The Trident mobile high-volume water delivery system is self-contained. The main components of the system are two UTVs, a 200 hp high-volume pump, and 7000 feet (2134 m) of 4-inch hose. It can deliver 500 gpm of water at 190 psi in a wildfire operational situation. Alberta Wildfire asked FPInnovations to document three deployments in 2021 to identify opportunities for using the system and to reduce the knowledge gaps around best practices for deployment.
Debris piles were scattered among a fuel-treated stand at the Jumpingpound Demonstration Forest. The existing trees were deemed as assets worth protecting while the piles required to be burned. To facilitate the protection of the trees surrounding these debris piles, the Calgary Forest Area requested the use of water-enhancer capable fire engines to protect the trees during debris pile burning.
A total of 15 debris piles of varying fuel loads were burned over two days. The use of water-enhancer capable fire engines allowed FPInnovations to document the use of suppressants (water and water-enhancer) to better understand their advantages and limitations. Qualitative observations suggested that water-enhancers were more effective at withstanding radiant heat than water when applied immediately prior to the incident heat. Its efficacy, however, was found to decline with time.
Multiple log-deck fires at mill sites and log yards in Western Canada in the past year resulted in the loss of merchantable timber. These fires showcased how existing equipment and suppression efforts from wildfire agencies are heavily challenged when asked to handle the thermal output from burning log-decks.
In an effort to explore alternate solutions, FPInnovations collaborated with West Fraser and the High Level Forest Management Area to understand the efficacy of high-volume water delivery systems in log-deck fire suppression. Over the course of three days, water-penetration tests as well as suppression tests were carried out to better understand the utility and resource requirements of high-volume water delivery systems.
A human-caused wildfire was started on May 6, 2021 in Parkland County, Alberta near the rural community of Tomahawk. Among several Alberta Wildfire resources deployed to the wildfire, one particular resource was high-volume water delivery systems provided by Fire & Flood Emergency Service Ltd.
Alberta Wildfire asked FPInnovations to document the implementation of high-volume water delivery systems in actioning a peatland wildfire as a case study.
In 2021, Alberta Agriculture and Forestry’s Wildfire Management Branch identified an opportunity to evaluate new and emerging technologies to supplement and improve current wildfire response capabilities. A one-year directed research initiative was undertaken with the FPInnovations’ Wildfire Operations group to assess the efficacy of five different technologies and their utility in the wildfire domain. This report summarizes the five projects undertaken in this initiative, highlighting key outcomes and considerations.
Seven vendors participated in a smoke detection exercise conducted in Alberta, Canada from August 23 to 29, 2021. This exercise aimed to understand how well current detection technology uses imagery from existing cameras mounted on towers to detect smoke. All vendors in this exercise use artificial intelligence / machine learning algorithms in their systems. Alberta Wildfire expects to gain a better understanding of these detection systems and how they differ from each other.
Wildfire risks in British Columbia are currently elevated and continue to increase. The subject of this report is to review the state of knowledge about how wildfires will impact resource roads now and in the future. Available wildfire hazard information along with resource road vulnerabilities are summarized and links to wildfire risks are established. The report also discusses how our understanding of risk might be improved with better information about wildfire impacts to resource road infrastructure, standardizing valuation of resource road function to support budget priorities, and standardizing variables for use in projections of future wildfire hazards and how projections may be combined with current wildfire hazard ratings. Improved understanding about wildfire risks to resource roads is necessary to initiating effective adaptation actions and strategies that create resilience.
Innovative adaptations are needed to respond to increasing wildfire risks in British Columbia. This report reviews existing and potential adaptations for resource roads using approaches that include planned fuel management, proactive actions that protect infrastructure from oncoming wildfires, emergency firefighting, and considering post-wildfire risks. Following this review a discussion summarizes adaptation knowledge gaps that include a need for greater focus on stock management in fuel break design, evaluation and testing of existing and evolving adaptations to protect crossings, considering how road data can enhance reactionary and preplanned firefighting responses, and questioning if, and how, adaptations are appropriate in post-wildfire conditions. Improved understanding of adaptations that mitigate wildfire risks to resource roads can help identify options and strategies for project prioritization to enhance resilience.
The relative performance of various wildland fire suppressant products had previously been assessed using the Crib Test Methodology. This InfoNote presents an addition to the dataset wherein the performance of Barricade II, a Qualified Product List (QPL) approved water-enhancer product, is reviewed.
