Wildfire suppression refers to the firefighting tactics used to suppress wildfires. Firefighting efforts in wildland areas requires different techniques, equipment, and training from the more familiar structure fire fighting found in populated areas. Working in conjunction with specially designed firefighting aircraft, these wildfire-trained crews suppress flames, construct firelines, and extinguish flames and areas of heat to protect resources and natural wilderness. Wildfire suppression also addresses the issues of the wildland-urban interface, where populated areas border with wildland areas.
History
Main article: History of wildfire suppressionSee also: Fire-stick farming and Native American use of fireCanada
General facts about forest fires in Canada
Canada has about 4,020,000 km² of forest land. The Boreal forest makes up nearly three quarters of Canada’s forested land. The Boreal forest is located primarily in Canada, Russia, Scandinavia and Alaska and is characterized by the predominance of coniferous trees.
More than 90% of forest land is publicly owned. The provincial and territorial governments are responsible for fire-suppression activities. The Federal Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre (CIFFC) provides operational fire-control services and links to all provincial and territorial fire agencies.
During a typical year there are over 9,000 forest fires in Canada, burning an average of 2.5 million hectares (ha) or 25,000 square kilometres. The number of fires and area burned can vary dramatically from year to year. Average suppression costs are $300 million to $500 million annually.
In Canada, two-thirds of all forest fires are caused by people, while lightning causes the remaining third. Despite this, lightning fires account for over 85% of the area burned in Canada, largely because many of the lightning-caused fires occur in remote, inaccessible areas.
Currently about 90 % of forest fire are fought. Generally fires near communities, industrial infrastructure, and forests with high commercial and recreation value are given high priority for suppression efforts. In remote areas and wilderness parks, fires may be left to burn as part of the natural ecological cycle.
Australia
Wildland fire has played a major role in Australia due to arid conditions similar to those in the western U.S. The preferred term for wildfire in Australia is bushfire. Notable fire services tasked with wildfire suppression include:
- New South Wales Rural Fire Service
- Country Fire Service
- Country Fire Authority
Objectives
Safety
Protection of human life, both firefighters and civilians, is first priority. When arriving on a scene a fire crew will establish a safety zone(s), escape routes, verify communication is in place and designate lookouts (known in the U.S. by the acronym LCES , for lookouts, communications, escape routes, safety zones). This allows the firefighters to engage a fire with options for a retreat should their current situation become unsafe. Although other safety zones should be designated, areas already burned generally provide a safe refuge from fire provided they have cooled sufficiently, are accessible, and have burned enough fuels so as to not reignite. Briefings may be done to inform new fire resources of hazards and other pertinent information.
A great emphasis is placed on safety and preventing entrapment , or a situation where escape from the fire is impossible. Prevention of this situation is reinforced with a list of 10 fire orders and 18 watch out situations for firefighters to be aware of, which warn of potentially dangerous situations. As a last resort, all wild land firefighters carry a fire shelter. In this unescapable situation, the shelter will provide limited protection from radiant and convective heat, as well as superheated air. Entrapment within a fire shelter is called a burnover . In Australia, firefighters rarely carry fireshelters, (commonly referred to as "Shake 'N' Bake" shelters) rather training is given to locate natural shelters or the use of handtools to create protection. Or in the instance of 'burnover' in a Tanker or other fire appliance, 'fire over-run' training is used.
Hazards beyond the fire are posed as well. A very small sample of these include: unstable hazard trees, animals, electrical cables, unexploded ordnance, hazardous materials, rolling and falling debris, and lightening.
Resource protection
Other resources are ranked according to importance and/or value. These include but are not limited to human health and safety, construction cost, ecological impacts, social and legal consequences and the costs of protection. Defendability is also considered, as more effort will be expended on saving a house with a tile roof than one with a wooden-shake roof, for example.
Management
Managing any number of resources over varying-size areas in often very rugged terrain is extremely challenging. An incident commander (IC) is charged with overall command of an incident. In the U.S., the Incident Command System designates this as being the first on scene providing he has sufficient training. The size of the fire, measured in acres or chains, will later dictate the class-level of IC required. Incident management teams aid on larger fire incidents to meet more complex priorities and objectives of the incident commander. It provides support staff to handle duties such as communication, fire behavior modeling, and map- and photo-interpretation. Again in the U.S., management coordination between fires is primarily done by the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC)
Specific agencies and different incident management teams may include a number of different individuals with various responsibilities and varying titles. A fire information officer (IFO) generally provides fire-related information to the public for example. Branch chiefs and division chiefs serve as management on branches and divisions, respectively, as the need for these divisions arise. Investigators may be called to ascertain the fire's cause. Prevention officers such as forest rangers may patrol their jurisdictional areas to teach fire prevention and prevent some human-caused fires from happening to begin with.
Communication
Information may be communicated on fires in many forms. Radios, vocals, visual signals such as flagging and mirrors, literature such as an IAP or incident action plan, whistles and mobile touch-screen computer terminals are some examples. The USFS Visual Signal Code system provides symbols used to communicate from ground to air, while aircraft may use wing tilting, motor gunning or circling to communicate air-to-ground.
Tactics
See also: Fire control, Firefighting, and Firefighter#Goals of firefightingOperating in the U.S. within the context of fire use, firefighters may only suppress fire that has become uncontrollable. Conversely, fires or portions of a fire that have previously been engaged by firefighters may, by management's decision, may be treated as fire use situation and be left to burn unfettered.
All fire suppression activities are based from an anchor point (such as lake, rock slide, road or other natural or artificial fire break). From an anchor point firefighters can work to contain a wild land fire without the fire outflanking them.
Large fires often become extended campaigns. ICP s or incident posts are temporary fire camps and are constructed to provide food, showers, and rest to fire crews.
Weather conditions and fuel conditions are large factors in the decisions made on a fire. Within the U.S., the Energy Release Component (ERC) is a scale relating fuel energy potential to area. The Burning Index (BI) relates flame length to fire spread speed and temperature. The Haines Index (HI) tracks stability and humidity of air over a fire. The Keeth-Byrum Dought Index relates fuels to how quickly they could ignite and to what percentage they should burn. The Lightening Activity Level (LAL) ranks lightening potential into six classes.
Fuel models are specific fuel designations determined by energy burning potential. Placed into 13 classes, they range from "short grass" (model 1) to "logging slash" (model 13). Low-numbered models burn at lower intensities than those at the higher end.
Direct attack
Direct attack is any treatment applied directly to burning fuel such as wetting, smothering, or chemically quenching the fire or by physically separating the burning from unburned fuel. This includes the work of urban and wildland fire engines, fire personnel and aircraft applying water or fire retardant directly to the burning fuel. For most agencies, the objective is to construct a fireline around all fire meant to be suppressed.
Indirect attack
Preparatory suppression tactic
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