reactor safety system should be evaluated in order to reflect the safety protection precaution in the design of CNS system. For the purpose of fire hazard analysis, the accident scenarios were divided into three: hydrogen leak during the hydrogen charging in the system, hydrogen leak during the normal operation of CNS, explosion of hydrogen buffer tank by the external fire. The analysis results can be summarized as follows. First, there is no physical damage threatening the reactor safety system although all hydrogen gas came out of the system then ignited as a jet fire. Second, since the CNS equipment island (CEI) is located enough away from the reactor, no physical damage caused by the buffer tank explosion is on the reactor in terms of the overpressure except the flying debris so that the light two-hour fireproof panel is installed in an one side of hydrogen buffer tank. Third, there are a few combustibles on the second floor of CEI so that the fire cannot be propagated to other areas in the reactor hall; however, the light two-hour fireproof panel will be built on the second floor against the external or internal fire so as to play the role of a fire protection area

Fires and Smoke Observed from the Earth Observing System MODIS Instrument: Products, Validation, and Operational Use

Science.gov (United States)

Kaufman, Y. J.; Ichoku, C.; Giglio, L.; Korontzi, S.; Chu, D. A.; Hao, W. M.; Justice, C. O.; Lau, William K. M. (Technical Monitor)

2001-01-01

The MODIS sensor, launched on NASA's Terra satellite at the end of 1999, was designed with 36 spectral channels for a wide array of land, ocean, and atmospheric investigations. MODIS has a unique ability to observe fires, smoke, and burn scars globally. Its main fire detection channels saturate at high brightness temperatures: 500 K at 4 microns and 400 K at 11 microns, which can only be attained in rare circumstances at the I kin fire detection spatial resolution. Thus, unlike other polar orbiting satellite sensors with similar thermal and spatial resolutions, but much lower saturation temperatures (e.g. AVHRR and ATSR), MODIS can distinguish between low intensity ground surface fires and high intensity crown forest fires. Smoke column concentration over land is for the first time being derived from the MOMS solar channels, extending from 0.41 microns to 2.1 microns. The smoke product has been provisionally validated both globally and regionally over southern Africa and central and south America. Burn scars are observed from MODIS even in the presence of smoke, using the 1.2 to 2.1 micron channels. MODIS burned area information is used to estimate pyrogenic emissions. A wide range of these fire and related products and validation are demonstrated for the wild fires that occurred in northwestern United States in the summer of 2000. The MODIS rapid response system and direct broadcast capability is being developed to enable users to obtain and generate data in near real time. It is expected that health and land management organizations will use these systems for monitoring the occurrence of fires and the dispersion of smoke within two to six hours after data acquisition.

Converting Existing Copper Wire Firing System to a Fiber Optically Controlled Firing System for Electromagnetic Pulsed Power Experiments

Science.gov (United States)

2017-12-19

Pulsed Power Experiments by Robert Borys Jr Weapons and Materials Research Directorate, ARL Colby Adams Bowhead Total Enterprise Solutions...ARL-TN-0863 ● DEC 2017 US Army Research Laboratory Converting Existing Copper Wire Firing System to a Fiber-Optically Controlled...Firing System for Electromagnetic Pulsed Power Experiments by Robert Borys Jr and Colby Adams Approved for public release

Central display system of figures in fire alarm

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fang Shaohong; Zhu Zicheng; Zhu Liqun; Ren Yi; Yu Hongmei; Du Chengbao; Xie Guoxue

1997-01-01

A new type of 'central display system of figures in fire alarm' includes two parts: (1) software package of drawing picture; (2) real time processing and operate system (POS). Main function of the software package is to draw floor plane figures, fire-fighting facility signs and room numbers; and then all pictures are used in POS. Main functions of POS are to process fire alarm, faults and activation of fire fighting control facility, save and print reports, look over floor plane figures, look over concrete condition of fire fighting facilities, and to show appropriate prompt according to different case. This system realizes many functions, such as, control with mouse, operation with push-button, menu operation interface, flip windows to prompt, and chinese character. It have won acclaim for its amazing interface, its convenience to operate, its reliability and flexibility

Using the sensor web to detect and monitor the spread of wild fires

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Moodley, D

2006-09-01

Full Text Available is facilitated by the Sensor Web Registry Service – an extended version of the OGC Catalog Service. 3 THE ADVANCED FIRE INFORMATION SYSTEM The Advanced Fire Information System (AFIS) is the first near real-time satellite-based fire monitoring system in Africa.... It was originally developed for the South African electrical power util- ity, ESKOM to mitigate the impact of wild fires on regional elec- tricity supply (Fleming et al., 2005, Frost and Vosloo, 2006). AFIS was first implemented using propriety GIS technology...

Maintenance of fire systems and equipment at Virginia Power

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Doubrely, E.B. Jr.

1989-01-01

The basics of fire protection systems maintenance are well codified and documented in the National Fire Codes published by the National Fire Protection Association. In addition, Insurers often promulgate minimum standards for fire protection systems design and maintenance to which they attach conditions of insurability. Regulatory agencies and even in-house corporate policies can impact the maintenance of fire protection systems and equipment. This presentation will focus on the various methods and alternate ways of performing system maintenance, whether required by code, insurer, or by some regulatory commitment at Virginia Powers North Anna and Surry nuclear power stations. The approach to performing similar work is handled differently at each station. This difference can be attributed to proximity to outside assistance as well as plant philosophy. In addition to station maintenance practices, a discussion of in-house servicing of portable fire suppression equipment is offered. 1 tab

Active Fire Mapping Program

Science.gov (United States)

Active Fire Mapping Program Current Large Incidents (Home) New Large Incidents Fire Detection Maps MODIS Satellite Imagery VIIRS Satellite Imagery Fire Detection GIS Data Fire Data in Google Earth ...

Updates of the fire protection system of the Juzbado Nuclear Fuel Fabrication Plant; Actualizaciones del Sistema de Proteccion Contra Incendios de la Fabrica de Combustible Nuclear de Juzbado

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dorado, P.; Palomo, J. J.; Romano, A.

2015-07-01

The Juzbado Nuclear Fuel Fabrication Plant fire protection system is one of the most important safety system of the plant. Every year, a large part of the annual investment is employed to improve this system, to update its technology, in order to improve detection and extinction capability to minimize fire risk. Over the last few years, several improvement projects have been carried out that focused on fire detection technology update and on optimization of local detectors integration with a centralized control system, as well as on an advanced public address system, which used clear and unambiguous messages improving personnel response to a plant evacuation. Planned projects and those, which are currently under development, focus on improving passive fire protection means as well as fire protection of key emergency response equipment s such as emergency diesel generators and fire extinguishing bombs. (Author)

Low Power Wireless Smoke Alarm System in Home Fires

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Juan Aponte Luis

2015-08-01

Full Text Available A novel sensing device for fire detection in domestic environments is presented. The fire detector uses a combination of several sensors that not only detect smoke, but discriminate between different types of smoke. This feature avoids false alarms and warns of different situations. Power consumption is optimized both in terms of hardware and software, providing a high degree of autonomy of almost five years. Data gathered from the device are transmitted through a wireless communication to a base station. The low cost and compact design provides wide application prospects.

Evaluation of fire safety measures at local universities in Kenya with ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

This study establishes fire safety measures in place in local universities in Kenya, and ... fire suppression systems, fire detection and alarm systems and fire Hydrants. ... response backed by university management endorsement and support. The Directorate of occupational safety and health services should also make the ...

Seismic design criteria of fire protection systems for DOE facilities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hardy, G.; Cushing, R.; Driesen, G.

1991-01-01

Fire protection systems are critical to the safety of personnel and to the protection of inventory during any kind of emergency situation that involves a fire. The importance of these fire protection systems is hightened for DOE facilities which often house nuclear, chemical or scientific processes. Current research into the topic of open-quotes fires following earthquakesclose quotes has demonstrated that the risks of a fire starting as a result of a major earthquake can be significant. Thus, fire protection systems need to be designed to withstand the anticipated seismic event for the site in question

New methods for testing fire resistance of wood façade systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mårtensson August

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Arson in schools has been a huge problem in Sweden over the last fifteen years. The average amount of school arsons between 2000 and 2014 was 285 cases each year which corresponds to 50% of the total amount of reported fires in school buildings. This is a well-known problem and a lot of research has been done in this area. Investigations has been done about fire and heat detection systems, different technical factors significance in fire scenarios and how to prevent adolescents from starting fires. Another part of the problem that partly been investigated is how the schools are constructed. Roughly 50% of the arsons are outside of the school building. In Sweden one and two storey buildings are allowed to be built with wooden façades in accordance with the building code, which is one of the reasons many schools are built with wooden façade systems. The most critical part in a wood façade system from a fire safety perspective is concluded to be the eaves because of how they usually are built to let air pass through. Even though a wood façade isn't as well resistant to fire compared to a concrete façade, three versions of new test methods for combustible façades have been developed to make it possible to make sure in advance that a construction is resistant enough. The new test methods are focused on specific details and parts of a façade system to provide a more informative and useful result compared to SP Fire 105. Observations and measurements of flame spread and temperature changes in the eave, over the window joints and in the air gap are made. With these parameters in consideration criteria's has been chosen for a critical temperature of 280 ∘C at a critical time of 20 minutes.

Forest fires detection in Indonesia using satellite Himawari-8 (case study: Sumatera and Kalimantan on august-october 2015)

Science.gov (United States)

Fatkhuroyan; Wati, Trinah; Panjaitan, Andersen

2017-01-01

Forest fires in Indonesia are serious problem affecting widely in material losses, health and environment. Himawari-8 as one of meteorological satellites with high resolution 0,5 km x 0,5 km can be used for forest fire monitoring and detection. Combination between 3, 4 and 6 channels using Sataid (Satellite Animation and Interactive Diagnosis) software will visualize forest fire in the study site. Monitoring which used Himawari-8 data on August, September and October 2015 can detect the distribution of smoke and the extents of forest fire in Sumatera and Kalimantan. The result showed the extent of forest fire can be identified for anticipation in the next step.

Handheld Delivery System for Modified Boron-Type Fire Extinguishment Agent

Science.gov (United States)

1993-11-01

was to develop and test a handheld portable delivery system for use with the modified boron-type fire extinguishing agent for metal fires . B...BACKGROUND A need exists for an extinguishing agent and accompanying delivery system that are effective against complex geometry metal fires . A modified...agent and its delivery system have proven effective against complex geometry metal fires containing up to 200 pounds of magnesium metal. Further

Fire extinguishing system in large underground garages

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ivan Antonov

2017-04-01

Full Text Available In the work is considered an acceptable constructive scheme from a practical point of view at fire extinguishing in underground garages. The garage space is divided into quadrants which covering, for example, 2 cars. In case of ignition on one of them, a sprinkler nozzle system is triggered by the effect of the vertical convective jet. A protective curtain preventing the spread of fire to adjacent vehicles is realized. The solution is based on an integrated method which allows the calculation from hydrodynamic point of view on extinguishing time of the fire extinguishing system.

Fire prevention in nuclear power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1993-01-01

The causes and frequency of fires at nuclear power plants in various countries are briefly given. Methods are described of fire hazard assessment at nuclear power plants, such as Gretener's method and the probabilistic methods. Approaches to the management of nuclear reactor fire protection in various countries as well as the provisions to secure such protection are dealt with. An overview and the basic characteristics of fire detection and extinguishing systems is presented. (Z.S.). 1 tab

Quantifying the role of fire in the Earth system – Part 1: Improved global fire modeling in the Community Earth System Model (CESM1)

OpenAIRE

F. Li; S. Levis; D. S. Ward

2013-01-01

Modeling fire as an integral part of an Earth system model (ESM) is vital for quantifying and understanding fire–climate–vegetation interactions on a global scale and from an Earth system perspective. In this study, we introduce to the Community Earth System Model (CESM) the new global fire parameterization proposed by Li et al. (2012a, b), now with a more realistic representation of the anthropogenic impacts on fires, with a parameterization of peat fires, and with other minor modifications....

Passive fire building protection system evaluation (case study: millennium ict centre)

Science.gov (United States)

Rahman, Vinky; Stephanie

2018-03-01

Passive fire protection system is a system that refers to the building design, both regarding of architecture and structure. This system usually consists of structural protection that protects the structure of the building and prevents the spread of fire and facilitate the evacuation process in case of fire. Millennium ICT Center is the largest electronic shopping center in Medan, Indonesia. As a public building that accommodates the crowd, this building needs a fire protection system by the standards. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to evaluate passive fire protection system of Millennium ICT Center building. The study was conducted to describe the facts of the building as well as direct observation to the research location. The collected data is then processed using the AHP (Analytical Hierarchy Process) method in its weighting process to obtain the reliability value of passive fire protection fire system. The results showed that there are some components of passive fire protection system in the building, but some are still unqualified. The first section in your paper

Failure analysis of fire resistant fluid (FRF piping used in hydraulic control system at oil-fired thermal power generation plant

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Muhammad Akram

2017-04-01

Full Text Available This is a case study regarding frequent forced outages in an oil-fired power generating station due to failure of fire resistant fluid (FRF piping of material ASTM A-304. This analysis was done to find out the most probable cause of failure and to rectify the problem. Methods for finding and analyzing the cracks include nondestructive testing techniques such as visual testing (VT and dye penetrant testing (PT along with that periodic monitoring after rectification of problem. The study revealed that pitting and pit to crack transitions were formed in stainless steel piping containing high pressure (system pressure 115 bars fire resistant fluid. However, after replacement of piping the pitting and cracking reoccurred. It was observed that due to possible exposure to chlorinated moisture in surrounding environment pitting was formed which then transformed into cracks. The research work discussed in this paper illustrates the procedure used in detection of the problem and measures taken to solve the problem.

BehavePlus fire modeling system, version 5.0: Variables

Science.gov (United States)

Patricia L. Andrews

2009-01-01

This publication has been revised to reflect updates to version 4.0 of the BehavePlus software. It was originally published as the BehavePlus fire modeling system, version 4.0: Variables in July, 2008.The BehavePlus fire modeling system is a computer program based on mathematical models that describe wildland fire behavior and effects and the...

Algorithm and assessment work of active fire detection based on FengYun-3C/VIRR

Science.gov (United States)

Lin, Z.; Chen, F.

2017-12-01

The wildfire is one of the most destructive and uncontrollable disasters and causes huge environmental, ecological, social effects. To better serve scientific research and practical fire management, an algorithm and corresponding validation work of active fire detection based on FengYun-3C/VIRR data, which is an optical sensor onboard the Chinese polar-orbiting meteorological sun-synchronous satellite, is hereby introduced. While the main structure heritages the `contextual algorithm', some new concepts including `infrared channel slope' are introduced for better adaptions to different situations. The validation work contains three parts: 1) comparing with the current FengYun-3C fire product GFR; 2) comparing with MODIS fire products; 3) comparing with Landsat series data. Study areas are selected from different places all over the world from 2014 to 2016. The results showed great improvement on GFR files on accuracy of both positioning and detection rate. In most study areas, the results match well with MODIS products and Landsat series data (with over 85% match degree) despite the differences in imaging time. However, detection rates and match degrees in Africa and South-east Asia are not satisfied (around 70%), where the occurrences of numerous small fire events and corresponding smokes may strongly affect the results of the algorithm. This is our future research direction and one of the main improvements requires achieving.

Review of state-of-the-art decision support systems (DSSs) for prevention and suppression of forest fires

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Stavros Sakellariou; Stergios Tampekis; Fani Samara; Athanassios Sfougaris; Olga Christopoulou

2017-01-01

Forest ecosystems are our priceless natural resource and are a key component of the global carbon budget. Forest fires can be a hazard to the viability and sustainable management of forests with consequences for natural and cultural environments, economies, and the life quality of local and regional populations. Thus, the selec-tion of strategies to manage forest fires, while considering both functional and economic efficiency, is of primary importance. The use of decision support systems (DSSs) by managers of forest fires has rapidly increased. This has strengthened capacity to prevent and suppress forest fires while protecting human lives and property. DSSs are a tool that can benefit incident management and decision making and policy, especially for emergencies such as natural disasters. In this study we reviewed state-of-the-art DSSs that use:database management systems and mathematical/economic algorithms for spatial optimization of firefighting forces; forest fire simulators and satellite technology forimmediate detection and prediction of evolution of forest fires; GIS platforms that incorporate several tools to manipulate, process and analyze geographic data and develop strategic and operational plans.

Forest fire forecasting tool for air quality modelling systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

San Jose, R.; Perez, J. L.; Perez, L.; Gonzalez, R. M.; Pecci, J.; Palacios, M.

2015-01-01

Adverse effects of smoke on air quality are of great concern; however, even today the estimates of atmospheric fire emissions are a key issue. It is necessary to implement systems for predicting smoke into an air quality modelling system, and in this work a first attempt towards creating a system of this type is presented. Wild land fire spread and behavior are complex phenomena due to both the number of involved physic-chemical factors, and the nonlinear relationship between variables. WRF-Fire was employed to simulate spread and behavior of some real fires occurred in South-East of Spain and North of Portugal. The use of fire behavior models requires the availability of high resolution environmental and fuel data. A new custom fuel moisture content model has been developed. The new module allows each time step to calculate the fuel moisture content of the dead fuels and live fuels. The results confirm that the use of accurate meteorological data and a custom fuel moisture content model is crucial to obtain precise simulations of fire behavior. To simulate air pollution over Europe, we use the regional meteorological-chemistry transport model WRF-Chem. In this contribution, we show the impact of using two different fire emissions inventories (FINN and IS4FIRES) and how the coupled WRF-Fire- Chem model improves the results of the forest fire emissions and smoke concentrations. The impact of the forest fire emissions on concentrations is evident, and it is quite clear from these simulations that the choice of emission inventory is very important. We conclude that using the WRF-fire behavior model produces better results than using forest fire emission inventories although the requested computational power is much higher. (Author)

Forest fire forecasting tool for air quality modelling systems

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

San Jose, R.; Perez, J.L.; Perez, L.; Gonzalez, R.M.; Pecci, J.; Palacios, M.

2015-07-01

Adverse effects of smoke on air quality are of great concern; however, even today the estimates of atmospheric fire emissions are a key issue. It is necessary to implement systems for predicting smoke into an air quality modelling system, and in this work a first attempt towards creating a system of this type is presented. Wildland fire spread and behavior are complex Phenomena due to both the number of involved physic-chemical factors, and the nonlinear relationship between variables. WRF-Fire was employed to simulate spread and behavior of some real fires occurred in South-East of Spain and North of Portugal. The use of fire behavior models requires the availability of high resolution environmental and fuel data. A new custom fuel moisture content model has been developed. The new module allows each time step to calculate the fuel moisture content of the dead fuels and live fuels. The results confirm that the use of accurate meteorological data and a custom fuel moisture content model is crucial to obtain precise simulations of fire behavior. To simulate air pollution over Europe, we use the regional meteorological-chemistry transport model WRF-Chem. In this contribution, we show the impact of using two different fire emissions inventories (FINN and IS4FIRES) and how the coupled WRF-FireChem model improves the results of the forest fire emissions and smoke concentrations. The impact of the forest fire emissions on concentrations is evident, and it is quite clear from these simulations that the choice of emission inventory is very important. We conclude that using the WRF-fire behavior model produces better results than using forest fire emission inventories although the requested computational power is much higher. (Author)

Forest fire forecasting tool for air quality modelling systems

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

San Jose, R.; Perez, J. L.; Perez, L.; Gonzalez, R. M.; Pecci, J.; Palacios, M.

