Area Ignition

In August 1979, along a remote ridgeline near Santa Maria, four firefighters from a California Division of Forestry (CDF) engine crew, were preparing to defend the northern flank of the Spanish Ranch fire. Captain Ed Marty, and firefighters; Scott Cox, Ron Lorant and Steve Manley responded to the fire from the Nipomo fire station. They were all from California, but were as different as the golden state's angles, aspects and arenas. They were defined more from where they were from; Tehama, Goleta, Long Beach and La Habra. No one predicted what would happen next-but in a page from man versus nature, the fire accelerated and then swept across the face of the slope which the four young firefighters were on. At 4:25 PM their thin line of defense was cut-off and a retreating bulldozer operator was overrun. Minutes later, they tried to escape from the sweeping area ignition, but the fire cut-off their retreat and along with another dozer operator they were all overrun by fire. The tragedy that occurred and the subsequent investigation would change the way the state fire agency operated on area wildfires. Area Ignition looks back 30-years to honor the men who fought and died in the Spanish Ranch Fire. It recreates the courage, emotion and human frailties that are interwoven from the initial ignition point-to the final survivors' thoughts as they proceeded past a solitary CDF fire engine. Although much has changed since then-young firefighters still go out every year to battle California wildfires just like their brothers of the past. We owe it to them to understand a little bit of the awesome power of wildfires and the people who fight them.

Electrical ignition provides flexibility in prescribed burning. It is an effective means of ignition on burns where area ignition is required. The technique makes burning on steep, difficult slopes safer by allowing time for careful survey and layout of each ignition point. The types of equipment and circuitry layouts used in electrical ignition are explained and illustrated. A checklist for planning and an example of a firing pattern are included.

Complemented by an estimating tool spreadsheet based on a fixed set of chemicals to assist in risk estimations, Probability of Ignition of a Released Flammable Mass converts a "best guess" to a calculated value based on available information and current technology. The text documents and explains the science and background of the technology-based approach. The tool, when populated with appropriate data, yields an estimate of the probability that a defined release of a flammable material will ignite if exposed to an ignition source. This information can be used to make risk assessments with a higher degree of confidence than estimates made before and it provides valuable information for use in the development of a facility's Emergency Response Plan.

The flammability of upholstered furniture is a major concern to engineers and others across a wide swath of organizations. This book was written to provide its audience with the science and engineering needed to better understand the combustibility of the products they manufacture, purchase, and try to extinguish. It addresses the science and engineering information needs of public and private sector fire technology personnel, including fire service students and officers, fire investigators, fire protection engineers, government officials; textile, chemical, and furniture industry personnel, or institutional furniture purchasers.

Landowners and managers, municipalities, the logging and livestock industries, and conservation professionals all increasingly recognize that setting prescribed fires may reduce the devastating effects of wildfire, control invasive brush and weeds, improve livestock range and health, maintain wildlife habitat, control parasites, manage forest lands, remove hazardous fuel in the wildland-urban interface, and create residential buffer zones. In this practical and helpful manual, John R. Weir, who has conducted more than 720 burns in four states, offers a step-by-step guide to the systematic application of burning to meet specific land management needs and goals.

Set includes revised editions of some issues.