Deep peat fire persistently smouldering for weeks: a laboratory demonstration
Yunzhu Qin
A B , Dayang Nur Sakinah Musa C D , Shaorun Lin A B * and Xinyan Huang A *
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A Research Centre for Fire Safety Engineering, Department of Building Environment and Energy Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong.
B The Hong Kong Polytechnic University Shenzhen Research Institute, Shenzhen, China.
C Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Malaysia.
D International Tropical Forestry Programme, Faculty of Tropical Forestry, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Malaysia.
* Correspondence to: shaorun.lin@outlook.com, xy.huang@polyu.edu.hk
International Journal of Wildland Fire 32(1) 86-98 https://doi.org/10.1071/WF22143
Submitted: 4 July 2022 Accepted: 17 November 2022 Published: 7 December 2022
© 2023 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing on behalf of IAWF. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND)
Abstract
Background: Peatlands are becoming more vulnerable to smouldering fires, driven by climate change and human activities.
Aims: This work explores the persistent burning, propagation, and emission of the deep peat fire.
Methods: Laboratory experiments are conducted with a 1-m deep peat column, and smouldering fires are initiated at different depths.
Key results: We found localised burning and multi-directional smouldering fire spread in deep peat layers. The smouldering temperature first decreases with depths up to −40 cm (from around 550 to 350°C) and then remains at about 300°C in the deeper layers. High moisture content can slow down in-depth fire propagation and reduce the burning duration.
Conclusions: Peat fire can burn in deep layers for weeks, and its combustion is incomplete with small mass loss, because of a limited oxygen supply and low smouldering temperature. Measuring the carbon monoxide concentration near the surface can detect underground fire and monitor its intensity.
Implications: This work helps reveal the underlying mechanism of the in-depth smouldering wildfires in peatland and supports future larger-scale peat fire experiments in the field.
Keywords: burning duration, fire detection, fire emissions, fuel mass loss, peat soil, peatland wildfire, smouldering propagation, underground fire.
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