2015-07-01

Adverse effects of smoke on air quality are of great concern; however, even today the estimates of atmospheric fire emissions are a key issue. It is necessary to implement systems for predicting smoke into an air quality modelling system, and in this work a first attempt towards creating a system of this type is presented. Wild land fire spread and behavior are complex phenomena due to both the number of involved physic-chemical factors, and the nonlinear relationship between variables. WRF-Fire was employed to simulate spread and behavior of some real fires occurred in South-East of Spain and North of Portugal. The use of fire behavior models requires the availability of high resolution environmental and fuel data. A new custom fuel moisture content model has been developed. The new module allows each time step to calculate the fuel moisture content of the dead fuels and live fuels. The results confirm that the use of accurate meteorological data and a custom fuel moisture content model is crucial to obtain precise simulations of fire behavior. To simulate air pollution over Europe, we use the regional meteorological-chemistry transport model WRF-Chem. In this contribution, we show the impact of using two different fire emissions inventories (FINN and IS4FIRES) and how the coupled WRF-Fire- Chem model improves the results of the forest fire emissions and smoke concentrations. The impact of the forest fire emissions on concentrations is evident, and it is quite clear from these simulations that the choice of emission inventory is very important. We conclude that using the WRF-fire behavior model produces better results than using forest fire emission inventories although the requested computational power is much higher. (Author)

Biological and geophysical feedbacks with fire in the Earth system

Science.gov (United States)

Archibald, S.; Lehmann, C. E. R.; Belcher, C. M.; Bond, W. J.; Bradstock, R. A.; Daniau, A.-L.; Dexter, K. G.; Forrestel, E. J.; Greve, M.; He, T.; Higgins, S. I.; Hoffmann, W. A.; Lamont, B. B.; McGlinn, D. J.; Moncrieff, G. R.; Osborne, C. P.; Pausas, J. G.; Price, O.; Ripley, B. S.; Rogers, B. M.; Schwilk, D. W.; Simon, M. F.; Turetsky, M. R.; Van der Werf, G. R.; Zanne, A. E.

2018-03-01

Roughly 3% of the Earth’s land surface burns annually, representing a critical exchange of energy and matter between the land and atmosphere via combustion. Fires range from slow smouldering peat fires, to low-intensity surface fires, to intense crown fires, depending on vegetation structure, fuel moisture, prevailing climate, and weather conditions. While the links between biogeochemistry, climate and fire are widely studied within Earth system science, these relationships are also mediated by fuels—namely plants and their litter—that are the product of evolutionary and ecological processes. Fire is a powerful selective force and, over their evolutionary history, plants have evolved traits that both tolerate and promote fire numerous times and across diverse clades. Here we outline a conceptual framework of how plant traits determine the flammability of ecosystems and interact with climate and weather to influence fire regimes. We explore how these evolutionary and ecological processes scale to impact biogeochemical and Earth system processes. Finally, we outline several research challenges that, when resolved, will improve our understanding of the role of plant evolution in mediating the fire feedbacks driving Earth system processes. Understanding current patterns of fire and vegetation, as well as patterns of fire over geological time, requires research that incorporates evolutionary biology, ecology, biogeography, and the biogeosciences.

A new fire alarm system for electrical installations

CERN Document Server

Pietersen, A H

1978-01-01

Fires in electrical installations are considered to develop in four phases - initiation, smouldering, flame formation and heat development. Cables are among the more sensitive components, with working temperatures around 50 degrees C and fire detection at 70 degrees C. Conventional alarms include smoke detectors. The new technique described uses microcapsules containing powder forming a gas of the Freon type after diffusion. A typical microcapsule loses 4% per year and has a natural life of 10 years. Fabrication methods are described. Detection is by gas concentration, with a sensitivity of 1 to 10 ppm, or by acoustic methods with microphones to pick up the sound of fractures. Pressure/temperature characteristics of various types of Freon mixtures commercially available are given in graphical form.

The Simulations of Wildland Fire Smoke PM25 in the NWS Air Quality Forecasting Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, H. C.; Pan, L.; McQueen, J.; Lee, P.; ONeill, S. M.; Ruminski, M.; Shafran, P.; Huang, J.; Stajner, I.; Upadhayay, S.; Larkin, N. K.

2017-12-01

The increase of wildland fire intensity and frequency in the United States (U.S.) has led to property loss, human fatality, and poor air quality due to elevated particulate matters and surface ozone concentrations. The NOAA/National Weather Service (NWS) built the National Air Quality Forecast Capability (NAQFC) based on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Community Multi-scale Air Quality (CMAQ) Modeling System driven by the NCEP North American Mesoscale Forecast System meteorology to provide ozone and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) forecast guidance publicly. State and local forecasters use the NWS air quality forecast guidance to issue air quality alerts in their area. The NAQFC PM2.5 predictions include emissions from anthropogenic and biogenic sources, as well as natural sources such as dust storms and wildland fires. The wildland fire emission inputs to the NAQFC is derived from the NOAA National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service Hazard Mapping System fire and smoke detection product and the emission module of the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) BlueSky Smoke Modeling Framework. Wildland fires are unpredictable and can be ignited by natural causes such as lightning or be human-caused. It is extremely difficult to predict future occurrences and behavior of wildland fires, as is the available bio-fuel to be burned for real-time air quality predictions. Assumptions of future day's wildland fire behavior often have to be made from older observed wildland fire information. The comparisons between the NAQFC modeled PM2.5 and the EPA AirNow surface observation show that large errors in PM2.5 prediction can occur if fire smoke emissions are sometimes placed at the wrong location and/or time. A configuration of NAQFC CMAQ-system to re-run previous 24 hours, during which wildland fires were observed from satellites has been included recently. This study focuses on the effort performed to minimize the error in NAQFC PM2.5 predictions

Fire Risk Assessment in Germany

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Berg, H. P.

2000-01-01

Quantitative fire risk assessment can serve as an additional tool to assess the safety level of a nuclear power plant (NPP) and to set priorities for fire protection improvement measures. The recommended approach to be applied within periodic safety reviews of NPPs in Germany starts with a screening process providing critical fire zones in which a fully developed fire has the potential to both cause an initiating event and impair the function of at least one component or system critical to safety. The second step is to perform a quantitative analysis using a standard event tree has been developed with elements for fire initiation, ventilation of the room, fire detection, fire suppression, and fire propagation. In a final step, the fire induced frequency of initiating events, the main contributors and the calculated hazard state frequency for the fire event are determined. Results of the first quantitative fire risk studies performed in Germany are reported. (author)

Study on aging management of fire protection system in nuclear power plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fang Huasong; Du Yu; Li Jianwen; Shi Haining; Tu Fengsheng

2010-01-01

Fire prevention, fire fighting and fire automatic alarms are three aspects which be included in fire protection system in nuclear power plants. The fire protection system can protect personnel, equipment etc in the fire, so their performance will have a direct influence on the safe operation in nuclear power plants. The disabled accidents caused by aging have happened continuously with the extension of time in the fire protection system, which is the major security risk during the running time in nuclear power plants. In view of the importance of fire protection system and the severity of aging problems, the aging are highly valued by the plant operators and related organizations. Though the feedback of operating experience in nuclear power plant, the impact of the fire-fighting equipment aging on system performance and reliability be assessed, the aging sensitive equipment be selected to carry out the aging analysis and to guide the management and maintenance to guarantee the healthy operation in life time of fire protection system in nuclear power plant. (authors)

Fire protection countermeasures for containment ventilation systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Alvares, N.; Beason, D.; Bergman, V.; Creighton, J.; Ford, H.; Lipska, A.

1980-01-01

The goal of this project is to find countermeasures to protect High Efficiency Particulate Air (HEPA) filters, in exit ventilation ducts, from the heat and smoke generated by fire. Initially, methods were developed to cool fire-heated air by fine water spray upstream of the filters. It was recognized that smoke aerosol exposure to HEPA filters could also cause disruption of the containment system. Through testing and analysis, several methods to partially mitigate the smoke exposure to the HEPA filters were identified. A continuous, movable, high-efficiency prefilter using modified commercial equipment was designed. The technique is capable of protecting HEPA filters over the total time duration of the test fires. The reason for success involved the modification of the prefiltration media. Commercially available filter media has particle sorption efficiency that is inversely proportional to media strength. To achieve properties of both efficiency and strength, rolling filter media were laminated with the desired properties. The approach was Edisonian, but truncation in short order to a combination of prefilters was effective. The application of this technique was qualified, since it is of use only to protect HEPA filters from fire-generated smoke aerosols. It is not believed that this technique is cost effective in the total spectrum of containment systems, especially if standard fire protection systems are available in the space. But in areas of high-fire risk, where the potential fuel load is large and ignition sources are plentiful, the complication of a rolling prefilter in exit ventilation ducts to protect HEPA filters from smoke aerosols is definitely justified

Fire protection system operating experience review for fusion applications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cadwallader, L.C.

1995-12-01

This report presents a review of fire protection system operating experiences from particle accelerator, fusion experiment, and other applications. Safety relevant operating experiences and accident information are discussed. Quantitative order-of-magnitude estimates of fire protection system component failure rates and fire accident initiating event frequencies are presented for use in risk assessment, reliability, and availability studies. Safety concerns with these systems are discussed, including spurious operation. This information should be useful to fusion system designers and safety analysts, such as the team working on the Engineering Design Activities for the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor

Fire protection system operating experience review for fusion applications

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cadwallader, L.C.

1995-12-01

This report presents a review of fire protection system operating experiences from particle accelerator, fusion experiment, and other applications. Safety relevant operating experiences and accident information are discussed. Quantitative order-of-magnitude estimates of fire protection system component failure rates and fire accident initiating event frequencies are presented for use in risk assessment, reliability, and availability studies. Safety concerns with these systems are discussed, including spurious operation. This information should be useful to fusion system designers and safety analysts, such as the team working on the Engineering Design Activities for the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor.

Fire precautions at petroleum refineries and bulk storage installations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

1993-10-01

Topics covered in this Code of Practice include petroleum products and combustion, site evaluation for fire defence, and fire prevention, protection, detection, systems, fighting, and fire fighting facilities in storage areas. Appendices cover legal requirements and enforcement arrangements, application rates for fire water and foam, codes of practice, flammable limits of petroleum compounds, flash points and spontaneous ignition temperatures and classification of fires. (UK)

Multisensor Network System for Wildfire Detection Using Infrared Image Processing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

I. Bosch

2013-01-01

Full Text Available This paper presents the next step in the evolution of multi-sensor wireless network systems in the early automatic detection of forest fires. This network allows remote monitoring of each of the locations as well as communication between each of the sensors and with the control stations. The result is an increased coverage area, with quicker and safer responses. To determine the presence of a forest wildfire, the system employs decision fusion in thermal imaging, which can exploit various expected characteristics of a real fire, including short-term persistence and long-term increases over time. Results from testing in the laboratory and in a real environment are presented to authenticate and verify the accuracy of the operation of the proposed system. The system performance is gauged by the number of alarms and the time to the first alarm (corresponding to a real fire, for different probability of false alarm (PFA. The necessity of including decision fusion is thereby demonstrated.

77 FR 58081 - Protection of Stratospheric Ozone: Listing of Substitutes for Ozone-Depleting Substances-Fire...

Science.gov (United States)

2012-09-19

... 332919 Nozzles, fire fighting, manufacturing. Manufacturing 334290 Fire detection and alarm systems... substitutes for halon 1301 for use in total flooding fire suppression systems in normally unoccupied spaces... regulated Category NAICS Code entities Construction 238210 Alarm system (e.g., fire, burglar), electric...

A portable system for characterizing wildland fire behavior

Science.gov (United States)

Bret Butler; D. Jimenez; J. Forthofer; K. Shannon; Paul Sopko

2010-01-01

A field deployable system for quantifying energy and mass transport in wildland fires is described. The system consists of two enclosures: The first is a sensor/data logger combination package that allows characterization of convective/radiant energy transport in fires. This package contains batteries, a programmable data logger, sensors, and other electronics. The...

Low NOx firing systems for bituminous coal and lignite

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Knyrim, W.; Scheffknecht, G.

1997-01-01

In the case of lignite fluidized boilers the denitrification down to less than 200 mg/m 3 was possible with primary measures on the firing side only. On account of the excellent results achieved with the reconstructed plants the firing systems for the new generation of brown coal fire steam generators with a capacity of 800 MW and more is designed in a similar way. For bituminous coal fire steam generators the primary measures on the firing side are nor sufficient to keep the German NO x emission limit. Therefore these units had to be retrofitted with a SCR-DENOX plant. The experience with the new firing system made in a 110 MW steam generator in Austria with a wide range of fuels is introduced. One of the largest bituminous coal fired once-trough steam generator built by EVT is the boiler for the power station Bexbach I (750 MW). The firing system is designed as a tangential firing system with 32 jet burners. These are arranged in pairs in the corners and divided into 4 burner levels with 4 burner pairs each. One mill is allocated to each burner level. An important characteristic feature is that the four bowl mills are arranged on one side of the steam generator. The plant is constructed with upper air nozzles which are arranged above the top burner level for the reduced of nitrogen oxides. During tests at steam generator with similar design, the nO x formation could be reduced from 750 to 500 mg/m 3 s.t.p. (dry, 6% O 2 ) with an addition of upper air of 20% at 100% unit capacity and constant total flow. As a main approach for the further reduction of the primary NO x emission at bituminous coal fired steam generators with tangential firing systems, the experience gained from the firing of brown coal has also been taken into account. A fundamental aspect in this respect was the vertical air staging in the direction of the furnace height. The results of many tests in a test reactor have shown that the differences of the achievable NO x values of brown and

A heuristic expert system for forest fire guidance in Greece.

Science.gov (United States)

Iliadis, Lazaros S; Papastavrou, Anastasios K; Lefakis, Panagiotis D

2002-07-01

Forests and forestlands are common inheritance for all Greeks and a piece of the national wealth that must be handed over to the next generations in the best possible condition. After 1974, Greece faces a severe forest fire problem and forest fire forecasting is the process that will enable the Greek ministry of Agriculture to reduce the destruction. This paper describes the basic design principles of an Expert System that performs forest fire forecasting (for the following fire season) and classification of the prefectures of Greece into forest fire risk zones. The Expert system handles uncertainty and uses heuristics in order to produce scenarios based on the presence or absence of various qualitative factors. The initial research focused on the construction of a mathematical model which attempted to describe the annual number of forest fires and burnt area in Greece based on historical data. However this has proven to be impossible using regression analysis and time series. A closer analysis of the fire data revealed that two qualitative factors dramatically affect the number of forest fires and the hectares of burnt areas annually. The first is political stability and national elections and the other is drought cycles. Heuristics were constructed that use political stability and drought cycles, to provide forest fire guidance. Fuzzy logic was applied to produce a fuzzy expected interval for each prefecture of Greece. A fuzzy expected interval is a narrow interval of values that best describes the situation in the country or a part of the country for a certain time period. A successful classification of the prefectures of Greece in forest fire risk zones was done by the system, by comparing the fuzzy expected intervals to each other. The system was tested for the years 1994 and 1995. The testing has clearly shown that the system can predict accurately, the number of forest fires for each prefecture for the following year. The average accuracy was as high as 85

Fire in the Earth System: Bridging data and modeling research

Science.gov (United States)

Hantson, Srijn; Kloster, Silvia; Coughlan, Michael; Daniau, Anne-Laure; Vanniere, Boris; Bruecher, Tim; Kehrwald, Natalie; Magi, Brian I.

2016-01-01

Significant changes in wildfire occurrence, extent, and severity in areas such as western North America and Indonesia in 2015 have made the issue of fire increasingly salient in both the public and scientific spheres. Biomass combustion rapidly transforms land cover, smoke pours into the atmosphere, radiative heat from fires initiates dramatic pyrocumulus clouds, and the repeated ecological and atmospheric effects of fire can even impact regional and global climate. Furthermore, fires have a significant impact on human health, livelihoods, and social and economic systems.Modeling and databased methods to understand fire have rapidly coevolved over the past decade. Satellite and ground-based data about present-day fire are widely available for applications in research and fire management. Fire modeling has developed in part because of the evolution in vegetation and Earth system modeling efforts, but parameterizations and validation are largely focused on the present day because of the availability of satellite data. Charcoal deposits in sediment cores have emerged as a powerful method to evaluate trends in biomass burning extending back to the Last Glacial Maximum and beyond, and these records provide a context for present-day fire. The Global Charcoal Database version 3 compiled about 700 charcoal records and more than 1,000 records are expected for the future version 4. Together, these advances offer a pathway to explore how the strengths of fire data and fire modeling could address the weaknesses in the overall understanding of human-climate–fire linkages.A community of researchers studying fire in the Earth system with individual expertise that included paleoecology, paleoclimatology, modern ecology, archaeology, climate, and Earth system modeling, statistics, geography, biogeochemistry, and atmospheric science met at an intensive workshop in Massachusetts to explore new research directions and initiate new collaborations. Research themes, which emerged from

Behavior based safety approach towards fire

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Suresh Kumar, R.

2009-01-01

The behavior of the individual who notice fire first is very important because it affect the safety of all occupants of the area. Human behavior on fire depends on variables of the buildings in which fire occurs and by the appearance of the fire when it is detected. Altruistic behavior of human being will help to handle the critical conditions due to fire emergencies. NPCIL have developed a culture of systematic approach to safeguard men and materials from fire by training and awareness. In our Nuclear Power Plants, we have an effective plan and system to test the plans. In each emergency exercises, the behavior of individuals will be monitored and recorded

Fire protection of nuclear power plant cable ducts

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kandrac, J.; Lukac, L.

1987-01-01

Fire protection of cable ducts in the Bohunice and Dukovany V-2 nuclear power plants is of a fourtier type. The first level consists in preventive measures incorporated in the power plant design and layout. The second level consists in early detection and a quick repressive action provided by an electric fire alarm system and a stationary spray system, respectively. Fire partitions and glands represent the third level while special spray, paint and lining materials represent the fourth level of the protection. Briefly discussed are the results of an analysis of the stationary spray system and the effects reducing the efficiency of a fire-fighting action using this system. The analysis showed the need of putting off cable duct fires using mobile facilities in case the stationary spray system cannot cope any longer. (Z.M.). 3 figs., 2 refs

NESDIS Hazard Mapping System Fire and Smoke Program

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — The Satellite Services Division of NESDIS/NOAA created an interactive Web-based GIS used to display satellite data of fire detects in near-real time. It converts the...

The Development of Power Detection System Using One-Chip Microcontroller

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Shin, Sa Hyun; Choi, Nkak II; Lee, Sung Kil; Lim, Yang Su; Cho Geum Bae; Baek, Hyung Lae [Chosun University, Kwangju(Korea)

2002-04-01

This paper describes on the development of power detection system with one-chop microcontroller. The designed system is composed of power detection circuits and analyzing software. The system detects 3-phases voltage, 3-phases current, external temperature, leakage current and stores in flash memory AT89C52 was used as CPU and AM29F040 was used as memory to store the data. The analysis software was developed to detect the cause of the electrical fire incidents. With a data-compression technology, the data can be stored for the 43.5 days in a normal state, four hours and fifteen minutes in emergency state. (author). 7 refs., 22 figs., 2 tabs.

