How Fast Can a Firefighter Move Upslope on an Escape Route?

That’s the subject of a recent FERIC Advantage Report prepared by the Wildland Fire Operations Research Group (Baxter et al. 2004). Dakin (2002) had previously documented travel rates for Alberta Type I and II firefighters in four common fuel types on level ground. This latest report deals with travel rates of Type I firefighters on a moderately steep slope (26%) in two fuel types similar in structure to those studied by Dakin (2002). It also provides some information on travel rates for Type III firefighters on level ground in two of the four fuel types studied earlier by Dakin (2002).

The Power of the Slope

As Beaver (2004) points out, this latest report the FERIC Wildland Fire Operations Research Group on firefighter travel rates highlights the deadly interaction of factors affecting fire behavior and firefighter safety with increasing slope steepness: a firefighter travel rate decreases while a fire’s rate of spread increases. The net result is “everything bad for the firefighter versus everything good for the fire”.

References

Baxter, G.; Alexander, M.; Dakin, G. 2004. Travel rates by Alberta wildland firefighters using escape routes on a moderately steep slope. FERIC Advantage Report Vol. 5, No. 25. 15 pp.

Beaver, A.K. 2004. Science & Planning Supervisor, Yukon Wildland Fire Management, Whitehorse, Y.T., personal written communication, April 14, 2004.

Dakin, G. 2002. Ground rates of travel by fire crews using escape routes: an interim report. FERIC Advantage Report Vol. 3, No. 15. 7 pp.

Luke, R.H.; McArthur, A.G. 1978. Bushfires in Australia. Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra, Australia. 359 pp.

Schematic diagram illustrating the mechanical effects of slope steepness (i.e., bringing the fuels close to the fuels) in enhancing radiant and convective heat transfer to unburned fuels ahead of the advancing flame front thereby increasing the fire’s rate of spread (from Luke and McArthur (1978).