Dear John,
Thanks for the reference. It looks like the reporter got confused by
the equation.
Cheers,
Pat Naughtin
Geelong, Australia
On 2009/04/22, at 2:49 AM, John M. Steele wrote:
I wonder if he was misquoted and meant both units to be kilowatts
per metre?
It wasn't terribly intuitive but it is apparently a measure of fire
intensity known as Byram's fireline intensity.
http://www.forestencyclopedia.net/p/p487
Some number around 3500 - 4000 kW/m is taken as the threshold of
completely uncontrollable, and 100 000 kW/m as an approximate upper
limit or worst case fires.
Our forestry service uses metric in published articles, but you
don't have to dig deep in their backup, before you find BTU/lb, fire
advance in chains per hour, etc.
There is an empirical relationship between flame length (slant
length if not vertical) and Byram's fireline intensity
http://www.forestencyclopedia.net/p/p492
--- On Mon, 4/20/09, Pat Naughtin
<pat.naugh...@metricationmatters.com> wrote:
From: Pat Naughtin <pat.naugh...@metricationmatters.com>
Subject: [USMA:44788] Bushfire Commission
To: "U.S. Metric Association" <usma@colostate.edu>
Date: Monday, April 20, 2009, 10:59 PM
Dear All,
The investigation into the Victorian bushfires began yesterday. In
the early evidence it was stated:
The blazes probably reached an intensity of 100,000 kilowatts per
square metre. "The maximum intensity for control of forest fires is
about 4000 kilowatts per metre," Mr Rush said.
You can read the full report at
http://www.theage.com.au/national/bushfires-commission-to-examine-mass-evacuations-20090420-acr5.html
Cheers,
Pat Naughtin
PO Box 305 Belmont 3216,
Geelong, Australia
Phone: 61 3 5241 2008
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