Spacecraft Fire Safety Research at NASA Glenn Research Center

Science.gov (United States)

Meyer, Marit

2016-01-01

Appropriate design of fire detection systems requires knowledge of both the expected fire signature and the background aerosol levels. Terrestrial fire detection systems have been developed based on extensive study of terrestrial fires. Unfortunately there is no corresponding data set for spacecraft fires and consequently the fire detectors in current spacecraft were developed based upon terrestrial designs. In low gravity, buoyant flow is negligible which causes particles to concentrate at the smoke source, increasing their residence time, and increasing the transport time to smoke detectors. Microgravity fires have significantly different structure than those in 1-g which can change the formation history of the smoke particles. Finally the materials used in spacecraft are different from typical terrestrial environments where smoke properties have been evaluated. It is critically important to detect a fire in its early phase before a flame is established, given the fixed volume of air on any spacecraft. Consequently, the primary target for spacecraft fire detection is pyrolysis products rather than soot. Experimental investigations have been performed at three different NASA facilities which characterize smoke aerosols from overheating common spacecraft materials. The earliest effort consists of aerosol measurements in low gravity, called the Smoke Aerosol Measurement Experiment (SAME), and subsequent ground-based testing of SAME smoke in 55-gallon drums with an aerosol reference instrument. Another set of experiments were performed at NASAs Johnson Space Center White Sands Test Facility (WSTF), with additional fuels and an alternate smoke production method. Measurements of these smoke products include mass and number concentration, and a thermal precipitator was designed for this investigation to capture particles for microscopic analysis. The final experiments presented are from NASAs Gases and Aerosols from Smoldering Polymers (GASP) Laboratory, with selected

Combined use of weather forecasting and satellite remote sensing information for fire risk, fire and fire impact monitoring

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wolfgang Knorr

2011-06-01

Full Text Available The restoration of fire-affected forest areas needs to be combined with their future protection from renewed catastrophic fires, such as those that occurred in Greece during the 2007 summer season. The present work demonstrates that the use of various sources of satellite data in conjunction with weather forecast information is capable of providing valuable information for the characterization of fire danger with the purpose of protecting the Greek national forest areas. This study shows that favourable meteorological conditions have contributed to the fire outbreak during the days of the unusually damaging fires in Peloponnese as well as Euboia (modern Greek: Evia at the end of August 2007. During those days, Greece was located between an extended high pressure system in Central Europe and a low pressure system in the Middle East. Their combination resulted in strong north-northeasterly winds in the Aegean Sea. As a consequence, strong winds were also observed in the regions of Evia and Peloponnese, especially in mountainous areas. The analysis of satellite images showing smoke emitted from the fires corroborates the results from the weather forecasts. A further analysis using the Fraction of Absorbed Photosyntetically Active Radiation (FAPAR as an indicator of active vegetation shows the extent of the destruction caused by the fire. The position of the burned areas coincides with that of the active fires detected in the earlier satellite image. Using the annual maximum FAPAR as an indicator of regional vegetation density, it was found that only regions with relatively high FAPAR were burned.

Fire hazard analysis at the first unit of the Ignalina nuclear power plant: 1. Analysis of fire prevention and ventilation systems and secondary effects

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Poskas, P.; Simonis, V.; Zujus, R. and others

2004-01-01

Evaluation of the fire prevention and ventilation systems and the secondary effects on safety at the Ignalina NPP from the point of view of fire hazard using computerized system is presented. Simplified screening algorithms for fire prevention, ventilation and the evaluation of secondary effects are developed, which allow accelerating fire hazard analysis at the Ignalina NPP. The analysis indicated that the fire prevention systems practically meet the national requirements and international recommendations for fire prevention. But it is necessary to introduce in separate rooms the measures improving fire prevention to guarantee the effective functioning of the ventilation systems and the reduction of the influence of secondary effects on safety. Computerized system of fire prevention and ventilation systems and evaluation of secondary effects on safety can be easily applied for fire hazard analysis at different big plants. (author)

InSAR detects increase in surface subsidence caused by an Arctic tundra fire

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Lin; Jafarov, Elchin E.; Schaefer, Kevin M.; Jones, Benjamin M.; Zebker, Howard A.; Williams, Christopher A.; Rogan, John; Zhang, Tingjun

2014-01-01

Wildfire is a major disturbance in the Arctic tundra and boreal forests, having a significant impact on soil hydrology, carbon cycling, and permafrost dynamics. This study explores the use of the microwave Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) technique to map and quantify ground surface subsidence caused by the Anaktuvuk River fire on the North Slope of Alaska. We detected an increase of up to 8 cm of thaw-season ground subsidence after the fire, which is due to a combination of thickened active layer and permafrost thaw subsidence. Our results illustrate the effectiveness and potential of using InSAR to quantify fire impacts on the Arctic tundra, especially in regions underlain by ice-rich permafrost. Our study also suggests that surface subsidence is a more comprehensive indicator of fire impacts on ice-rich permafrost terrain than changes in active layer thickness alone.

Users Guide for Fire Image Analysis System - Version 5.0: A Tool for Measuring Fire Behavior Characteristics

Science.gov (United States)

Carl W. Adkins

1995-01-01

The Fire Image Analysis System is a tool for quantifying flame geometry and relative position at selected points along a spreading line fire. At present, the system requires uniform terrain (constant slope). The system has been used in field and laboratory studies for determining flame length, depth, cross sectional area, and rate of spread.

An improved algorithm for small and cool fire detection using MODIS data: A preliminary study in the southeastern United States

Science.gov (United States)

Wanting Wang; John J. Qu; Xianjun Hao; Yongqiang Liu; William T. Sommers

2006-01-01

Traditional fire detection algorithms mainly rely on hot spot detection using thermal infrared (TIR) channels with fixed or contextual thresholds. Three solar reflectance channels (0.65 μm, 0.86 μm, and 2.1 μm) were recently adopted into the MODIS version 4 contextual algorithm to improve the active fire detection. In the southeastern United...

A WebGIS-based command control system for forest fire fighting

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Jianyu; Ming, Dongping; Zhang, Xiaodong; Huang, Haitao

2006-10-01

Forest is a finite resource and fire prevention is crucial work. However, once a forest fire or accident occurs, timely and effective fire-fighting is the only necessary measure. The aim of this research is to build a computerized command control system based on WEBGIS to direct fire-fighting. Firstly, this paper introduces the total technique flow and functional modules of the system. Secondly, this paper analyses the key techniques for building the system, and they are data obtaining, data organizing & management, architecture of WebGIS and sharing & interoperation technique. In the end, this paper demonstrates the on line martial symbol editing function to show the running result of system. The practical application of this system showed that it played very important role in the forest fire fighting work. In addition, this paper proposes some strategic recommendations for the further development of the system.

Stratifying Tropical Fires by Land Cover: Insights into Amazonian Fires, Aerosol Loading, and Regional Deforestation

Science.gov (United States)

TenHoeve, J. E.; Remer, L. A.; Jacobson, M. Z.

2010-01-01

This study analyzes changes in the number of fires detected on forest, grass, and transition lands during the 2002-2009 biomass burning seasons using fire detection data and co-located land cover classifications from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). We find that the total number of detected fires correlates well with MODIS mean aerosol optical depth (AOD) from year to year, in accord with other studies. However, we also show that the ratio of forest to savanna fires varies substantially from year to year. Forest fires have trended downward, on average, since the beginning of 2006 despite a modest increase in 2007. Our study suggests that high particulate matter loading detected in 2007 was likely due to a large number of savanna/agricultural fires that year. Finally, we illustrate that the correlation between annual Brazilian deforestation estimates and MODIS fires is considerably higher when fires are stratified by MODIS-derived land cover classifications.

Fire protection countermeasures for containment ventilation systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Alvares, N.J.; Beason, D.G.; Bergman, W.; Ford, H.W.; Lipska, A.E.

1980-01-01

The goal of this project is to find countermeasures to protect HEPA filters in exit ventilation ducts from the heat and smoke generated by fire. Several methods for partially mitigating the smoke exposure to the HEPA filters were identified through testing and analysis. These independently involve controlling the fuel, controlling the fire, and intercepting the smoke aerosol prior to its sorption on the HEPA filter. Exit duct treatment of aerosols is not unusual in industrial applications and involves the use of scrubbers, prefilters, and inertial impaction, depending on the size, distribution, and concentration of the subject aerosol. However, when these unmodified techniques were applied to smoke aerosols from fires on materials, common to experimental laboratories of LLNL, it was found they offered minimal protection to the HEPA filters. Ultimately, a continuous, movable, high-efficiency prefilter using modified commercial equipment was designed. This technique is capable of protecting HEPA filters over the total duration of the test fires. The reason for success involved the modificaton of the prefiltration media. Commercially available filter media has a particle sorption efficiency that is inversely proportional to media strength. To achieve properties of both efficiency and strength, we laminated rolling filter media with the desired properties. It is not true that the use of rolling prefilters solely to protect HEPA filters from fire-generated smoke aerosols is cost effective in every type of containment system, especially if standard fire-protection systems are available in the space. But in areas of high fire risk, where the potential fuel load is large and ignition sources are plentiful, the complication of a rolling prefilter in exit ventilation ducts to protect HEPA filters from smoke aerosols is definitely justified

Modern tools to evaluate and optimize fire protection systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Alvares, N.J.; Hasegawa, H.K.

1980-01-01

Modern techniques, such as fault tree analysis, can be used to obtain engineering descriptions of specific fire protection systems. The analysis allows establishment of an optimum level of fire protection, and evaluates the level of protection provided by various systems. A prime example: the application to fusion energy experiments

Web-of-Objects (WoO)-based context aware emergency fire management systems for the Internet of Things.

Science.gov (United States)

Shamszaman, Zia Ush; Ara, Safina Showkat; Chong, Ilyoung; Jeong, Youn Kwae

2014-02-13

Recent advancements in the Internet of Things (IoT) and the Web of Things (WoT) accompany a smart life where real world objects, including sensing devices, are interconnected with each other. The Web representation of smart objects empowers innovative applications and services for various domains. To accelerate this approach, Web of Objects (WoO) focuses on the implementation aspects of bringing the assorted real world objects to the Web applications. In this paper; we propose an emergency fire management system in the WoO infrastructure. Consequently, we integrate the formation and management of Virtual Objects (ViO) which are derived from real world physical objects and are virtually connected with each other into the semantic ontology model. The charm of using the semantic ontology is that it allows information reusability, extensibility and interoperability, which enable ViOs to uphold orchestration, federation, collaboration and harmonization. Our system is context aware, as it receives contextual environmental information from distributed sensors and detects emergency situations. To handle a fire emergency, we present a decision support tool for the emergency fire management team. The previous fire incident log is the basis of the decision support system. A log repository collects all the emergency fire incident logs from ViOs and stores them in a repository.

Web-of-Objects (WoO-Based Context Aware Emergency Fire Management Systems for the Internet of Things

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zia Ush Shamszaman

2014-02-01

Full Text Available Recent advancements in the Internet of Things (IoT and the Web of Things (WoT accompany a smart life where real world objects, including sensing devices, are interconnected with each other. The Web representation of smart objects empowers innovative applications and services for various domains. To accelerate this approach, Web of Objects (WoO focuses on the implementation aspects of bringing the assorted real world objects to the Web applications. In this paper; we propose an emergency fire management system in the WoO infrastructure. Consequently, we integrate the formation and management of Virtual Objects (ViO which are derived from real world physical objects and are virtually connected with each other into the semantic ontology model. The charm of using the semantic ontology is that it allows information reusability, extensibility and interoperability, which enable ViOs to uphold orchestration, federation, collaboration and harmonization. Our system is context aware, as it receives contextual environmental information from distributed sensors and detects emergency situations. To handle a fire emergency, we present a decision support tool for the emergency fire management team. The previous fire incident log is the basis of the decision support system. A log repository collects all the emergency fire incident logs from ViOs and stores them in a repository.

Web-of-Objects (WoO)-Based Context Aware Emergency Fire Management Systems for the Internet of Things

Science.gov (United States)

Shamszaman, Zia Ush; Ara, Safina Showkat; Chong, Ilyoung; Jeong, Youn Kwae

2014-01-01

Recent advancements in the Internet of Things (IoT) and the Web of Things (WoT) accompany a smart life where real world objects, including sensing devices, are interconnected with each other. The Web representation of smart objects empowers innovative applications and services for various domains. To accelerate this approach, Web of Objects (WoO) focuses on the implementation aspects of bringing the assorted real world objects to the Web applications. In this paper; we propose an emergency fire management system in the WoO infrastructure. Consequently, we integrate the formation and management of Virtual Objects (ViO) which are derived from real world physical objects and are virtually connected with each other into the semantic ontology model. The charm of using the semantic ontology is that it allows information reusability, extensibility and interoperability, which enable ViOs to uphold orchestration, federation, collaboration and harmonization. Our system is context aware, as it receives contextual environmental information from distributed sensors and detects emergency situations. To handle a fire emergency, we present a decision support tool for the emergency fire management team. The previous fire incident log is the basis of the decision support system. A log repository collects all the emergency fire incident logs from ViOs and stores them in a repository. PMID:24531299

Preliminary fire hazards analysis for W-211, Initial Tank Retrieval Systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Huckfeldt, R.A.

1995-01-01

A fire hazards analysis (FHA) was performed for Project W-211, Initial Tank Retrieval System (ITRS), at the Department of Energy (DOE) Hanford site. The objectives of this FHA was to determine (1) the fire hazards that expose the Initial Tank Retrieval System or are inherent in the process, (2) the adequacy of the fire-safety features planned, and (3) the degree of compliance of the project with specific fire safety provisions in DOE orders and related engineering codes and standards. The scope included the construction, the process hazards, building fire protection, and site wide fire protection. The results are presented in terms of the fire hazards present, the potential extent of fire damage, and the impact on employees and public safety. This study evaluated the ITRS with respect to its use at Tank 241-SY-101 only

Fire deaths in aircraft without the crashworthy fuel system.

Science.gov (United States)

Springate, C S; McMeekin, R R; Ruehle, C J

1989-10-01

Cases reported to the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology were examined for occupants of helicopters without the crashworthy fuel system (CWFS) who survived crashes but died as a result of postcrash fires. There were 16 fire deaths in the 9 such accidents which occurred between January 1976 and April 1984. All of these victims would have survived if there had been no postcrash fire. Partial body destruction by fire probably prevented inclusion of many other cases. The dramatic reduction in fire deaths and injuries due to installation of the CWFS in Army helicopters is discussed. The author concludes that fire deaths and injuries in aircraft accidents could almost be eliminated by fitting current and future aircraft with the CWFS.

Technological Improvements for Digital Fire Control Systems

Science.gov (United States)

2017-09-30

Final Technical Status Report For DOTC-12-01-INIT061 Technological Improvements for Digital Fire Control Systems Reporting Period: 30 Sep...accuracy and responsiveness to call for fire. These prototypes shall be more cost effective, sustainable , use a higher percentage of alternative...of the quad charts and provide DOTC with sufficient initiative information, the Quarterly Report must be supplemented with data described below

Risk-informed decision-making analysis for the electrical raceway fire barrier systems on a BWR-4 plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wu, Ching-Hui; Lin, Tsu-Jen; Kao, Tsu-Mu; Chen, Chyn-Rong

2003-01-01

This paper describes a risk-informed decision-making approach used to resolve the fire barrier issue in a BWR-4 nuclear plant where Appendix R separation requirements cannot be met without installing additional fire protection features such as electrical raceway fire barrier system. The related risk measures in CDF (core damage frequency) and LERF (large early release frequency) of the fire barrier issue can be determined by calculating the difference in plant risks between various alternative cases and that met the requirement of the Appendix R. In some alternative cases, additional early-detection and fast-response fire suppression systems are suggested. In some other cases, cable re-routing of some improper layout of non-safety related cables are required. Sets of fire scenarios are re-evaluated more detailed by reviewing the cable damage impact for the BWR-4 plant. The fire hazard model, COMPBRM III-e, is used in this study and the dominant results in risk measures are benchmarked with the CFD code, FDS 2.0, to ensure that the risk impact of fire barrier is estimated accurately in the risk-informed decision making. The traditional deterministic qualitative methods, such as defense-in-depth, safety margin and post-fire safety shutdown capability are also proceeded. The value-impact analysis for proposed alternatives of fire wrapping required by Appendix R has been completed for technical basis of the exemption on Appendix R application. The outcome of the above analysis should be in compliance with the regulatory guidelines (RG) 1.174 and 1.189 for the applications in the risk-informed decision-making of the fire wrapping issues. (author)

Fire protection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Janetzky, E.

1980-01-01

Safety and fire prevention measurements have to be treated like the activities developing, planning, construction and erection. Therefore it is necessary that these measurements have to be integrated into the activities mentioned above at an early stage in order to guarantee their effectiveness. With regard to fire accidents the statistics of the insurance companies concerned show that the damage caused increased in the last years mainly due to high concentration of material. Organization of fire prevention and fire fighting, reasons of fire break out, characteristics and behaviour of fire, smoke and fire detection, smoke and heat venting, fire extinguishers (portable and stationary), construction material in presence of fire, respiratory protection etc. will be discussed. (orig./RW)

Coal fire mapping of East Basuria Colliery, Jharia coalfield using ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

detect coal fire regions based on surface tem- perature ..... and non-coal fire regions have been delineated well in the ..... System Development Notes; Paterson Grant and Watson .... Schloemer S 2006 Innovative technologies for exploration,.

Analysis of accelerants and fire debris using aroma detection technology

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Barshick, S.A.

1997-01-17

The purpose of this work was to investigate the utility of electronic aroma detection technologies for the detection and identification of accelerant residues in suspected arson debris. Through the analysis of known accelerant residues, a trained neural network was developed for classifying suspected arson samples. Three unknown fire debris samples were classified using this neural network. The item corresponding to diesel fuel was correctly identified every time. For the other two items, wide variations in sample concentration and excessive water content, producing high sample humidities, were shown to influence the sensor response. Sorbent sampling prior to aroma detection was demonstrated to reduce these problems and to allow proper neural network classification of the remaining items corresponding to kerosene and gasoline.

Contributions of microgravity test results to the design of spacecraft fire-safety systems

Science.gov (United States)

Friedman, Robert; Urban, David L.

1993-01-01

Experiments conducted in spacecraft and drop towers show that thin-sheet materials have reduced flammability ranges and flame-spread rates under quiescent low-gravity environments (microgravity) compared to normal gravity. Furthermore, low-gravity flames may be suppressed more easily by atmospheric dilution or decreasing atmospheric total pressure than their normal-gravity counterparts. The addition of a ventilating air flow to the low-gravity flame zone, however, can greatly enhance the flammability range and flame spread. These results, along with observations of flame and smoke characteristics useful for microgravity fire-detection 'signatures', promise to be of considerable value to spacecraft fire-safety designs. The paper summarizes the fire detection and suppression techniques proposed for the Space Station Freedom and discusses both the application of low-gravity combustion knowledge to improve fire protection and the critical needs for further research.

Contributions of Microgravity Test Results to the Design of Spacecraft Fire Safety Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Friedman, Robert; Urban, David L.

