The following video is of a slide presentation I put together to layout the following:
I put this together to sort of showcase the main talking points that I planned on covering during a class I will be conducting at the end of the month (April-2024).
The Video is about 30 minutes long and covers the highlights of how to use Carrier Fuel Intensity to determine the Total Thermal Intensity (Heat per second), and how to use the Thermal Capacity of water to calculate gallons required as well as Resources and Resource Types.
No, contrary to popular belief we do not do this to date and using Retardant does NOT absorb Heat. In order to remove the intensity from a fire you have to drop a cooling agent directly on an active flame, retardant is never dropped directly on an active flame.
Fire Nomogram Use for Greater Efficiency is one PDF I wrote to explain the process and provides the math on how to better match resource thermal capacity to Fire Line Intensity.
For those that are stuck in the mindset of….”I don’t have time to do a ton of math”, well, it will take about 45-180 seconds to perform a nomogram after you have obtained the right carrier fuel model. If you are the type that is hellbent on doing it the old-fashioned way, then keep burning down structures and forests. Its your choice.
Then all you need are the input variables:
Slope %
20ft measured windspeed (that you can get with a kestrel)
Dead fuel moisture and Live fuel moisture from a minimum the past 24 hours or less to be the most accurate. NOT a week prior!
Once you have the variables for the location of your fire, then plot out a Fire behavior Nomogram following Faithe Heinsch instructions found on the main page here:
https://www.frames.gov/catalog/58628
Or the actual document Here:
https://www.frames.gov/documents/behaveplus/publications/Heinsch_2019_Nomograms_7Steps.pdf
Nomograms tell you the Intensity of a carrier fuel in Steady State, Thermodynamics can tell you what you need for that steady state.
Once thing is once you determine the number of gallons required, divide that by the load capacity of the aircraft to determine the number of aircraft/loads. Then place a Burn Inhibitor (LC95) direct after you have cooled it. Then make sure your crews, engines and dozers are already in the area to secure it.
Fight the fire by what it is telling you, you need. NOT by what you think you need.
Joseph Moylan
FireBridge Presentation