Review of Pathways for Building Fire Spread in the Wildland Urban Interface Part I: Exposure Conditions

Caton, Sara E.; Hakes, Raquel S.P.; Gorham, Daniel J.; Zhou, Aixi; Gollner, Michael J.

doi:10.1007/s10694-016-0589-z

Cited by 169 publications

(99 citation statements)

References 120 publications

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“…Given the damage caused by wildfires since 2008, this number may have increased. Around the world, WUI fire disasters have been increasing globally recently …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Studies have shown that crown fires must be within 100 ft (or 30 m) to ignite the wood exterior of a structure . Case studies found that most destroyed homes ignited from smaller flames or directly from firebrands . Large WUI fires in recent years suggest that fuels and conditions in the HIZ principally determine the potential for WUI fire disasters.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The ignition resistance approach indicates that the best approach to mitigating WUI fire severity and damage is to reduce the potential for structure ignition. Studies from laboratory experiments and wildland burns as well as empirical structure‐ignition assessment modeling showed that by limiting vegetative fuels to a distance of 10 to 20 m from a structure, the potential for structure ignition via radiant heat flux from a crown fire front will be sufficiently reduced to avoid flaming ignition of combustible siding. Many risk assessment and reduction guidelines as well as the International WUI Code followed recommendations from the HIZ study findings .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Studies from laboratory experiments and wildland burns as well as empirical structure‐ignition assessment modeling showed that by limiting vegetative fuels to a distance of 10 to 20 m from a structure, the potential for structure ignition via radiant heat flux from a crown fire front will be sufficiently reduced to avoid flaming ignition of combustible siding. Many risk assessment and reduction guidelines as well as the International WUI Code followed recommendations from the HIZ study findings . Two important factors should be considered to have wildfire‐safe buildings: (a) wise selection of ignition‐resistant building materials and design features and (b) adequate defensible space, including incorporating a noncombustible zone in the area immediately adjacent to the building.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Effects of natural weathering on the fire properties of intumescent fire‐retardant coatings

et al. 2018

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Summary Fire‐retardant coatings could be one option for providing enhanced protection to buildings during a wildfire, particularly when applied to combustible siding and in under‐eave areas. Limited studies have been conducted on their effectiveness but maintaining adequate performance after weathering has been questioned. This paper reports on a study evaluating the effect of natural weathering on the performance of intumescent‐type fire‐retardant coatings. The main concerns were (a) the reduction of ignition resistance of the coating after weathering and (b) the coating might contribute as a combustible fuel and assist the fire growth after weathering. This study evaluated the performance of 3 intumescent coatings that were exposed to natural weathering conditions for up to 12 months. A bench‐scale evaluation using a cone calorimeter was used to evaluate the performance of the coatings at 3 heat flux levels (30, 50, and 70 kW/m2). Our results showed that weathering exposure reduced the effectiveness of fire protection of intumescent coatings, but the weathered coatings did not act as additional fuels. Weathering orientation showed much less effect on the performance of intumescent coatings in comparison to other parameters. There was statistical evidence that weathering duration, heat flux level, and coating type affected the combustion properties.

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“…Given the damage caused by wildfires since 2008, this number may have increased. Around the world, WUI fire disasters have been increasing globally recently …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Effects of natural weathering on the fire properties of intumescent fire‐retardant coatings

et al. 2018

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“…In this special section, review papers were presented that discussed the pathways for fires to spread to structures in WUI fires [7], and subsequent potential ignition mitigation strategies [8]. These papers are an important first step , but in general, the ignition mitigation discussion was very USA-focused, underscoring the need for a more global perspective on WUI fires.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Special Section on Structure Ignition in Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) Fires

Manzello

Quarles

2016

Fire Technol

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The wildland–urban interface in the United States based on 125 million building locations

Carlson

Helmers

Hawbaker

et al. 2022

Ecological Applications

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The wildland-urban interface (WUI) is the focus of many important land management issues, such as wildfire, habitat fragmentation, invasive species, and human-wildlife conflicts. Wildfire is an especially critical issue, because housing growth in the WUI increases wildfire ignitions and the number of homes at risk. Identifying the WUI is important for assessing and mitigating impacts of development on wildlands and for protecting homes from natural hazards, but data on housing development for large areas are often coarse. We created new WUI maps for the conterminous United States based on 125 million individual building locations, offering higher spatial precision compared to existing maps based on U.S. census housing data. Building point locations were based on a building footprint data set from Microsoft. We classified WUI across the conterminous United States at 30-m resolution using a circular neighborhood mapping algorithm with a variable radius to determine thresholds of housing density and vegetation cover. We used our maps to (1) determine the total area of the WUI and number of buildings included, (2) assess the sensitivity of WUI area included and spatial pattern of WUI maps to choice of neighborhood size,(3) assess regional differences between building-based WUI maps and censusbased WUI maps, and (4) determine how building location accuracy affected WUI map accuracy. Our building-based WUI maps identified 5.6%-18.8% of the conterminous United States as being in the WUI, with larger neighborhoods increasing WUI area but excluding isolated building clusters. Building-based maps identified more WUI area relative to census-based maps for all but the smallest neighborhoods, particularly in the north-central states, and large differences were attributable to high numbers of non-housing structures in rural areas. Overall WUI classification accuracy was 98.0%. For wildfire risk mapping and for general purposes, WUI maps based on the 500-m neighborhood represent the original Federal Register definition of the WUI; these maps include clusters of buildings in and adjacent to wildlands and exclude remote, isolated buildings. Our approach for mapping the WUI offers flexibility and high spatial detail and can be widely applied to take advantage of the growing availability of high-resolution building footprint data sets and classification methods.

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Review of Pathways for Building Fire Spread in the Wildland Urban Interface Part I: Exposure Conditions

Cited by 169 publications

References 120 publications

Effects of natural weathering on the fire properties of intumescent fire‐retardant coatings

Effects of natural weathering on the fire properties of intumescent fire‐retardant coatings

Special Section on Structure Ignition in Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) Fires

The wildland–urban interface in the United States based on 125 million building locations

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