1993-01-01

Experiments conducted in spacecraft and drop towers show that thin-sheet materials have reduced flammability ranges and flame-spread rates under quiescent low-gravity environments (microgravity) as compared to normal gravity. Furthermore, low-gravity flames may be suppressed more easily by atmospheric dilution or decreasing atmospheric total pressure than their normal-gravity counterparts. The addition of a ventilating air flow to the low-gravity flame zone, however, can greatly enhance the flammability range and flame spread. These results, along with observations of flame and smoke characteristics useful for microgravity fire-detection 'signatures', promise to be of considerable value to spacecraft fire-safety designs. The paper summarizes the fire detection and suppression techniques proposed for the Space Station Freedom and discusses both the application of low-gravity combustion knowledge to improve fire protection and the critical needs for further research.

Detection of coal mine fires in the Jharia coal field using NOAA/AVHRR data

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Agarwal, R.; Singh, D.; Chauhan, D.S.; Singh, K.P. [Harcourt Butler Technological Institute, Kanpur (India)

2006-09-15

Coal fires represent a major problem in most coal producing countries. The Jharia coal field (JCF) has been affected by surface and sub-surface coal fires since the beginning of mining in the region in the mid 1800s. Currently research is focused on using freely available satellite data such as NOAA/AVHRR, MODIS (moderate resolution imaging spectrometer) etc for various applications. The potential of National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) images for detecting coal fires and monitoring their progress and associated environmental hazards and risks to the local communities in the JCF has been reviewed. Three models, namely the thresholding model, the contextual model and the fuel mask model have been used to determine the potential fire pixels. Due to the coarse resolution of the NOAA/AVHRR data it was essential to determine sub-pixel fires as well. Results of this study have been verified using the MODIS active fires product, MOD14 (Terra). We have used ten images of NOAA/AVHRR for the year 2004 in this study, and the results are in broad agreement with the ground truth data.

A ballistics module as a part of the fire control system

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Branka R. Luković

2013-10-01

Full Text Available This article presents a ballistics module as a part of the fire control system of weapons for fire support (mortars, artillery weapons and rocket launchers. The software is "open" with the prominence of autonomy work. It can be modulated and adapted on the user demand. Moreover, it is independent of the hardware base. Introduction: The fire control system is based on a ballistic module (BM which determines the firing data for each weapon tool in the battery. Ballistic calculations, for the given position of the target in relation to the position of tools in the given weather conditions, determine firing data (elevation, direction, timing and locating devices so that the missile seems to cause the desired effect. This paper gives the basic information about the features the BM performs and the manner of their implementation in the fire control system without going into algorithmic solution procedures. Ballistic problem in the fire control system: Ballistic calculation is based on a trajectory calculation of all kinds of projectiles (current, time-fuze, illuminating, smoke, with conventional propulsion, rocket, with built-in gas generator, etc.. Instead of previous solutions, where a trajectory calculation of the fire control system was done by approximate methods, in this BM the trajectory calculation is made by the same model with the same data as for a weapon and ammunition in the process of creating a firing table. The data used in the fire control system are made simultaneously with the preparation of firing tables for a particular tool and associated ammunition,. A modified model of particle, standardized at the NATO level, is also used. Taking into account the meteorological situation, before the trajectory calculation is done, a relative position of the target in relation to the position of the tool should be determined. A selection or loading check is carried out (possibility of reaching a given target as well as the point at which the

FIRE

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brtis, J.S.; Hausheer, T.G.

1990-01-01

FIRE, a microcomputer based program to assist engineers in reviewing and documenting the fire protection impact of design changes has been developed. Acting as an electronic consultant, FIRE is designed to work with an experienced nuclear system engineer, who may not have any detailed fire protection expertise. FIRE helps the engineer to decide if a modification might adversely affect the fire protection design of the station. Since its first development, FIRE has been customized to reflect the fire protection philosophy of the Commonwealth Edison Company. That program is in early production use. This paper discusses the FIRE program in light of its being a useful application of expert system technologies in the power industry

Upgrading the Fermilab fire and security reporting system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

King, C.; Neswold, R.

2012-01-01

Fermilab's home grown fire and security system (known as FIRUS - Fire Incident Reporting and Utility System) is highly reliable and has been used for nearly thirty years. The system has gone through some minor upgrades, however, none of those changes made significant, visible changes. In this paper, we present a major overhaul to the system that is halfway complete. We discuss the use of Apple's OS X for the new GUI (Graphical User Interface), upgrading the servers to use the Erlang programming language and allowing limited access for iOS and Android-based mobile devices. (authors)

Change-Point Detection Method for Clinical Decision Support System Rule Monitoring.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Siqi; Wright, Adam; Hauskrecht, Milos

2017-06-01

A clinical decision support system (CDSS) and its components can malfunction due to various reasons. Monitoring the system and detecting its malfunctions can help one to avoid any potential mistakes and associated costs. In this paper, we investigate the problem of detecting changes in the CDSS operation, in particular its monitoring and alerting subsystem, by monitoring its rule firing counts. The detection should be performed online, that is whenever a new datum arrives, we want to have a score indicating how likely there is a change in the system. We develop a new method based on Seasonal-Trend decomposition and likelihood ratio statistics to detect the changes. Experiments on real and simulated data show that our method has a lower delay in detection compared with existing change-point detection methods.

Appraisal of Fire Safety Management Systems at Educational Buildings

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nadzim N.

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Educational buildings are one type of government asset that should be protected, and they play an important role as temporary communal meeting places for children, teachers and communities. In terms of management, schools need to emphasize fire safety for their buildings. It is well known that fires are not only a threat to the building’s occupants, but also to the property and the school environment. A study on fire safety management has been carried out on schools that have recently experienced fires in Penang. From the study, it was found that the school buildings require further enhancement in terms of both active and passive fire protection systems. For instance, adequate fire extinguishers should be provided to the school and the management should inspect and maintain fire protection devices regularly. The most effective methods to increase the level of awareness on fire safety are by organizing related programs on the management of fire safety involving all staff, teachers and students, educational talks on the dangers of fire and important actions to take in the event of an emergency, and, lastly, to appoint particular staff to join the management safety team in schools.

Using plasma-fuel systems at Eurasian coal-fired thermal power stations

Science.gov (United States)

Karpenko, E. I.; Karpenko, Yu. E.; Messerle, V. E.; Ustimenko, A. B.

2009-06-01

The development of plasma technology for igniting solid fuels at coal-fired thermal power stations in Russia, Kazakhstan, China, and other Eurasian countries is briefly reviewed. Basic layouts and technical and economic characteristics of plasma-fuel systems installed in different coal-fired boiles are considered together with some results from using these systems at coal-fired thermal power stations.

A Forest Fire Sensor Web Concept with UAVSAR

Science.gov (United States)

Lou, Y.; Chien, S.; Clark, D.; Doubleday, J.; Muellerschoen, R.; Zheng, Y.

2008-12-01

We developed a forest fire sensor web concept with a UAVSAR-based smart sensor and onboard automated response capability that will allow us to monitor fire progression based on coarse initial information provided by an external source. This autonomous disturbance detection and monitoring system combines the unique capabilities of imaging radar with high throughput onboard processing technology and onboard automated response capability based on specific science algorithms. In this forest fire sensor web scenario, a fire is initially located by MODIS/RapidFire or a ground-based fire observer. This information is transmitted to the UAVSAR onboard automated response system (CASPER). CASPER generates a flight plan to cover the alerted fire area and executes the flight plan. The onboard processor generates the fuel load map from raw radar data, used with wind and elevation information, predicts the likely fire progression. CASPER then autonomously alters the flight plan to track the fire progression, providing this information to the fire fighting team on the ground. We can also relay the precise fire location to other remote sensing assets with autonomous response capability such as Earth Observation-1 (EO-1)'s hyper-spectral imager to acquire the fire data.

Integrated approach to fire safety at the Krsko nuclear power plant - fire protection action plan

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lambright, J.A.; Cerjak, J.; Spiler, J.; Ioannidi, J.

1998-01-01

Nuclear Power Plant Krsko (NPP Krsko) is a Westinghouse design, single-unit, 1882 Megawatt thermal (MWt), two-loop, pressurized water nuclear power plant. The fire protection program at NPP Krsko has been reviewed and reports issued recommending changes and modifications to the program, plant systems and structures. Three reports were issued, the NPP Krsko Fire Hazard Analysis (Safe Shout down Separation Analysis Report), the ICISA Analysis of Core Damage Frequency Due to Fire at the NPP Krsko and IPEEE (Individual Plant External Event Examination) related to fire risk. The Fire Hazard Analysis Report utilizes a compliance - based deterministic approach to identification of fire area hazards. This report focuses on strict compliance from the perspective of US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (USNRC), standards, guidelines and acceptance criteria and does not consider variations to comply with the intent of the regulations. The probabilistic analysis methide used in the ICISA and IPEEE report utilizes a risk based nad intent based approach in determining critical at-risk fire areas. NPP Krsko has already completed the following suggestions/recommendations from the above and OSART reports in order to comply with Appendix R: Installation of smoke detectors in the Control Room; Installation of Emergency Lighting in some plant areas and of Remote Shout down panels; Extension of Sound Power Communication System; Installation of Fire Annunciator Panel at the On-site Fire Brigade Station; Installation of Smoke Detection System in the (a) Main Control Room Panels, (b) Essential Service Water Building. (c) Component Cooling Building pump area, chiller area and HVAC area, (d) Auxiliary Building Safety pump rooms, (e) Fuel Handling room, (f) Intermediate Building AFFW area and compressor room, and (g) Tadwaste building; inclusion of Auxiliary operators in the Fire Brigade; training of Fire Brigade Members in Plant Operation (9 week course); Development of Fire Door Inspection and

Historical Fire Detection of Tropical Forest from NDVI Time-series Data: Case Study on Jambi, Indonesia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dyah R. Panuju

2010-03-01

Full Text Available In addition to forest encroachment, forest fire is a serious problem in Indonesia. Attempts at managing its widespread and frequent occurrence has led to intensive use of remote sensing data. Coarse resolution images have been employed to derive hot spots as an indicator of forest fire. However, most efforts to verify the hot spot data and to verify fire accidents have been restricted to the use of medium or high resolution data. At present, it is difficult to verify solely upon those data due to severe cloud cover and low revisit time. In this paper, we present a method to validate forest fire using NDVI time series data. With the freely available NDVI data from SPOT VEGETATION, we successfully detected changes in time series data which were associated with fire accidents.

INFORMATION-ANALYTICAL SYSTEM OF FORECAST VEGETATION FIRES IN NATURAL CONDITIONS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

R. M. Kogan

2015-01-01

Full Text Available A system for spatial prediction for fire danger as function of weather and pyrological vegetation characteristics was constructed. The method of calculating the time conducted vegetable combustible materials in fire condition of each month of the season was suggested. Calculate the probability of fires and danger periods of plant formations in a monsoon climate. The geographic information system was developed, it was tested in the Middle Amur region in the Russian Far East.

Systems and models of fire blight (Erwinia amylovora prediction

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Krzysztof Kielak

2013-12-01

Full Text Available The paper presents fire blight prediction models and systems, developed in Europe (system Billing - versions: BOS, BRS, BIS95 and originated from this system: Firescreen, FEUERBRA and ANLAFBRA and in United States (Californian system, model Maryblyt and system Cougarblight. Use of above models and systems in various climatic-geographic conditions and comparison of obtained prognostic data to real fire blight occurrence is reviewed. The newest trends in research on improvement of prognostic analyses parameters with their adjustment to particular conditions and consideration of infection source occurrence are also presented.

Consideration on developing of leaked inflammable gas detection system for HTGR hydrogen production system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nishihara, Tetsuo; Nakamura, Masashi

1999-09-01

One of most important safety design issues for High Temperature Gas-cooled Reactor (HTGR) - Hydrogen Production System (HTGR-HPS) is to ensure reactor safety against fire and explosion at the hydrogen production plant. The inflammable gas mixture in the HTGR-HPS does not use oxygen in any condition and are kept in high pressure in the normal operation. The piping system and/or heat transfer tubes which have the potential possibility of combustible materials ingress into the Reactor Building (R/B) due to the failure are designed to prevent the failure against any events. Then, it is not necessary to consider their self-combustion in vessels nor leakage in the R/B. The only one case which we must consider is the ex-building fire or explosion caused by their leakage from piping or vessel. And it is important to mitigate their effects by means of early detection of gas leakage. We investigated our domestic standards on gas detection, applications of gas detectors, their detection principles, performance, sensitivity, reliability, their technical trends, and so on. We proposed three gas detection systems which may be applied in HTGR-HPS. The first one is the universal solid sensor system; it may be applied when there is no necessity to request their safety credits. The second is the combination of the improved solid sensor system and enhanced beam detector system; it may be applied when it is necessary to request their safety credit. And the third is the combination of the universal solid sensor system and the existing beam detector system; it may be applied when the plant owner request higher detector sensitivity than usual, from the view point of public acceptance, though there is not necessity to request their safety credits. To reduce the plant cost by refusing of safety credits to the gas leakage detection system, we proposed that the equipment required to isolate from others should be installed in the inertrized compartments. (author)

Installation and operation of the Plantwide Fire Protection Systems and related Domestic Water Supply Systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1991-12-01

A safe work environment is needed to support the Savannah River Site (SRS) mission of producing special nuclear material. This Environmental Assessment (EA) assesses the potential environmental impact(s) of adding to and upgrading the Plantwide Fire Protection System and selected related portions of the Domestic Water Supply System at SRS, Aiken, South Carolina. The following objectives are expected to be met by this action: Prevent undue threat to public health and welfare from fire at SRS; prevent undue hazard to employees at SRS from fire; prevent unacceptable delay to vital DOE programs as a result of fire at SRS; keep fire related property damage at SRS to a manageable level;, and provide an upgraded supply of domestic water for the Reactor Areas. The Reactor Areas' domestic water supplies do not meet current demand capacity due to the age and condition of the 30-year old iron piping. In addition, the water quality for these supplies is not consistent with current SCDHEC requirements. Therefore, DOE proposes to upgrade this Domestic Water Supply System to meet current demand and quality levels, as well as the needs of fire protection system improvement

Appraisal of Passive and Active Fire Protection Systems in Student’s Accommodation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ismail I.

2014-03-01

Full Text Available Fire protection systems are very important systems that must be included in buildings. They have a great significance in reducing or preventing the occurrences of fire. This paper presents an assessment of fire protection systems in student’s accommodation. Student accommodation is a particular type of building that provides shelter for students at University. In addition, it is also supposed to be an attractive environment, conducive to learning, and importantly, safe for occupation. The fire safety of occupants in a building, must be in accordance with the requirements of the building’s code. Therefore, the design of the building must comply with the Uniform Building By-Law (UBBL 1984 of Malaysia, and provide all of the required safety features. This paper describes the findings from investigations of passive and active fire protection systems installed in buildings, based on fire safety requirements, UBBL (1984.

An evaluation of the fire barrier system thermo-lag 330-1

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nowlen, S.P.

1994-09-01

This report presents the results of three fire endurance tests and one ampacity derating test set of the fire barrier system Thermo-Lag 330-1 Subliming Coating. Each test was performed using cable tray specimens protected by a nominal three-hour fire barrier envelope comprised of two layers of nominal 1/2 inch thick material. The fire barrier systems for two of the three fire endurance test articles and for the ampacity derating test article were installed in accordance with the manufacturer's installations procedures. The barrier system for the third fire endurance test article was a full reproduction of one of the original manufacturer's qualification test articles. This final test article included certain installation enhancements not considered typical of current nuclear power plant installations. The primary criteria for fire endurance performance evaluation was based on cable circuit integrity testing. Secondary consideration was also given to the temperature rise limits set forth in the ASTM E119 standard fire barrier test procedure. All three of the fire endurance specimens failed prematurely. Circuit integrity failures for the two fire endurance test articles with procedures-based installations were recorded at approximately 76 and 59 minutes into the exposures for a 6 inch wide and 12 inch wide cable tray respectively. Temperature excursion failures (single point) for these two test articles were noted at approximately 65 and 56 minutes respectively. The first circuit integrity failure for the full reproduction test article was recorded approximately 119 minutes into the exposure, and the first temperature excursion failure for this test article was recorded approximately 110 minutes into the exposure

Three-dimensional tracking for efficient fire fighting in complex situations

Science.gov (United States)

Akhloufi, Moulay; Rossi, Lucile

2009-05-01

Each year, hundred millions hectares of forests burn causing human and economic losses. For efficient fire fighting, the personnel in the ground need tools permitting the prediction of fire front propagation. In this work, we present a new technique for automatically tracking fire spread in three-dimensional space. The proposed approach uses a stereo system to extract a 3D shape from fire images. A new segmentation technique is proposed and permits the extraction of fire regions in complex unstructured scenes. It works in the visible spectrum and combines information extracted from YUV and RGB color spaces. Unlike other techniques, our algorithm does not require previous knowledge about the scene. The resulting fire regions are classified into different homogenous zones using clustering techniques. Contours are then extracted and a feature detection algorithm is used to detect interest points like local maxima and corners. Extracted points from stereo images are then used to compute the 3D shape of the fire front. The resulting data permits to build the fire volume. The final model is used to compute important spatial and temporal fire characteristics like: spread dynamics, local orientation, heading direction, etc. Tests conducted on the ground show the efficiency of the proposed scheme. This scheme is being integrated with a fire spread mathematical model in order to predict and anticipate the fire behaviour during fire fighting. Also of interest to fire-fighters, is the proposed automatic segmentation technique that can be used in early detection of fire in complex scenes.

Probabilistic approach relative to fire scenarios study

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chabot, Jean-Luc

1998-01-01

The main objective of this thesis is to develop a calculation method of the occurring probability of the fire scenarios (detection, setting of the intervention, extinction) taking into account the size and the impact of the fire on the surroundings. This new method is called 'hybrid simulation'. It includes in a unique modelling the processing of continuous and discrete phenomenon. Moreover, to correctly represent fire scenarios, it is necessary not to take only into account the 'continuous' growing of the fire itself but of also 'discrete' events like detection, fire fighting and extinction, human behaviour and related faults. For that purpose we couple a code modelling the physical aspects of the fire to Petri nets which is able to model these 'discrete' events, this coupling consists of driving the 'continuous' model by the occurring of the 'discrete' events. This new technique which can be used to cover 'discrete' and 'continuous' events in a single calculation represents a solution to dynamic reliability calculation problems, for which there is a continuously increasing demand for analysing reliability, availability of production and maintainability of complex industrial systems. (author) [fr

Standard on fire protection for self-propelled and mobile surface mining equipment. 2001 ed.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2001-07-01

Safeguard life and property against fire and related hazards in mines with the latest requirements in NFPA 121. This 2001 edition covers fire detection, suppression, ignition sources, fire risk assessment and maintenance of mining equipment systems. 4 apps.

Ac-dc converter firing error detection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gould, O.L.

