The initiation of smouldering peat fire by a glowing firebrand

Shaorun Lin; Tianhang Zhang; Xinyan Huang; Michael J. Gollner

doi:10.1071/WF23116

RESEARCH ARTICLE (Open Access)

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The initiation of smouldering peat fire by a glowing firebrand

Shaorun Lin

^A ^* , Tianhang Zhang ^B , Xinyan Huang

^B and Michael J. Gollner

^A ^*

+ Author Affiliations

- Author Affiliations

^A Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA.

^B Research Centre for Fire Safety Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong.

^* Correspondence to: shaorun.lin@berkeley.edu, mgollner@berkeley.edu

International Journal of Wildland Fire 33, WF23116 https://doi.org/10.1071/WF23116

Submitted: 15 July 2023 Accepted: 8 February 2024 Published: 8 April 2024

© 2024 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

Wildfires represent a significant threat to peatlands globally, but whether peat fires can be initiated by a lofted firebrand is still unknown.

Aims

We investigated the ignition threshold of peat fires by a glowing firebrand through laboratory-scale experiments.

Methods

The oven-dried weight (ODW) moisture content (MC) of peat samples varied from 5% ODW to 100% ODW, and external wind (ν) with velocities up to 1 m/s was provided in a wind tunnel.

Key results and conclusions

When MC < 35%, ignition is always achieved, regardless of wind velocity. However, if MC is between 35 and 85%, an external wind (increasing with peat moisture) is required to increase the reaction rate of the firebrand and thus heating to the peat sample. Further increasing the MC to be higher than 85%, no ignition could be achieved by a single laboratory firebrand. Finally, derived from the experimental results, a 90% ignition probability curve was produced by a logistic regression model.

Implications

This work indicates the importance of maintaining a high moisture content of peat to prevent ignition by firebrands and helps us better understand the progression of large peat fires.

Keywords: ember, firebreak, ignition, peatland, smouldering, spotting ignition, wildfire, wind.

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