Two long-term retardant products have recently been added to the U.S. Forest Service’s Qualified Product List (QPL). Anecdotal evidence from field trials suggest that interoperability issues may exist between existing and new retardant products available for use in fixed-wing aircrafts. This InfoNote intends to present the current state of knowledge on this topic.
Accounting for climate change impacts in the design of resource road crossings. Scaling IDF curves to account for climate change in resource road stream crossing, an approach for estimating future extreme rainfall, Webinar No. 8
A Webinar presented in association with the Pacific Climate Impacts Consortium (PCIC), FPInnovations and the BC Ministry of Forests, Land, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development presented on March 10, 2022
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Forest fuel reductions treatments are conducted at a stand level in the wildland–urban interface to reduce the potential for catastrophic loss caused by wildfire. Given the considerable expense of conducting these fuel treatments, fuels managers want to better understand the productivity and cost of commonly applied fuel treatments in order to prescribe cost-effective treatment techniques. Due to the limited data available and the myriad combinations of fuel treatment options and equipment types used in a diverse range of ecosystems, cost projections for fuel treatments are difficult to forecast reliably.
This document provides background on and fundamental principles of productivity studies, and a summary of motor-manual productivity studies that have been conducted in timber silviculture operations, forest fuel reduction treatments, and other manual forestry operations.
Forest fuel treatments are conducted at a stand level in the wildland–urban interface to reduce the potential for catastrophic loss caused by wildfire. Given the considerable expense of conducting motor-manual fuel treatments, fuels managers want to better understand the productivity and cost of commonly applied fuel treatments in order to prescribe cost-effective treatment techniques. Due to the limited data available and the myriad combinations of fuel treatment options and equipment types used in a diverse range of ecosystems, cost projections for fuel treatments are difficult to forecast reliably.
Fuels managers and Wildfire Operations advisory members asked that a simplified data collection protocol be developed to collect more data across a broader range of ecosites. The streamlined and simplified process presented in this document includes a user-friendly format for in-field data collection by field crew supervisors.
Le MFFP souhaite que la méthode utilisée pour mesurer la hauteur et la densité de la neige soit validée et que des méthodes alternatives soient évaluées. Les approches doivent avoir un caractère d’applicabilité réglementaire au niveau provincial. Faute de données probantes, le ratio hauteur souche/hauteur colonne d’eau ne sera pas remis en question dans le présent rapport. La validation de ce ratio devra faire l’objet d’une étude distincte avec une recherche de données et une analyse beaucoup plus approfondie.
A catalogue listing of the various technology transfer opportunities offered by FPInnovations in forest operations for 2022 - 2023. Opportunities for technology transfer in harvesting, transportation, roads, connectivity, mill yards, GHG emissions, biomass, Indigenous forestry, drones as well as workshops, library, and on-line tools are detailed.
Abstract
Un catalogue des différentes possibilités de transfert de technologie offertes par FPInnovations dans le domaine des opérations forestières pour 2022 à 2023. Les possibilités de transfert de technologie dans les domaines de la récolte, du transport, des routes, de la connectivité, des cours d’usine, des émissions de GES, de la biomasse, de la foresterie autochtone, des drones ainsi que des ateliers, des bibliothèques et des outils en ligne sont détaillées.
A catalogue listing of the various technology transfer opportunities offered by FPInnovations in forest operations for 2022 - 2023. Opportunities for technology transfer in harvesting, transportation, roads, connectivity, mill yards, GHG emissions, biomass, Indigenous forestry, drones as well as workshops, library, and on-line tools are detailed.
Abstract
Un catalogue des différentes possibilités de transfert de technologie offertes par FPInnovations dans le domaine des opérations forestières pour 2022 à 2023. Les possibilités de transfert de technologie dans les domaines de la récolte, du transport, des routes, de la connectivité, des cours d’usine, des émissions de GES, de la biomasse, de la foresterie autochtone, des drones ainsi que des ateliers, des bibliothèques et des outils en ligne sont détaillées.
A summary of the forest operation research focus areas for 2022-02023 including fibre costs and value, fibre supply, forestry 4.0, workforce all in connection to sustainability and safety.
Relative humidity (RH) and temperature play a large role in the moisture content of available fuels, affecting the fire weather indices that indicate intensity, ignition, and spread potential of wildfires. However, the magnitude of increase in RH and decrease in temperature necessary to impact intensity and ignition potential is dependent on many additional factors including aspect, altitude, wind speed, atmospheric stability, fuel loading, fuel structure, and moisture content of the fuels.