1996-01-01

Each of the twelve Booster Main Magnet Power Supply modules consist of two three-phase, full-wave rectifier bridges in series to provide a 560 VDC maximum output. The harmonic contents of the twelve-pulse ac-dc converter output are multiples of the 60 Hz ac power input, with a predominant 720 Hz signal greater than 14 dB in magnitude above the closest harmonic components at maximum output. The 720 Hz harmonic is typically greater than 20 dB below the 500 VDC output signal under normal operation. Extracting specific harmonics from the rectifier output signal of a 6, 12, or 24 pulse ac-dc converter allows the detection of SCR firing angle errors or complete misfires. A bandpass filter provides the input signal to a frequency-to-voltage converter. Comparing the output of the frequency-to-voltage converter to a reference voltage level provides an indication of the magnitude of the harmonics in the ac-dc converter output signal

Research of the Fire Resistance оf Translucent and Composite Facade System

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nedryshkin Oleg

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The paper aims at researching fire resistance of a prototype facade system “Technocom” (type Alucobond A2. Experimental and theoretical research of fire hazard facade system is carried out. The objectives of the study are to determine compliance with the applicable front of special technical requirements. The status of problem reducing fire hazard facade system is reviewed. The method developed by compensatory measures is applied.

Fire Distribution in Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra and Borneo in 2015 with Special Emphasis on Peatland Fires.

Science.gov (United States)

Miettinen, Jukka; Shi, Chenghua; Liew, Soo Chin

2017-10-01

In this paper, we analyze the spatio-temporal distribution of vegetation fires in Peninsular Malaysia, Sumatra, and Borneo in the severe El Niño year of 2015, concentrating on the distribution of fires between mineral soils and peatland areas, and between land cover types in peatland areas. The results reveal that 53% of all Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) fire detections were recorded in peatlands that cover only 12% of the study area. However, fire occurrence in the peatland areas was highly dependent on land cover type. Pristine peat swamp forests (PSF) experienced only marginal fire activity (30 fire detections per 1000 km 2 ) compared to deforested undeveloped peatlands (831-915 fire detections per 1000 km 2 ). Our results also highlight the extreme fire vulnerability of the southern Sumatran and Bornean peatlands under strong El Niño conditions: 71% of all peatland hotspots were detected in the provinces of South Sumatra and Central Kalimantan, which contain 29% of peatlands in the study area. Degraded PSF and all deforested peatland land cover types, including managed areas, in the two provinces were severely affected, demonstrating how difficult it is to protect even managed drained agricultural areas from unwanted fires during dry periods. Our results thereby advocate rewetting and rehabilitation as the primary management option for highly fire prone degraded undeveloped peatland areas, whenever feasible, as a means to reduce fire risk during future dry episodes.

Systems for animal exposure in full-scale fire tests

Science.gov (United States)

Hilado, C. J.; Cumming, H. J.; Kourtides, D. A.; Parker, J. A.

1977-01-01

Two systems for exposing animals in full-scale fire tests are described. Both systems involve the simultaneous exposure of two animal species, mice and rats, in modular units; determination of mortality, morbidity, and behavioral response; and analysis of the blood for carboxyhemoglobin. The systems described represent two of many possible options for obtaining bioassay data from full-scale fire tests. In situations where the temperatures to which the test animals are exposed can not be controlled, analytical techniques may be more appropriate than bioassay techniques.

Methods and criteria for evaluation of nuclear reactor fire protection alternatives and modifications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Levinson, S.H.

1982-01-01

The objective of this work is to develop a methodology for the evaluation of a fire protection system in a nuclear power plant and demonstrate the feasibility of encoding this method in a computer program. A Monte Carlo simulation has been developed; it is divided into the four phases of a fire scenario: ignition, detection, suppression and propagation. The ignition model consists of probabilistically determining at what location within the zone a fire will occur. The detection model is divided into two components. THe first is the automatic detection model, which calculates the fire's physical symptoms and compares them against the threshold values of the detectors specified for the zone to determine a time-to-detection. The second part is the human detection model; this evaluates the time required for a human to observe and report a fire. If detection is successful, the suppression mode determines if the fire is effectively extinguished, and if so, the time required to do so. This model is also divided into an automatic and human component. The propagation model is embedded in a deterministic, control-volume computer code which calculates the fire scenario history. A computer program, FIRES, is described which supports the developed models. FIRES is an interactive graphics package providing a simple means of establishing the many input parameters. In addition to allowing parameter values to be easily set or modified, the graphics provides a convenient display mode for the results of a simulation

Characterization of exposure to byproducts from firing lead-free frangible ammunition in an enclosed, ventilated firing range.

Science.gov (United States)

Grabinski, Christin M; Methner, Mark M; Jackson, Jerimiah M; Moore, Alexander L; Flory, Laura E; Tilly, Trevor; Hussain, Saber M; Ott, Darrin K

2017-06-01

U.S. Air Force small arms firing ranges began using copper-based, lead-free frangible ammunition in the early 2000s due to environmental and health concerns related to the use of lead-based ammunition. Exposure assessments at these firing ranges have routinely detected chemicals and metals in amounts much lower than their mass-based occupational exposure limits, yet, instructors report work-related health concerns including respiratory distress, nausea, and headache. The objective of this study at one firing range was to characterize the aerosol emissions produced by weapons during firing events and evaluate the ventilation system's effectiveness in controlling instructor exposure to these emissions. The ventilation system was assessed by measuring the range static air pressure differential and the air velocity at the firing line. Air flow patterns were near the firing line. Instructor exposure was sampled using a filter-based air sampling method for metals and a wearable, real-time ultrafine particle counter. Area air sampling was simultaneously performed to characterize the particle size distribution, morphology, and composition. In the instructor's breathing zone, the airborne mass concentration of copper was low (range = free frangible ammunition. Using an ultrafine particle counter appears to be an alternative method of assessing ventilation effectiveness in removing ultrafine particulate produced during firing events.

Coupling Strength and System Size Induce Firing Activity of Globally Coupled Neural Network

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wei Duqu; Luo Xiaoshu; Zou Yanli

2008-01-01

We investigate how firing activity of globally coupled neural network depends on the coupling strength C and system size N. Network elements are described by space-clamped FitzHugh-Nagumo (SCFHN) neurons with the values of parameters at which no firing activity occurs. It is found that for a given appropriate coupling strength, there is an intermediate range of system size where the firing activity of globally coupled SCFHN neural network is induced and enhanced. On the other hand, for a given intermediate system size level, there exists an optimal value of coupling strength such that the intensity of firing activity reaches its maximum. These phenomena imply that the coupling strength and system size play a vital role in firing activity of neural network

Detection, emission estimation and risk prediction of forest fires in China using satellite sensors and simulation models in the past three decades--an overview.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Jia-Hua; Yao, Feng-Mei; Liu, Cheng; Yang, Li-Min; Boken, Vijendra K

2011-08-01

Forest fires have major impact on ecosystems and greatly impact the amount of greenhouse gases and aerosols in the atmosphere. This paper presents an overview in the forest fire detection, emission estimation, and fire risk prediction in China using satellite imagery, climate data, and various simulation models over the past three decades. Since the 1980s, remotely-sensed data acquired by many satellites, such as NOAA/AVHRR, FY-series, MODIS, CBERS, and ENVISAT, have been widely utilized for detecting forest fire hot spots and burned areas in China. Some developed algorithms have been utilized for detecting the forest fire hot spots at a sub-pixel level. With respect to modeling the forest burning emission, a remote sensing data-driven Net Primary productivity (NPP) estimation model was developed for estimating forest biomass and fuel. In order to improve the forest fire risk modeling in China, real-time meteorological data, such as surface temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and direction, have been used as the model input for improving prediction of forest fire occurrence and its behavior. Shortwave infrared (SWIR) and near infrared (NIR) channels of satellite sensors have been employed for detecting live fuel moisture content (FMC), and the Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI) was used for evaluating the forest vegetation condition and its moisture status.

Fire in the Earth System

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bowman, D.M.J.S.; Balch, J.K.; Artaxo, P.; Bond, W.J.; Carlson, J.M.; Cochrane, M.A.; D'Antonio, C.M.; DeFries, R.S.; Doyle, J.C.; Harrison, S.P.; Johnston, F.H.; Keeley, J.E.; Krawchuk, M.A.; Kull, C.A.; Marston, J.B.; Moritz, M.A.; Prentice, I.C.; Roos, C.I.; Scott, A.C.; Swetnam, T.W.; van der Werf, G.R.; Pyne, S.J.

2009-01-01

Fire is a worldwide phenomenon that appears in the geological record soon after the appearance of terrestrial plants. Fire influences global ecosystem patterns and processes, including vegetation distribution and structure, the carbon cycle, and climate. Although humans and fire have always

Proposal for the award of an industrial services contract for maintenance of fire and gas detection and evacuation alarm systems

CERN Document Server

2001-01-01

This document concerns the award of an Industrial Services contract for maintenance of fire and gas detection and evacuation alarm systems. Following a market survey carried out among 48 firms in fourteen Member States, a call for tenders (IT-2818/ST) was sent on 15 December 2000 to four firms and three consortia, each consisting of two firms, in five Member States. By the closing date, CERN had received tenders from one firm and three consortia in four Member States. The Finance Committee is invited to agree to the negotiation of a contract with the consortium SCHRACK SECONET (AT) - SOTEB (FR), the lowest bidder, for an initial period of three years from 1 October 2001 for an amount not exceeding 5 800 000 Swiss francs, not subject to revision. The contract will include options for two one-year extensions beyond the initial three-year period. The consortium has indicated the following distribution by country of the contract value covered by this adjudication proposal: AT-50%, FR-50%.

Fire Effects, Education, and Expert Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Robert E. Martin

1987-01-01

Predicting the effects of fires in the year 2000 and beyond will be enhanced by the use of expert systems. Although our predictions may have broad confidence limits, expert systems should help us to improve the predictions and to focus on the areas where improved knowledge is most needed. The knowledge of experts can be incorporated into previously existing knowledge...

Application of Different HSI Color Models to Detect Fire-Damaged Mortar

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

H. Luo

2013-12-01

Full Text Available To obtain a better understanding of the effect of vehicle fires on rigid pavement, a nondestructive test method utilizing an ordinary digital camera to capture images of mortar at five elevated temperatures was undertaken. These images were then analyzed by “image color-intensity analyzer” software. In image analysis, the RGB color model was the basic system used to represent the color information of images. HSI is a derived-color model that is transformed from an RGB model by formulae. In order to understand more about surface color changes and temperatures after a vehicle fire, various transformation formulae used in different research areas were applied in this study. They were then evaluated to obtain the optimum HSI model for further studies of fire-damaged mortar through the use of image analysis.

Convective heat exposure from large fires to the final filters of ventilation systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Alvares, N.J.

1979-01-01

The Fire Science Group of the Hazards Control Department, Lawrence Livermore Laboratory has been asked to design a probable fire scenario for a fuel-pellet fabrication facility. This model was used to estimate the potential for thermal damage to the final HEPA filters. These filters would not experience direct fire exposure because they are the last component of the ventilation system before the exhaust air pumps. However, they would be exposed to hot air and fire gases that are drawn into the ventilation system. Because fire is one of the few occurrences that can defeat the containment integrity of facilities where radioactive materials are stored and processed, the fire scenarios must be defined to ensure that containment systems are adequate to meet the threat of such events. Fire-growth calculations are based on the measured fuel load of materials within the fabrication enclosure and on semi-empirical fire-spread models. It is assumed that the fire never becomes ventilation controlled. The temperature rise of ceiling gases and heat transfer from ventilation ducting are calculated using accepted empirical relationships, and the analysis shows that even under the most severe exposure conditions, heat transfer from the duct reduces the fire gas temperatures to levels that would not hamper filter function

Expert System Development for Urban Fire Hazard Assessment. Study Case: Kendari City, Indonesia

Science.gov (United States)

Taridala, S.; Yudono, A.; Ramli, M. I.; Akil, A.

2017-08-01

Kendari City is a coastal urban region with the smallest area as well as the largest population in Southeast Sulawesi. Fires in Kendari City had rather frequently occurred and caused numerous material losses. This study aims to develop a model of urban fire risk and fire station site assessment. The model is developed using Expert Systems with the Geographic Information System (GIS). The high risk of fire area is the area which of high building density with combustible material, not crossed by arterial nor collector road. The fire station site should be appropriately close by high risk of fire area, located on arterial road and near with potential water resource.

Processing Infrared Images For Fire Management Applications

Science.gov (United States)

Warren, John R.; Pratt, William K.

1981-12-01

The USDA Forest Service has used airborne infrared systems for forest fire detection and mapping for many years. The transfer of the images from plane to ground and the transposition of fire spots and perimeters to maps has been performed manually. A new system has been developed which uses digital image processing, transmission, and storage. Interactive graphics, high resolution color display, calculations, and computer model compatibility are featured in the system. Images are acquired by an IR line scanner and converted to 1024 x 1024 x 8 bit frames for transmission to the ground at a 1.544 M bit rate over a 14.7 GHZ carrier. Individual frames are received and stored, then transferred to a solid state memory to refresh the display at a conventional 30 frames per second rate. Line length and area calculations, false color assignment, X-Y scaling, and image enhancement are available. Fire spread can be calculated for display and fire perimeters plotted on maps. The performance requirements, basic system, and image processing will be described.

French research on a general approach to sodium fires

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Malet, JC.

1989-01-01

This document gives a general idea of how one may deal with the safety of an installation in case of a sodium leak generating either a sodium pool fire, or a sodium spray fire, or a combined sodium fire, and in case of a sodium leak either with or without fire and/or any aggravating phenomenon such as aerosols or sodium-concrete reactions, for example. This paper describes the means used to reduce fire consequences. These means are either design codes used for dimensioning premises with their ventilation system or for defining a course of action to be taken in case of fire, or equipment and components (fire fighting equipment, detection devices, etc.) used to prevent or to fight fires, or finally, to repair the installation after a fire, the latter operation including the processing of the residues. (author)

Response of the REWARD detection system to the presence of a Radiological Dispersal Device

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Luís, R.; Fleta, C.; Balbuena, J.; Baptista, M.; Barros, S.; Disch, C.; Jumilla, C.; Lozano, M.; Marques, J.G.; Vaz, P.

2016-01-01

The objective of the REWARD project consisted in building a mobile system for real time, wide area radiation surveillance, using a CdZnTe detector for gamma radiation and a neutron detector based on novel silicon technologies. The sensing unit includes a GPS system and a wireless communication interface to send the data remotely to a monitoring base station, where it will be analyzed in real time and correlated with historical data from the tag location, in order to generate an alarm when an abnormal situation is detected. The main objective of this work consisted in making predictions regarding the behavior of the REWARD system in the presence of a Radiological Dispersion Device (RDD), one of the reference scenarios foreseen for REWARD, using experimental data and the Monte Carlo simulation program MCNP6. Experimental tests were performed at the Fire Brigades Facilities in Rome and at the Naples Fire Brigades. The response of the REWARD detection system to the presence of an RDD is predicted and discussed. - Highlights: • A prototype mobile system for real-time, wide-area radiation surveillance was built. • Experimental measurements and Monte Carlo simulations were used to test the system. • The system is suitable to detect and identify radiation sources in threat scenarios.

Non-contact and contact measurement system for detecting projectile position in electromagnetic launch bore

Science.gov (United States)

Xu, Weidong; Yuan, Weiqun; Xu, Rong; Zhao, Hui; Cheng, Wenping; Zhang, Dongdong; Zhao, Ying; Yan, Ping

2017-12-01

This paper introduces a new measurement system for measuring the position of a projectile within a rapid fire electromagnetic launching system. The measurement system contains both non-contact laser shading and metal fiber contact measurement devices. Two projectiles are placed in the rapid fire electromagnetic launch bore, one in the main accelerating segment and the other in the pre-loading segment. The projectile placed in the main accelerating segment should be shot first, and then the other is loaded into the main segment from the pre-loading segment. The main driving current (I-main) can only be discharged again when the second projectile has arrived at the key position (the projectile position corresponds to the discharging time) in the main accelerating segment. So, it is important to be able to detect when the second projectile arrives at the key position in the main accelerating segment. The B-dot probe is the most widely used system for detecting the position of the projectile in the electromagnetic launch bore. However, the B-dot signal is affected by the driving current amplitude and the projectile velocity. There is no current in the main accelerating segment when the second projectile moves into this segment in rapid fire mode, so the B-dot signal for detecting the key position is invalid. Due to the presence of a high-intensity magnetic field, a high current, a high-temperature aluminum attachment, smoke and strong vibrations, it is very difficult to detect the projectile position in the bore accurately. So, other measurements need to be researched and developed in order to achieve high reliability. A measurement system based on a laser (non-contact) and metal fibers (contact) has been designed, and the integrated output signal based on this detector is described in the following paper.

Fire protection for telecommunications central offices

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McKenna, L.A. Jr.

1990-01-01

The provision of continuous, uninterrupted telecommunications service is vital to modern life. In order to provide uninterrupted service to customers, a service continuity program has been in place with AT and T for many years. This program integrates many different protection strategies and plans, each designed to mitigate one of the many threats to service continuity. The fire protection program implemented within AT and T is a part of this service continuity program. In the design of this program, a number of unusual problems had to be addressed due to the service continuity requirements. Typical solutions to fire protection problems (ignition prevention, detection, and suppression) which are embodied in building and fire prevention codes are inadequate to provide service continuity. This presentation outlines the basic arrangement of a telecommunications central office, the specific fire protection problems encountered, the fire protection philosophy developed through the use of a systems approach, and the implementation of the fire protection program. Special emphasis is placed on the strategies employed in lieu of more traditional fire protection schemes and the stimuli for selecting them

Project 93L-EWL-097, fire alarm system improvements, 300 Area

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Scott, M.V.

1995-01-01

This document contains the Acceptance Test Procedure (ATP) which will demonstrate that the modifications to the Fire Protection systems in the 338 Building function as intended. The ATP will test the fire alarm control panel, flow alarm pressure switch, post indicator valve tamper switch, heat detectors, flow switches, and fire alarm signaling devices

Teaching methodology of the diagnosing process on the example of the fire alarm system

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Paś Jacek

2017-03-01

Full Text Available The article presents a method of teaching the process of diagnosing the technical and functional condition of the fire alarm system (SSP. The fire alarm system’s laboratory model is a representation of a real fire alarm system. The lecturer has the opportunity to inflict several different independent damage. The aim of the laboratory exercise is to familiarize students with the methodology and structure of the fire alarm system diagnosing process.

Detection, Emission Estimation and Risk Prediction of Forest Fires in China Using Satellite Sensors and Simulation Models in the Past Three Decades—An Overview

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cheng Liu

2011-07-01

Full Text Available Forest fires have major impact on ecosystems and greatly impact the amount of greenhouse gases and aerosols in the atmosphere. This paper presents an overview in the forest fire detection, emission estimation, and fire risk prediction in China using satellite imagery, climate data, and various simulation models over the past three decades. Since the 1980s, remotely-sensed data acquired by many satellites, such as NOAA/AVHRR, FY-series, MODIS, CBERS, and ENVISAT, have been widely utilized for detecting forest fire hot spots and burned areas in China. Some developed algorithms have been utilized for detecting the forest fire hot spots at a sub-pixel level. With respect to modeling the forest burning emission, a remote sensing data-driven Net Primary productivity (NPP estimation model was developed for estimating forest biomass and fuel. In order to improve the forest fire risk modeling in China, real-time meteorological data, such as surface temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and direction，have been used as the model input for improving prediction of forest fire occurrence and its behavior. Shortwave infrared (SWIR and near infrared (NIR channels of satellite sensors have been employed for detecting live fuel moisture content (FMC, and the Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI was used for evaluating the forest vegetation condition and its moisture status.

Detection, Emission Estimation and Risk Prediction of Forest Fires in China Using Satellite Sensors and Simulation Models in the Past Three Decades—An Overview

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Jia-Hua; Yao, Feng-Mei; Liu, Cheng; Yang, Li-Min; Boken, Vijendra K.

2011-01-01

Forest fires have major impact on ecosystems and greatly impact the amount of greenhouse gases and aerosols in the atmosphere. This paper presents an overview in the forest fire detection, emission estimation, and fire risk prediction in China using satellite imagery, climate data, and various simulation models over the past three decades. Since the 1980s, remotely-sensed data acquired by many satellites, such as NOAA/AVHRR, FY-series, MODIS, CBERS, and ENVISAT, have been widely utilized for detecting forest fire hot spots and burned areas in China. Some developed algorithms have been utilized for detecting the forest fire hot spots at a sub-pixel level. With respect to modeling the forest burning emission, a remote sensing data-driven Net Primary productivity (NPP) estimation model was developed for estimating forest biomass and fuel. In order to improve the forest fire risk modeling in China, real-time meteorological data, such as surface temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and direction, have been used as the model input for improving prediction of forest fire occurrence and its behavior. Shortwave infrared (SWIR) and near infrared (NIR) channels of satellite sensors have been employed for detecting live fuel moisture content (FMC), and the Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI) was used for evaluating the forest vegetation condition and its moisture status. PMID:21909297

A fire danger rating system for Hawaii

Science.gov (United States)

Robert E. Burgan; Francis M. Fujioka; George H. Hirata

1974-01-01

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.

Fire blight in Georgia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dali L. Gaganidze

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Fire blight is distinguished among the fruit tree diseases by harmfulness. Fire blight damages about 180 cultural and wild plants belonging to the Rosaceae family. Quince, apple and pear are the most susceptible to the disease. At present, the disease occurs in over 40 countries of Europe and Asia. Economic damage caused by fire blight is expressed not only in crop losses, but also, it poses threat of eradication to entire fruit tree gardens. Erwinia amylovora, causative bacteria of fire blight in fruit trees, is included in the A2 list of quarantine organisms. In 2016, the employees of the Plant Pest Diagnostic Department of the Laboratory of the Georgian Ministry of Agriculture have detected Erwinia amylovora in apple seedlings from Mtskheta district. National Food Agency, Ministry of Agriculture of Georgia informed FAO on pathogen detection. The aim of the study is detection of the bacterium Erwinia amylovora by molecular method (PCR in the samples of fruit trees, suspicious on fire blight collected in the regions of Eastern (Kvemo Kartli, Shida Kartli and Kakheti and Western Georgia (Imereti.The bacterium Erwinia amylovora was detected by real time and conventional PCR methods using specific primers and thus the fire blight disease confirmed in 23 samples of plant material from Shida Kartli (11 apples, 6 pear and 6 quince samples, in 5 samples from Kvemo Kartli (1 quince and 4 apple samples, in 2 samples of apples from Kakheti region and 1 sample of pear collected in Imereti (Zestafoni. Keywords: Fire blight, Erwinia amylovora, Conventional PCR, Real time PCR, DNA, Bacterium

Pool fires in a large scale ventilation system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Smith, P.R.; Leslie, I.H.; Gregory, W.S.; White, B.

1991-01-01

A series of pool fire experiments was carried out in the Large Scale Flow Facility of the Mechanical Engineering Department at New Mexico State University. The various experiments burned alcohol, hydraulic cutting oil, kerosene, and a mixture of kerosene and tributylphosphate. Gas temperature and wall temperature measurements as a function of time were made throughout the 23.3m 3 burn compartment and the ducts of the ventilation system. The mass of the smoke particulate deposited upon the ventilation system 0.61m x 0.61m high efficiency particulate air filter for the hydraulic oil, kerosene, and kerosene-tributylphosphate mixture fires was measured using an in situ null balance. Significant increases in filter resistance were observed for all three fuels for burning time periods ranging from 10 to 30 minutes. This was found to be highly dependent upon initial ventilation system flow rate, fuel type, and flow configuration. The experimental results were compared to simulated results predicted by the Los Alamos National Laboratory FIRAC computer code. In general, the experimental and the computer results were in reasonable agreement, despite the fact that the fire compartment for the experiments was an insulated steel tank with 0.32 cm walls, while the compartment model FIRIN of FIRAC assumes 0.31 m thick concrete walls. This difference in configuration apparently caused FIRAC to consistently underpredict the measured temperatures in the fire compartment. The predicted deposition of soot proved to be insensitive to ventilation system flow rate, but the measured values showed flow rate dependence. However, predicted soot deposition was of the same order of magnitude as measured soot deposition

Detecting Local Drivers of Fire Cycle Heterogeneity in Boreal Forests: A Scale Issue

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Annie Claude Bélisle

2016-07-01

Full Text Available Severe crown fires are determining disturbances for the composition and structure of boreal forests in North America. Fire cycle (FC associations with continental climate gradients are well known, but smaller scale controls remain poorly documented. Using a time since fire map (time scale of 300 years, the study aims to assess the relative contributions of local and regional controls on FC and to describe the relationship between FC heterogeneity and vegetation patterns. The study area, located in boreal eastern North America, was partitioned into watersheds according to five scales going from local (3 km2 to landscape (2800 km2 scales. Using survival analysis, we observed that dry surficial deposits and hydrography density better predict FC when measured at the local scale, while terrain complexity and slope position perform better when measured at the middle and landscape scales. The most parsimonious model was selected according to the Akaike information criterion to predict FC throughout the study area. We detected two FC zones, one short (159 years and one long (303 years, with specific age structures and tree compositions. We argue that the local heterogeneity of the fire regime contributes to ecosystem diversity and must be considered in ecosystem management.

Comparing different approaches for an effective monitoring of forest fires based on MSG/SEVIRI images

Science.gov (United States)

Laneve, Giovanni

2010-05-01

The remote sensing sensors on board of geostationary satellite, as consequence of the high frequency of the observations, allow, in principle, the monitoring of these phenomena characterized by a fast dynamics. The only condition for is that the events to be monitored should be enough strong to be recognizable notwithstanding the low spatial resolution of the present geostationary systems (MSG/SEVIRI, GOES Imager, MTSAT). Apart from meteorological phenomena other events, like those associated with forest fires and/or volcanic eruption, are characterized by a very fast dynamics. These events are also associated with a very strong signal that make them observable by geostationary satellite in a quasi-continuous way. However, in order to make possible the detection of small fires by using the low resolution multi-spectral imagery provided by geostationary sensor like SEVIRI (3x3 km2 at the equator) new algorithms, capable to exploit it high observation frequency, has been developed. This paper is devoted to show the results obtained by comparing some of these algorithms trying to highlight their advantages and limits. The algorithms herein considered are these developed by CRPSM (SFIDE®), UNIBAS/CNR (RST-FIRES) and ESA-ESRIN (MDIFRM). In general, the new approaches proposed by each one of them are capable to promptly detect small fires making possible an operational utilization of the satellite based fire detection system in the fire fighting phases. In fact, these algorithms are quite different from these introduced in the past and specifically devoted to fire detection using low resolution multi-spectral imagery on LEO (Low Earth Orbit) satellite. Thanks to these differences they are capable of detecting sub-hectare (0.2 ha) forest fires providing an useful instrument for monitoring quasi-continuously forest fires, estimating the FRP (Fire Radiative Power), evaluating the burned biomass, retrieving the emission in the atmosphere.

New probabilistic decision-making tools for fire protection systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ksobiech, C.; Mowrer, F.

1991-01-01

The FIVE methodology provides guidance to utilities in performing an examination of potential plant severe accidents caused by fire initiated events. FIVE is oriented toward uncovering limiting plant design or operating characteristics (vulnerabilities) that make certain fire-initiated events more likely than others. It provides a combination of deterministic and probabilistic techniques for examining a power plant's fire probability and protection characteristics. It includes a two phase progressive screening method and a third phase consisting of a plant walkdown/verification process. The FIVE methodology centers on providing assurance of the availability of at least one train of the safe shutdown systems. FIVE has been developed for implementation by plant personnel who are most experienced with their plant's operations, fire hazards and fire protection features. The methodology provides these plant personnel with guidelines to quickly screen the plant down to the most significant locations where vulnerabilities may exist and then identify options to reduce the vulnerabilities

Ultra-Low Power Sensor System for Disaster Event Detection in Metro Tunnel Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jonah VINCKE

2017-05-01

Full Text Available In this extended paper, the concept for an ultra-low power wireless sensor network (WSN for underground tunnel systems is presented highlighting the chosen sensors. Its objectives are the detection of emergency events either from natural disasters, such as flooding or fire, or from terrorist attacks using explosives. Earlier works have demonstrated that the power consumption for the communication can be reduced such that the data acquisition (i.e. sensor sub-system becomes the most significant energy consumer. By using ultra-low power components for the smoke detector, a hydrostatic pressure sensor for water ingress detection and a passive acoustic emission sensor for explosion detection, all considered threats are covered while the energy consumption can be kept very low in relation to the data acquisition. In addition to 1 the sensor system is integrated into a sensor board. The total average power consumption for operating the sensor sub-system is measured to be 35.9 µW for lower and 7.8 µW for upper nodes.

Tunnel fire dynamics

CERN Document Server

Ingason, Haukur; Lönnermark, Anders

2015-01-01

This book covers a wide range of issues in fire safety engineering in tunnels, describes the phenomena related to tunnel fire dynamics, presents state-of-the-art research, and gives detailed solutions to these major issues. Examples for calculations are provided. The aim is to significantly improve the understanding of fire safety engineering in tunnels. Chapters on fuel and ventilation control, combustion products, gas temperatures, heat fluxes, smoke stratification, visibility, tenability, design fire curves, heat release, fire suppression and detection, CFD modeling, and scaling techniques all equip readers to create their own fire safety plans for tunnels. This book should be purchased by any engineer or public official with responsibility for tunnels. It would also be of interest to many fire protection engineers as an application of evolving technical principles of fire safety.

Integrating remotely sensed fires for predicting deforestation for REDD.

Science.gov (United States)

Armenteras, Dolors; Gibbes, Cerian; Anaya, Jesús A; Dávalos, Liliana M

2017-06-01

Fire is an important tool in tropical forest management, as it alters forest composition, structure, and the carbon budget. The United Nations program on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) aims to sustainably manage forests, as well as to conserve and enhance their carbon stocks. Despite the crucial role of fire management, decision-making on REDD+ interventions fails to systematically include fires. Here, we address this critical knowledge gap in two ways. First, we review REDD+ projects and programs to assess the inclusion of fires in monitoring, reporting, and verification (MRV) systems. Second, we model the relationship between fire and forest for a pilot site in Colombia using near-real-time (NRT) fire monitoring data derived from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). The literature review revealed fire remains to be incorporated as a key component of MRV systems. Spatially explicit modeling of land use change showed the probability of deforestation declined sharply with increasing distance to the nearest fire the preceding year (multi-year model area under the curve [AUC] 0.82). Deforestation predictions based on the model performed better than the official REDD early-warning system. The model AUC for 2013 and 2014 was 0.81, compared to 0.52 for the early-warning system in 2013 and 0.68 in 2014. This demonstrates NRT fire monitoring is a powerful tool to predict sites of forest deforestation. Applying new, publicly available, and open-access NRT fire data should be an essential element of early-warning systems to detect and prevent deforestation. Our results provide tools for improving both the current MRV systems, and the deforestation early-warning system in Colombia. © 2017 by the Ecological Society of America.

Monitoring Fires from Space and Getting Data in to the hands of Users: An Example from NASA's Fire Information for Resource Management System (FIRMS)

Science.gov (United States)

Davies, D.; Wong, M.; Ilavajhala, S.; Molinario, G.; Justice, C. O.

2012-12-01

This paper discusses the broad uptake of MODIS near-real-time (NRT) active fire data for applications. Prior to the launch of MODIS most real-time satellite-derived fire information was obtained from NOAA AVHRR via direct broadcast (DB) systems. Whilst there were efforts to make direct broadcast stations affordable in developing countries, such as through the Local Applications of Satellite Remote Technologies (LARST), these systems were relatively few and far between and required expertise to manage and operate. One such system was in Etosha National Park (ENP) in Namibia. Prior to the installation of the AVHRR DB system in ENP, fires were reported by rangers and the quality, accuracy and timing of reports was variable. With the introduction of the DB station, early warning of fires improved and fire maps could be produced for park managers within 2-3 hours by staff trained to process data, interpret images and produce maps. Up keep and maintenance of such systems was relatively costly for parks with limited resources therefore when global fire data from MODIS became available uptake was widespread. NRT data from MODIS became availalbe through a collaboration between the MODIS Fire Team and the US Forest Service (USFS) Remote Sensing Applications Center to provide rapid access to imagery to help fight the Montana wildfires of 2001. This prompted the development of a Rapid Response System for fire data that eventually led to the operational use of MODIS data by the USFS for fire monitoring. Building on this success, the Fire Information for Resource Management System (FIRMS) project was funded by NASA Applications, and developed under the umbrella of the GOFC-GOLD Fire program, to further improve products and services for the global fire information community. FIRMS was developed as a web-based geospatial tool, offering a range of geospatial data services, including a fire email alert service which is widely used around the world. FIRMS was initially developed to

Applications of Living Fire PRA models to Fire Protection Significance Determination Process in Taiwan

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

De-Cheng, Chen; Chung-Kung, Lo; Tsu-Jen, Lin; Ching-Hui, Wu; Lin, James C.

2004-01-01

The living fire probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) models for all three operating nuclear power plants (NPPs) in Taiwan had been established in December 2000. In that study, a scenario-based PRA approach was adopted to systematically evaluate the fire and smoke hazards and associated risks. Using these fire PRA models developed, a risk-informed application project had also been completed in December 2002 for the evaluation of cable-tray fire-barrier wrapping exemption. This paper presents a new application of the fire PRA models to fire protection issues using the fire protection significance determination process (FP SDP). The fire protection issues studied may involve the selection of appropriate compensatory measures during the period when an automatic fire detection or suppression system in a safety-related fire zone becomes inoperable. The compensatory measure can either be a 24-hour fire watch or an hourly fire patrol. The living fire PRA models were used to estimate the increase in risk associated with the fire protection issue in terms of changes in core damage frequency (CDF) and large early release frequency (LERF). In compliance with SDP at-power and the acceptance guidelines specified in RG 1.174, the fire protection issues in question can be grouped into four categories; red, yellow, white and green, in accordance with the guidelines developed for FD SDP. A 24-hour fire watch is suggested only required for the yellow condition, while an hourly fire patrol may be adopted for the white condition. More limiting requirement is suggested for the red condition, but no special consideration is needed for the green condition. For the calculation of risk measures, risk impacts from any additional fire scenarios that may have been introduced, as well as more severe initiating events and fire damages that may accompany the fire protection issue should be considered carefully. Examples are presented in this paper to illustrate the evaluation process. (authors)

The potential predictability of fire danger provided by ECMWF forecast

Science.gov (United States)

Di Giuseppe, Francesca

2017-04-01

The European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS), is currently being developed in the framework of the Copernicus Emergency Management Services to monitor and forecast fire danger in Europe. The system provides timely information to civil protection authorities in 38 nations across Europe and mostly concentrates on flagging regions which might be at high danger of spontaneous ignition due to persistent drought. The daily predictions of fire danger conditions are based on the US Forest Service National Fire Danger Rating System (NFDRS), the Canadian forest service Fire Weather Index Rating System (FWI) and the Australian McArthur (MARK-5) rating systems. Weather forcings are provided in real time by the European Centre for Medium range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) forecasting system. The global system's potential predictability is assessed using re-analysis fields as weather forcings. The Global Fire Emissions Database (GFED4) provides 11 years of observed burned areas from satellite measurements and is used as a validation dataset. The fire indices implemented are good predictors to highlight dangerous conditions. High values are correlated with observed fire and low values correspond to non observed events. A more quantitative skill evaluation was performed using the Extremal Dependency Index which is a skill score specifically designed for rare events. It revealed that the three indices were more skilful on a global scale than the random forecast to detect large fires. The performance peaks in the boreal forests, in the Mediterranean, the Amazon rain-forests and southeast Asia. The skill-scores were then aggregated at country level to reveal which nations could potentiallty benefit from the system information in aid of decision making and fire control support. Overall we found that fire danger modelling based on weather forecasts, can provide reasonable predictability over large parts of the global landmass.

Identification and application of the valid wavelength bands for burnt area detection and fire severity classification using Landsat/TM data

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Maki, M.; Tamura, M.

2003-01-01

Firstly, by using Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) imagery before and after forest fire, the valid wavelength bands for detecting burnt areas were examined and compared to NDVI. Secondly, by using the valid wavelength bands, mapping of burnt area and classification of fire severity were examined. The results show that (a) channel 4 and 7 were more sensitive than other channels for detecting burnt area, (b) BAI (Burnt Area Index) [(ch. 4-ch. 7)/(ch. 4+ch. 7)] was more useful than NDVI for detecting burnt areas, and (c) BAI imagery was more useful for classification of burn severity than NDVI imagery

Wildland fire in ecosystems: fire and nonnative invasive plants

Science.gov (United States)

Kristin Zouhar; Jane Kapler Smith; Steve Sutherland; Matthew L. Brooks

2008-01-01

This state-of-knowledge review of information on relationships between wildland fire and nonnative invasive plants can assist fire managers and other land managers concerned with prevention, detection, and eradication or control of nonnative invasive plants. The 16 chapters in this volume synthesize ecological and botanical principles regarding relationships between...

Fire Effects Information System: New engine, remodeled interior, added options

Science.gov (United States)

Jane Kapler Smith

2010-01-01

Some of today's firefighters weren't even born when the Fire Effects Information System (FEIS) (Web site ) "hit the streets" in 1986. Managers might remember using a dial-up connection in the early 1990s to access information on biology, ecology, and fire offered by FEIS.

RCC-F: Design and construction rules for PWR fire protection systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2013-01-01

The RCC-F code defines the rules for designing, building and installing the fire protection systems used to manage the nuclear hazards inherent in the outbreak of a fire inside the facility and thereby control the fundamental nuclear functions. The code provides fire protection recommendations in terms of: the industrial risk (loss of assets and/or operation), personnel safety, the environment. The code is divided into five main sections: generalities, design safety principles, fire protection design bases, construction provisions, rules for installing the fire protection components and equipment. The RCC-F code is available as an ETC-F version specifically for EPR projects (European pressurized reactor). Contents of the 2013 edition of the ETC-F code: Volume A - Generalities: Structure of ETC-F general points, documentation (in progress), chapter (provision) quality assurance; Volume B - Design safety principles: design nuclear safety principles; Volume C - Fire protection design bases: fire protection design bases; Volume D - Construction provisions: construction provisions; Volume E - Installation rules for fire protection: rules for installing the fire protection, components and equipment

Fire protection in Angra-2 nuclear power plant. The use of fire protection collars on plastic piping systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Oliveira Segabinaze, R. de

1994-01-01

The object of this paper is to briefly the use of fire protection collars on plastic piping systems passing through wall and floor penetration. The fire protection collars consist of a stainless steel housing, in which the leading edges of two pivoting plates are in constant pressure contact with the pipe. In case of fire these plates react on the softened pipe with a guillotine action, thereby stopping the flow; within the housing a foam material expands to fill the space when subject to the heat of the fire. The piping project has to be modified to permit the fixing of the collars to walls and floor penetrations. (author). 2 refs, 9 figs

Fast and safe gas detection from underground coal fire by drone fly over

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dunnington, Lucila; Nakagawa, Masami

2017-01-01

Underground coal fires start naturally or as a result of human activities. Besides burning away the important non-renewable energy resource and causing financial losses, burning coal seams emit carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, sulfur oxide and methane, and is a leading cause of smog, acid rain, global warming, and air toxins. In the U.S. alone, the combined cost of coal-fire remediation projects that have been completed, budgeted, or projected by the U.S. Department of the Interior's Office of Surface Mining Remediation and Enforcement (OSM), exceeds $1 billion. It is estimated that these fires generate as much as 3% of the world's annual carbon dioxide emissions and consume as much as 5% of its minable coal. Considering the magnitude of environmental impact and economic loss caused by burning underground coal seams, we have developed a new, safe, reliable surface measurement of coal fire gases to assess the nature of underground coal fires. We use a drone mounted with gas sensors. Drone collected gas concentration data provides a safe alternative for evaluating the rank of a burning coal seam. In this study, a new method of determining coal rank by gas ratios is developed. Coal rank is valuable for defining parameters of a coal seam such as burn temperature, burn rate, and volume of burning seam. - Graphical abstract: Concluding Figure for Gas Ratios: Plotted points and ranges of adjusted literature data. Stars represent bituminous and subbituminous coal types; Ovals represent lignite. - Highlights: • Recognize underground coal fire as a potential source of energy. • Developed a creative, safe, reliable and fast gas detection method. • Developed a concept of gas ratio measurement method that can provide more accurate description of underground burning coal resource.

High-Performance Fire Detector for Spacecraft, Phase I

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The danger from fire aboard spacecraft is immediate with only moments for detection and suppression. Spacecraft are unique high-value systems where the cost of...

Integrated services to support detection, prevention and planning of the agricultural-forest-rural land against fires

Science.gov (United States)

Scipioni, A.; Tagliaferri, F.

2009-04-01

Objective of the document is to define lines of development and distribution of the services to support detection, prevention and planning of the agricultural-forest-rural land against fire. The services will be a valid support on hand of the Regional and National Administrations involved in the agricultural-forest-rural activities (Ministry of Agricultural and Forestry Policies, National Forest Police, ecc..), through the employment of the SIAN "National Agricultural Informative System", that is the integrated national information system for the entire agriculture, forestry and fisheries Administration. The services proposals would be distributed through the GIS (Geographic Information Systems) of the SIAN: the GIS database is a single nation-wide digital graphic database consisting of: - Ortophotos: Aerial images of approz. 45 km2 each with ground resolution of 50 cm; - Cadastral maps: Land maps; - Thematic layers: Land use and crops identification The GIS services can take full advantage of the benefits of SIAN architectural model designed for best integration and interoperability with other Central and Local P.A. bodies whose main items are: - Integration of information from different sources; - Maintainance of the internal coeherence of any integrated information; - Flexibility with respect to technical or organizational changes The "innovative "services described below could be useful to support the development of institutional tasks of public Agencies and Administrations (es. Regions or Civil Protection agencies) according to than previewed from the D.Lgs. 173/98. Services of support to the management of the phenomenon of wildland fires The activities outlined in below figure, don't have a linear and defined temporal sequence, but a dynamic and time integration. It guarantees not only the integrated use of the various information, but also the value of every product, for level of accuracy, coherence and timeliness of the information. Description of four main

Development of a low cost unmanned aircraft system for atmospheric carbon dioxide leak detection

Science.gov (United States)

Mitchell, Taylor Austin

Carbon sequestration, the storage of carbon dioxide gas underground, has the potential to reduce global warming by removing a greenhouse gas from the atmosphere. These storage sites, however, must first be monitored to detect if carbon dioxide is leaking back out to the atmosphere. As an alternative to traditional large ground-based sensor networks to monitor CO2 levels for leaks, unmanned aircraft offer the potential to perform in-situ atmospheric leak detection over large areas for a fraction of the cost. This project developed a proof-of-concept sensor system to map relative carbon dioxide levels to detect potential leaks. The sensor system included a Sensair K-30 FR CO2 sensor, GPS, and altimeter connected an Arduino microcontroller which logged data to an onboard SD card. Ground tests were performed to verify and calibrate the system including wind tunnel tests to determine the optimal configuration of the system for the quickest response time (4-8 seconds based upon flowrate). Tests were then conducted over a controlled release of CO 2 in addition to over controlled rangeland fires which released carbon dioxide over a large area as would be expected from a carbon sequestration source. 3D maps of carbon dioxide were developed from the system telemetry that clearly illustrated increased CO2 levels from the fires. These tests demonstrated the system's ability to detect increased carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere.

Modelling fire frequency and area burned across phytoclimatic regions in Spain using reanalysis data and the Canadian Fire Weather Index System

Science.gov (United States)

Bedia, J.; Herrera, S.; Gutiérrez, J. M.

2013-09-01

We develop fire occurrence and burned area models in peninsular Spain, an area of high variability in climate and fuel types, for the period 1990-2008. We based the analysis on a phytoclimatic classification aiming to the stratification of the territory into homogeneous units in terms of climatic and fuel type characteristics, allowing to test model performance under different climatic and fuel conditions. We used generalized linear models (GLM) and multivariate adaptive regression splines (MARS) as modelling algorithms and temperature, relative humidity, precipitation and wind speed, taken from the ERA-Interim reanalysis, as well as the components of the Canadian Forest Fire Weather Index (FWI) System as predictors. We also computed the standardized precipitation-evapotranspiration index (SPEI) as an additional predictor for the models of burned area. We found two contrasting fire regimes in terms of area burned and number of fires: one characterized by a bimodal annual pattern, characterizing the Nemoral and Oro-boreal phytoclimatic types, and another one exhibiting an unimodal annual cycle, with the fire season concentrated in the summer months in the Mediterranean and Arid regions. The fire occurrence models attained good skill in most of the phytoclimatic zones considered, yielding in some zones notably high correlation coefficients between the observed and modelled inter-annual fire frequencies. Total area burned also exhibited a high dependence on the meteorological drivers, although their ability to reproduce the observed annual burned area time series was poor in most cases. We identified temperature and some FWI system components as the most important explanatory variables, and also SPEI in some of the burned area models, highlighting the adequacy of the FWI system for fire modelling applications and leaving the door opened to the development a more complex modelling framework based on these predictors. Furthermore, we demonstrate the potential usefulness

Modeling post-fire hydro-geomorphic recovery in the Waldo Canyon Fire

Science.gov (United States)

Kinoshita, Alicia; Nourbakhshbeidokhti, Samira; Chin, Anne

2016-04-01

Wildfire can have significant impacts on watershed hydrology and geomorphology by changing soil properties and removing vegetation, often increasing runoff and soil erosion and deposition, debris flows, and flooding. Watershed systems may take several years or longer to recover. During this time, post-fire channel changes have the potential to alter hydraulics that influence characteristics such as time of concentration and increase time to peak flow, flow capacity, and velocity. Using the case of the 2012 Waldo Canyon Fire in Colorado (USA), this research will leverage field-based surveys and terrestrial Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data to parameterize KINEROS2 (KINematic runoff and EROSion), an event oriented, physically-based watershed runoff and erosion model. We will use the Automated Geospatial Watershed Assessment (AGWA) tool, which is a GIS-based hydrologic modeling tool that uses commonly available GIS data layers to parameterize, execute, and spatially visualize runoff and sediment yield for watersheds impacted by the Waldo Canyon Fire. Specifically, two models are developed, an unburned (Bear Creek) and burned (Williams) watershed. The models will simulate burn severity and treatment conditions. Field data will be used to validate the burned watersheds for pre- and post-fire changes in infiltration, runoff, peak flow, sediment yield, and sediment discharge. Spatial modeling will provide insight into post-fire patterns for varying treatment, burn severity, and climate scenarios. Results will also provide post-fire managers with improved hydro-geomorphic modeling and prediction tools for water resources management and mitigation efforts.

Evaluation of a Spoken Dialogue System for Virtual Reality Call for Fire Training

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Robinson, Susan M; Roque, Antonio; Vaswani, Ashish; Traum, David; Hernandez, Charles; Millspaugh, Bill

2007-01-01

.... We briefly describe aspects of the Joint Fires and Effects Trainer System, and the Radiobot-CFF dialogue system, which can engage in voice communications with a trainee in call for fire dialogues...

The Safety Analysis of Shipborne Ammunition in Fire Environment

Science.gov (United States)

Ren, Junpeng; Wang, Xudong; Yue, Pengfei

2017-12-01

The safety of Ammunition has always been the focus of national military science and technology issues. And fire is one of the major safety threats to the ship’s ammunition storage environment, In this paper, Mk-82 shipborne aviation bomb has been taken as the study object, simulated the whole process of fire by using the FDS (Fire Detection System) software. According to the simulation results of FDS, ANSYS software was used to simulate the temperature field of Mk-82 carrier-based aviation bomb under fire environment, and the safety of aviation bomb in fire environment was analyzed. The result shows that the aviation bombs under the fire environment can occur the combustion or explosion after 70s constant cook-off, and it was a huge threat to the ship security.

The improvement of the fire protections system for nuclear cycle facilities. Formulation of a fire protection guideline for nuclear fuel cycle facilities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

2012-04-01

The private side Fire Protection Guideline was investigated with respect to the fire having taken place at the nuclear reactor site followed by the Chuetsu-Oki earthquake in Niigata Prefecture in 2007. To improve the fire protection system especially applicable to MOX fuel fabrication facilities, JNES (Japan Nuclear Energy Safety Organization) investigated private guidelines adopted in Japanese Light Water cooled Reactors, the standardized guidelines used in Nuclear Facilities in other countries including USA, and the standards in the chemical plants. The content of the guideline concerns the prevention of the fire breakout, the prevention of fire extension, the reduction of the fire effects, as well as the facility-characteristic protection countermeasures and the fire effect evaluations. (S. Ohno)

A multimodal 3D framework for fire characteristics estimation

Science.gov (United States)

Toulouse, T.; Rossi, L.; Akhloufi, M. A.; Pieri, A.; Maldague, X.

2018-02-01

In the last decade we have witnessed an increasing interest in using computer vision and image processing in forest fire research. Image processing techniques have been successfully used in different fire analysis areas such as early detection, monitoring, modeling and fire front characteristics estimation. While the majority of the work deals with the use of 2D visible spectrum images, recent work has introduced the use of 3D vision in this field. This work proposes a new multimodal vision framework permitting the extraction of the three-dimensional geometrical characteristics of fires captured by multiple 3D vision systems. The 3D system is a multispectral stereo system operating in both the visible and near-infrared (NIR) spectral bands. The framework supports the use of multiple stereo pairs positioned so as to capture complementary views of the fire front during its propagation. Multimodal registration is conducted using the captured views in order to build a complete 3D model of the fire front. The registration process is achieved using multisensory fusion based on visual data (2D and NIR images), GPS positions and IMU inertial data. Experiments were conducted outdoors in order to show the performance of the proposed framework. The obtained results are promising and show the potential of using the proposed framework in operational scenarios for wildland fire research and as a decision management system in fighting.

Development of an advanced fire detector for underground coalmines - final report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hemingway, M.; Walsh, P.

2005-07-01

A joint HSE/UK Coal research project was instigated to develop an improved fire detector. This paper describes tests performed in an experimental mine roadway on various types of sensor. The sensors were exposed to smouldering conveyor belt, coal, wood, oil and grease, and diesel exhaust fume. It is not recommended that products of combustion (POC) semiconductor sensors, ionisation smoke detectors, single wavelength optical smoke sensors, thermal imaging camera systems and video smoke detection systems should be used in an advanced fire detection system for coalmines. It is recommended that an advanced mine fire detector system should be based on a combination of a high sensitivity optical smoke detector fitted with a cyclone to remove coal dust; and nitric oxide or nitrogen dioxide electrochemical sensors to distinguish smoke from diesel exhaust. If such a system proves to be too expensive then an alternative could be based upon a combination of blue/infrared optical smoke detector, which distinguish fires and diesel exhaust from coal dust, and a nitric oxide or nitrogen dioxide electrochemical sensor. Further work is required underground to assess a high sensitivity optical smoke detector at typical coal dust levels in likely installation areas. 14 refs., 24 figs., 3 tabs., 3 apps.

75 FR 52713 - Nationwide Aerial Application of Fire Retardant on National Forest System Lands

Science.gov (United States)

2010-08-27

... DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE Forest Service Nationwide Aerial Application of Fire Retardant on... statement for the continued nationwide aerial application of fire retardant on National Forest System lands... Forest Service is working to restore fire-adapted ecosystems through prescribed fire, other fuel...

Fire safety engineering

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Smith, D.N.

1989-01-01

The periodic occurrence of large-scale, potentially disastrous industrial accidents involving fire in hazardous environments such as oilwell blowouts, petrochemical explosions and nuclear installations highlights the need for an integrated approach to fire safety engineering. Risk reduction 'by design' and rapid response are of equal importance in the saving of life and property in such situations. This volume of papers covers the subject thoroughly, touching on such topics as hazard analysis, safety design and testing, fire detection and control, and includes studies of fire hazard in the context of environment protection. (author)

Understanding coupled natural and human systems on fire prone landscapes: integrating wildfire simulation into an agent based planning system.

Science.gov (United States)

Barros, Ana; Ager, Alan; Preisler, Haiganoush; Day, Michelle; Spies, Tom; Bolte, John

2015-04-01

Agent-based models (ABM) allow users to examine the long-term effects of agent decisions in complex systems where multiple agents and processes interact. This framework has potential application to study the dynamics of coupled natural and human systems where multiple stimuli determine trajectories over both space and time. We used Envision, a landscape based ABM, to analyze long-term wildfire dynamics in a heterogeneous, multi-owner landscape in Oregon, USA. Landscape dynamics are affected by land management policies, actors decisions, and autonomous processes such as vegetation succession, wildfire, or at a broader scale, climate change. Key questions include: 1) How are landscape dynamics influenced by policies and institutions, and 2) How do land management policies and actor decisions interact to produce intended and unintended consequences with respect to wildfire on fire-prone landscapes. Applying Envision to address these questions required the development of a wildfire module that could accurately simulate wildfires on the heterogeneous landscapes within the study area in terms of replicating historical fire size distribution, spatial distribution and fire intensity. In this paper we describe the development and testing of a mechanistic fire simulation system within Envision and application of the model on a 3.2 million fire prone landscape in central Oregon USA. The core fire spread equations use the Minimum Travel Time algorithm developed by M Finney. The model operates on a daily time step and uses a fire prediction system based on the relationship between energy release component and historical fires. Specifically, daily wildfire probabilities and sizes are generated from statistical analyses of historical fires in relation to daily ERC values. The MTT was coupled with the vegetation dynamics module in Envision to allow communication between the respective subsystem and effectively model fire effects and vegetation dynamics after a wildfire. Canopy and

Progress in the development of a S-RETGEM-based detector for an early forest fire warning system

Science.gov (United States)

Charpak, G.; Benaben, P.; Breuil, P.; Martinengo, P.; Nappi, E.; Peskov, V.

2009-12-01

We present a prototype of a Strip Resistive Thick GEM (S-RETGEM) photosensitive gaseous detector filled with Ne and ethylferrocene (EF) vapours at a total pressure of 1 atm for an early forest fire detection system. Measurements show that it is one hundred times more sensitive than the best commercial ultraviolet (UV) flame detectors; and therefore, it is able to reliably detect a flame of ~ 1.5 × 1.5 × 1.5 m3 at a distance of about 1 km. An additional and unique feature of this detector is its imaging capability, which in combination with other techniques, may significantly reduce false fire alarms rate when operating in an automatic mode. Preliminary results conducted with air-filled photosensitive gaseous detectors are also presented. The main advantages of this approach include both the simplicity of manufacturing and affordability of construction materials such as plastics and glues specifically reducing detector production cost. The sensitivity of these air-filled detectors at certain conditions may be as high as those filled with Ne and EF. Long-term tests of such sealed detectors indicate a significant progress in this direction. We believe that our detectors utilized in addition to other flame and smoke sensors will exceptionally increase the capability to detect forest fire at a very early stage of development. Our future efforts will be focused on attempts to commercialize such detectors utilizing our aforementioned findings.

Applying Open Source Game Engine for Building Visual Simulation Training System of Fire Fighting

Science.gov (United States)

Yuan, Diping; Jin, Xuesheng; Zhang, Jin; Han, Dong

There's a growing need for fire departments to adopt a safe and fair method of training to ensure that the firefighting commander is in a position to manage a fire incident. Visual simulation training systems, with their ability to replicate and interact with virtual fire scenarios through the use of computer graphics or VR, become an effective and efficient method for fire ground education. This paper describes the system architecture and functions of a visual simulated training system of fire fighting on oil storage, which adopting Delat3D, a open source game and simulation engine, to provide realistic 3D views. It presents that using open source technology provides not only the commercial-level 3D effects but also a great reduction of cost.

Experiments with the Skylab fire detectors in zero gravity

Science.gov (United States)

Linford, R. M. F.

1972-01-01

The Skylab fire detector was evaluated in a zero gravity environment. To conduct the test, small samples of spacecraft materials were ignited in a 5 psi oxygen-rich atmosphere inside a combustion chamber. The chamber free-floated in the cabin of a C-135 aircraft, as the aircraft executed a Keplerian parabola. Up to 10 seconds of zero-gravity combustion were achieved. The Skylab fire-detector tubes viewed the flames from a simulated distance of 3m, and color movies were taken to record the nature of the fire. The experiments established the unique form of zero-gravity fires for a wide range of materials. From the tube-output data, the alarm threshold and detector time constant were verified for the Skylab Fire Detection System.

New tendencies in wildland fire simulation for understanding fire phenomena: An overview of the WFDS system capabilities in Mediterranean ecosystems

Science.gov (United States)

Pastor, E.; Tarragó, D.; Planas, E.

2012-04-01

Wildfire theoretical modeling endeavors predicting fire behavior characteristics, such as the rate of spread, the flames geometry and the energy released by the fire front by applying the physics and the chemistry laws that govern fire phenomena. Its ultimate aim is to help fire managers to improve fire prevention and suppression and hence reducing damage to population and protecting ecosystems. WFDS is a 3D computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model of a fire-driven flow. It is particularly appropriate for predicting the fire behaviour burning through the wildland-urban interface, since it is able to predict the fire behaviour in the intermix of vegetative and structural fuels that comprise the wildland urban interface. This model is not suitable for operational fire management yet due to computational costs constrains, but given the fact that it is open-source and that it has a detailed description of the fuels and of the combustion and heat transfer mechanisms it is currently a suitable system for research purposes. In this paper we present the most important characteristics of the WFDS simulation tool in terms of the models implemented, the input information required and the outputs that the simulator gives useful for understanding fire phenomena. We briefly discuss its advantages and opportunities through some simulation exercises of Mediterranean ecosystems.

Prototype firing range air cleaning system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Glissmeyer, J.A.; Mishima, J.; Bamberger, J.A.

1984-07-01

PNL's study proceeded by examining the characteristics of the aerosol challenge to the filtration system and the operating experience at similar firing ranges. Candidate filtration systems were proposed; including baghouses, cartridge houses, electrostatic precipitators, cleanable high efficiency filters, rolling filters and cyclones--each followed by one or more of the existing filter banks. Methodology was developed to estimate the operating costs of the candidate systems. Costs addressed included the frequency (based on fractional efficiency and loading data) and cost of media replacement, capital investment, maintenance, waste disposal and electrical power consumption. The recommended system will be installed during calendar year 1984

Fire monitoring from space: from research to operation

Science.gov (United States)

Pergola, Nicola; Filizzola, Carolina; Corrado, Rosita; Coviello, Irina; lacava, Teodosio; Marchese, Francesco; Mazzeo, Giuseppe; Paciello, Rossana; Tramutoli, Valerio

2013-04-01

Each summer fires rage through European forests, burning hundreds of thousands of hectares per year, as a result of the many (up to 60000) forest fires that usually occur annually in Europe. Fires can threaten public health and safety, destroy property and cause economic damages. Despite of their medium extension (the average burnt area is less than 6 ha), much smaller if compared with other regions like the USA and Canada, the number of simultaneous active fires in Europe can be very high, fomented by weather conditions that, especially in summer times and for countries of South Europe, are particularly favourable to a rapid and dramatic development of flames. Fires still are not only a social problem, but also an environmental emergency, producing a continuous impoverishment of forests and possibly indirectly triggering other natural hazards (e.g. making slopes, without the trees action, more prone to landslides). Additionally, there is a general concern about the loss of biodiversity and the contribution to land degradation that fires may cause. Earth Observation satellite systems have been largely tested for fire detection and monitoring from space. Their spectral capability, synoptic view and revisit times can offer an added value in the operational use not only in real time, during fires fighting activities, but also in near-real or delay time during the phases of risk management and mitigation. However, the practice of an actual operational use of satellite products by end-users is still not usual at European level. This work is based on the experience carried out jointly by CNR-IMAA and the National Civil Protection Department (DPC), in the framework of a five-year agreement in which the operational use of an Earth observation satellite system for fires spotting and monitoring is tested. Satellite-based products, developed not only for detecting fires but also for continuously monitoring their evolution in time domain, have been provided to Civil Protection

Forest-fire models

Science.gov (United States)

Haiganoush Preisler; Alan Ager

2013-01-01

For applied mathematicians forest fire models refer mainly to a non-linear dynamic system often used to simulate spread of fire. For forest managers forest fire models may pertain to any of the three phases of fire management: prefire planning (fire risk models), fire suppression (fire behavior models), and postfire evaluation (fire effects and economic models). In...

Fire risk analysis for nuclear power plants: Methodological developments and applications

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kazarians, M.; Apostolakis, G.; Siv, N.O.

1985-01-01

A methodology to quantify the risk from fires in nuclear power plants is described. This methodology combines engineering judgment, statistical evidence, fire phenomenology, and plant system analysis. It can be divided into two major parts: (1) fire scenario identification and quantification, and (2) analysis of the impact on plant safety. This article primarily concentrates on the first part. Statistical analysis of fire occurrence data is used to establish the likelihood of ignition. The temporal behaviors of the two competing phenomena, fire propagation and fire detection and suppression, are studied and their characteristic times are compared. Severity measures are used to further specialize the frequency of the fire scenario. The methodology is applied to a switchgear room of a nuclear power plant

Fire Source Accessibility of Water Mist Fire Suppression Improvement through Flow Method Control

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jung, Jun Ho; Kim, Hyeong Taek; Kim, Yun Jung; Park, Mun Hee [KHNP CRI, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2013-10-15

Recently, nuclear power plants set CO{sub 2} fire suppression system. However it is hard to establish and to maintain and it also has difficulties performing function test. Therefore, it needs to develop a new fire suppression system to replace the existing CO{sub 2} fire suppression systems in nuclear power plant. In fact, already, there exist alternatives - gas fire suppression system or clean fire extinguishing agent, but it is hard to apply because it requires a highly complicated plan. However, water mist fire suppression system which has both water system and gas system uses small amount of water and droplet, so it is excellent at oxygen displacement and more suitable for nuclear power plant because it can avoid second damage caused by fire fighting water. This paper explains about enclosure effect of water mist fire suppression. And it suggests a study direction about water mist fire source approach improvement and enclosure effect improvement, using flow method control of ventilation system. Water mist fire suppression can be influenced by various variable. And flow and direction of ventilation system are important variable. Expectations of the plan for more fire source ventilation system is as in the following. It enhances enclosure effects of water mists, so it improves extinguish performance. Also the same effect as a inert gas injection causes can be achieved. Lastly, it is considered that combustible accessibility of water mists will increase because of descending air currents.

Experimental study of fire barriers preventing vertical fire spread in ETISs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xin Huang

2013-11-01

Full Text Available In recent years, the external thermal insulation system (ETIS has been applied increasingly in a large amount of buildings for energy conservation purpose. However, the increase use of combustible insulation materials in the ETIS has raised serious fire safety problems. Fires involving this type of ETIS have caused severe damage and loss. In order to improve its fire safety, fire barriers were suggested to be installed. This paper introduces fire experiments that have been done to study the effects of fire barriers on preventing vertical fire spread along the ETIS. The experiments were performed according to BS 8414-1:2002 “Fire performance of external cladding systems – Part 1: Test method for non-loadbearing external cladding systems applied to the face of the building”. The test facility consists of a 9 m high wall. The fire sources were wood cribs with a fire size of 3 ± 0.5 MW. The insulation materials were expanded polystyrene foam (EPS. The fire barrier was a horizontal strip of rockwool with a width of 300 mm. Thermocouples were used to measure temperatures outside and inside the ETIS. A series of experiments with different fire scenarios were done: no fire barrier, two fire barriers and three fire barriers at different heights. Test results were compared. The results show that the ETIS using EPS without fire barriers almost burned out, while the ETIS with fire barriers performed well in preventing fire spread. The temperatures above the fire barrier were much lower than those below the fire barrier, and most of the insulation materials above the top fire barrier stayed in place.

46 CFR 167.45-1 - Steam, carbon dioxide, and halon fire extinguishing systems.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-10-01

... 46 Shipping 7 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Steam, carbon dioxide, and halon fire extinguishing....45-1 Steam, carbon dioxide, and halon fire extinguishing systems. (a) General requirements. (1...-extinguishing system. On such vessels contracted for prior to January 1, 1962, a steam smothering system may be...

A Review of Fire Interactions and Mass Fires

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mark A. Finney

2011-01-01

Full Text Available The character of a wildland fire can change dramatically in the presence of another nearby fire. Understanding and predicting the changes in behavior due to fire-fire interactions cannot only be life-saving to those on the ground, but also be used to better control a prescribed fire to meet objectives. In discontinuous fuel types, such interactions may elicit fire spread where none otherwise existed. Fire-fire interactions occur naturally when spot fires start ahead of the main fire and when separate fire events converge in one location. Interactions can be created intentionally during prescribed fires by using spatial ignition patterns. Mass fires are among the most extreme examples of interactive behavior. This paper presents a review of the detailed effects of fire-fire interaction in terms of merging or coalescence criteria, burning rates, flame dimensions, flame temperature, indraft velocity, pulsation, and convection column dynamics. Though relevant in many situations, these changes in fire behavior have yet to be included in any operational-fire models or decision support systems.

Mathematical Modelling of Drying Kinetics of Wheat in Electron Fired Fluidized Bed Drying System

Science.gov (United States)

Deomore, Dayanand N.; Yarasu, Ravindra B.

2018-02-01

The conventional method of electrical heating is replaced by electron firing system. The drying kinetics of wheat is studied using electron fired fluidized bed dryer. The results are simulated by using ANSYS. It was observed that the graphs are in agreement with each other. Therefore, the new proposed electronic firing system can be employed instead of electrical firing. It was observed that the drop in Relative Humidity in case of Electrical heating is 68.75% for temp reaching up to 70° C in 67 sec for pressure drop of 13 psi while for the electronic Firing system it is 67.6 % temp reaches to 70° C in 70 sec for pressure drop of 12.67 psi. As the results are in agreement with each other it was concluded that for the grains like wheat which has low initial moisture content both systems can be used.

Decision Support System for Blockage Management in Fire Service

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Krasuski Adam

2014-08-01

Full Text Available In this article we present the foundations of a decision support system for blockage management in Fire Service. Blockage refers to the situation when all fire units are out and a new incident occurs. The approach is based on two phases: off-line data preparation and online blockage estimation. The off-line phase consists of methods from data mining and natural language processing and results in semantically coherent information granules. The online phase is about building the probabilistic models that estimate the block-age probability based on these granules. Finally, the selected classifier judges whether a blockage can occur and whether the resources from neighbour fire stations should be asked for assistance.

Evaluation of Fire Hazard and Safety Management of Heritage Buildings in Georgetown, Penang

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Othuman Mydin M.A.

2014-03-01

Full Text Available Fire is a subject that is always neglected and ignored as far as heritage buildings are concerned. Unlike newly-built buildings, which are required under UBBL to undergo certain fire protection system tests, people are less likely to carry out such tests and detailed assessments for heritage buildings. Thus, this research is significant as it is aimed at accomplishing several objectives including studying the current fire emergency plan, besides identifying and assessing the possible fire hazards in heritage buildings in Penang. Several case studies were carried out at a few premises such as the Khoo Kongsi, Cheah Kongsi, Hock Teik Chen Shin Temple and the Teochew Temple with the aid of the Fire Rescue Department Malaysia (FRDM. The results obtained from this study will be discussed according to several aspects focusing on general health and safety management at the site, the fire-fighting system, fire exit routes and signage at the temples, fire hazards, and fire detection and alarm.

Pressure surge free fire water systems increase safety on offshore oil- and gas drilling platforms

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Carlsen, Randi

2001-01-01

The article describes a new fire water system for use on the oil- and gas drilling platforms that is characterized by improved start-up time and reduced energy consumption. Deluge valves are commonly used in fast large-flow fire water systems all over the world. During the test of a new fire water system on a platform a few years ago, a pipe near the living quarter suddenly ruptured due to an unexpected pressure surge thought to be impossible. It was caused by a weakness of the deluge valve. A better valve was needed and the 'UniqValve' was designed and manufactured. The UniqValve operates in cooperation with the fire pumps during start-up as it 'reads' the pressure variations of the water flow and corrects the water flow to the fire areas in less than a tenth of a second. The valve is now integrated in a modular system. The fire water unit is mounted in a container, which reduces cost and simplifies the placement of the fire water installation

Towards the development of full-fledged forest fire information systems

Science.gov (United States)

Baetens, J.; De Baets, B.

2012-12-01

Throughout the last decades much efforts have been spent in obtaining an increased understanding of wildfire dynamics and the way it is influenced by prevailing environmental conditions and settings, such as temperature, humidity, topography, vegetation abundance, and so on, since such a profound apprehension is a prerequisite for achieving enhanced wildfire prevention measures, as well as for optimizing fire fighting and disaster management. Amongst other things, this pursuit has culminated in the deployment of wildfire information systems, such as the Canadian Wildfire Information System (CWFIS), the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS) and the United States Active Fire Mapping Program and Landscape Fire and Resource Management Planning Tools (LANDFIRE), which inform any interested stakeholder, be it a citizen or a government official, about the current fire risk, the extent and location of current fires, the inflammability of the vegetation, and so on. Taking into account the coverage of these systems, it should be clear that they strongly rely upon satellite imagery that is obtained from dedicated sensors, such as the Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board of NASA's Terra and Aqua satellites and the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) that is carried by NOAA satellites, or more general-purpose instruments on board of spacecrafts such as Landsat or SPOT. Yet, to this day the aforementioned information systems have not yet embraced the power of mathematical modeling in order to enable trustworthy forecasts of the spatio-temporal propagation of wildfires given their current extent, which would nonetheless be extremely useful for optimizing fire fighting and disaster management, taking appropriate preventive measures, and so on. The deployment of such full-fledged wildfire information systems requires a high-level integration of (real-time) satellite imagery, weather reports and forecasts, geographic information, and

FireSignal - Data Acquisition and Control System Software

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Neto, A.; Fernandes, H.; Duarte, A.; Carvalho, B.; Sousa, J.; Valcarcel, D.; Varandas, C.; Hron, M.

2006-01-01

Control of fusion devices requires good, non-ambiguous, easy to use user-interfaces to configure hardware devices. To solve this problem a highly generic system for data control and acquisition has been developed. Among the main features it allows remote hardware configuration, shot launching, data sharing between connected users and experiment monitoring. The system is fully distributed: the hardware driver nodes, clients and server are completely independent from each other and might be running in different operating systems and programmed in different languages. All the communication is provided through the Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA) protocol. FireSignal was designed from the beginning to be as independent as possible from any kind of constraints as it's a plugin based system. Database, data viewers and the security system are some examples of what can easily be changed and adapted to the target machine's needs. All hardware is described in eXtendend Markup Language (XML) and from this information the FireSignal client application can build automatically Graphical User Interfaces (GUI) and validate the user's parameter configuration. Any type of hardware can be integrated in the system as long as it is described in XML and the respective driver is developed. Any modern programming language can be used to develop these drivers, and currently we use Python and Java generic drivers. All data storage and indexing is time stamped event-based s. Nodes are responsible for tagging the acquired samples with the absolute time stamps and to react to machine events. FireSignal is currently being used to control the ISTTOK/PT and CASTOR/CZ tokamaks. (author)

Improvement of Forest Fire Detection Algorithm Using Brightness Temperature Lapse Rate Correction in HIMAWARI-8 IR Channels: Application to the 6 may 2017 Samcheok City, Korea

Science.gov (United States)

Park, S. H.; Park, W.; Jung, H. S.

2018-04-01

Forest fires are a major natural disaster that destroys a forest area and a natural environment. In order to minimize the damage caused by the forest fire, it is necessary to know the location and the time of day and continuous monitoring is required until fire is fully put out. We have tried to improve the forest fire detection algorithm by using a method to reduce the variability of surrounding pixels. We focused that forest areas of East Asia, part of the Himawari-8 AHI coverage, are mostly located in mountainous areas. The proposed method was applied to the forest fire detection in Samcheok city, Korea on May 6 to 10, 2017.

IMPROVEMENT OF FOREST FIRE DETECTION ALGORITHM USING BRIGHTNESS TEMPERATURE LAPSE RATE CORRECTION IN HIMAWARI-8 IR CHANNELS: APPLICATION TO THE 6 MAY 2017 SAMCHEOK CITY, KOREA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. H. Park

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Forest fires are a major natural disaster that destroys a forest area and a natural environment. In order to minimize the damage caused by the forest fire, it is necessary to know the location and the time of day and continuous monitoring is required until fire is fully put out. We have tried to improve the forest fire detection algorithm by using a method to reduce the variability of surrounding pixels. We focused that forest areas of East Asia, part of the Himawari-8 AHI coverage, are mostly located in mountainous areas. The proposed method was applied to the forest fire detection in Samcheok city, Korea on May 6 to 10, 2017.

New supply for canyon fire foam system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gainey, T.

1995-01-01

The raw water supply for the B-Plant Canyon fire foam system is being replaced. The 4 inche water supply line to the foam system is being rerouted from the 6 inches raw water line in the Pipe Gallery to the 10 inches raw water main in the Operating Gallery. This document states the acceptance criteria for the flushing and testing to be performed by the contractor

Study on the Performance of a Proposed Fire Safe Elevator System used for Evacuation in Supertall Buildings

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cai Na

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Long evacuation time is a key fire safety concern when a supertall building is on fire. The elevator system can be an effective alternative. The performance of a design of fire safe elevator system combining the refuge place with fire safe elevator is studied. An example building based on this proposed design is considered. Smoke spread to the system is studied by the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD code Fire Dynamics Simulator (FDS. Different arrangements of smoke extraction with pressurization systems are evaluated by analysing the smoke dispersion and pressure distributions in this fire safe elevator system. Numerical results were compared with that by theoretical equations. The results show that a smoke extraction system with a four-floor approach pressurization system can be an efficient method for smoke control in elevator system for supertall buildings.

Optimal Detection of a Localized Perturbation in Random Networks of Integrate-and-Fire Neurons

Science.gov (United States)

Bernardi, Davide; Lindner, Benjamin

2017-06-01

Experimental and theoretical studies suggest that cortical networks are chaotic and coding relies on averages over large populations. However, there is evidence that rats can respond to the short stimulation of a single cortical cell, a theoretically unexplained fact. We study effects of single-cell stimulation on a large recurrent network of integrate-and-fire neurons and propose a simple way to detect the perturbation. Detection rates obtained from simulations and analytical estimates are similar to experimental response rates if the readout is slightly biased towards specific neurons. Near-optimal detection is attained for a broad range of intermediate values of the mean coupling between neurons.

Fire hazard analysis for the K basin fuel transfer system anneses project A-15

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

BARILO, N.F.

2001-01-01

The purpose of the Fuel Transfer System (FTS) is to move the spent nuclear fuel currently stored in the K East (KE) Basin and transfer it by shielded cask to the K West (KW) Basin. The fuel will then be processed through the existing fuel cleaning and loading system prior to being loaded into Multi-Canister Overpacks (MCO). The FTS operation is considered an intra-facility transfer because the spent fuel will stay within the 100 K area and between the K Basins. This preliminary Fire Hazards Analysis (FHA) for the K Basin FTS Annexes addresses fire hazards or fire-related concerns in accordance with U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) 420.1 (DOE 2000), and RLID 420.1 (DOE 1999), resulting from or related to the processes and equipment. It is intended to assess the risk from fire associated within the FTS Annexes to ensure that there are no undue fire hazards to site personnel and the public; the potential for the occurrence of a fire is minimized; process control and safety systems are not damaged by fire or related perils; and property damage from fire and related perils does not exceed an acceptable level. Consistent with the preliminary nature of the design information, this FHA is performed on a graded approach

Fire preparedness measures in buildings with hot laboratories

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Oberlaender, B.C.

2003-01-01

Important hot laboratory safety issues are the general design/construction of the building with respect to fire, fire prevention, fire protection, administrative controls, and risk assessment. Within the network of the European Working Group Hot Laboratories and Remote Handling items concerning 'fire preparedness measures in hot laboratories' were screened and studied. Two questionnaires were sent to European hot laboratories; the first in November 2002 on 'fire preparedness measures, fire detection and fire suppression/extinguishing in lead shielded cells, concrete shielded cells' and the second in June 2003 on 'Fire preparedness measures in buildings with hot laboratories'. The questionnaires were filled in by a total of ten hot laboratories in seven European countries. On request of participants the answers were evaluated and 'anonymised' for presentation and discussion at the plenary meeting. The answers showed that many European hot laboratories are implementing improvements to their fire protection programmes to comply with more stringent requirements of the national authorities. The recommendations ('International guidelines for the fire protection of Nuclear Power Plants') given by the insurance pools are followed up with national variations. An ISO standard (ISO 17873) is in progress giving criteria for the design and the operation of ventilation systems as well as fire hazard management in nuclear installations others than reactors