Testing Vegetation Flammability: The Problem of Extremely Low Ignition Frequency and Overall Flammability Score
In the recent decades changes in fire regimes led to higher vulnerability of fire prone ecosystems, with vegetation being the only component influencing fire regime which can be managed in order to reduce probability of extreme fire events. For these management practices to be effective reliable inf...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Wiley
2014-01-01
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| Series: | Journal of Combustion |
| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2014/970218 |
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| author | Zorica Kauf Andreas Fangmeier Roman Rosavec Željko Španjol |
| author_facet | Zorica Kauf Andreas Fangmeier Roman Rosavec Željko Španjol |
| author_sort | Zorica Kauf |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In the recent decades changes in fire regimes led to higher vulnerability of fire prone ecosystems, with vegetation being the only component influencing fire regime which can be managed in order to reduce probability of extreme fire events. For these management practices to be effective reliable information on the vegetation flammability is being crucial. Epiradiator based testing methods are one of the methods commonly used to investigate vegetation flammability and decrease in ignition frequency is always interpreted as a decrease in flammability. Furthermore, gathered information is often combined into a single flammability score. Here we present results of leaf litter testing which, together with previously conducted research on similar materials, show that material with very low ignition frequency under certain testing conditions can be extremely flammable if testing conditions are slightly changed. Additionally, our results indicate that combining measured information into one single flammability score, even though sometimes useful, is not always meaningful and should be performed with caution. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-120e72862c54432ca44544306cd81788 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2090-1968 2090-1976 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2014-01-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Combustion |
| spelling | doaj-art-120e72862c54432ca44544306cd817882025-02-03T01:20:47ZengWileyJournal of Combustion2090-19682090-19762014-01-01201410.1155/2014/970218970218Testing Vegetation Flammability: The Problem of Extremely Low Ignition Frequency and Overall Flammability ScoreZorica Kauf0Andreas Fangmeier1Roman Rosavec2Željko Španjol3Institute of Landscape and Plant Ecology, University of Hohenheim, August-von-Hartmann Straße 3, 70599 Stuttgart, GermanyInstitute of Landscape and Plant Ecology, University of Hohenheim, August-von-Hartmann Straße 3, 70599 Stuttgart, GermanyDepartment of Forest Ecology and Silviculture, Faculty of Forestry, University of Zagreb, Svetošimunska 25, 10002 Zagreb, CroatiaDepartment of Forest Ecology and Silviculture, Faculty of Forestry, University of Zagreb, Svetošimunska 25, 10002 Zagreb, CroatiaIn the recent decades changes in fire regimes led to higher vulnerability of fire prone ecosystems, with vegetation being the only component influencing fire regime which can be managed in order to reduce probability of extreme fire events. For these management practices to be effective reliable information on the vegetation flammability is being crucial. Epiradiator based testing methods are one of the methods commonly used to investigate vegetation flammability and decrease in ignition frequency is always interpreted as a decrease in flammability. Furthermore, gathered information is often combined into a single flammability score. Here we present results of leaf litter testing which, together with previously conducted research on similar materials, show that material with very low ignition frequency under certain testing conditions can be extremely flammable if testing conditions are slightly changed. Additionally, our results indicate that combining measured information into one single flammability score, even though sometimes useful, is not always meaningful and should be performed with caution.http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2014/970218 |
| spellingShingle | Zorica Kauf Andreas Fangmeier Roman Rosavec Željko Španjol Testing Vegetation Flammability: The Problem of Extremely Low Ignition Frequency and Overall Flammability Score Journal of Combustion |
| title | Testing Vegetation Flammability: The Problem of Extremely Low Ignition Frequency and Overall Flammability Score |
| title_full | Testing Vegetation Flammability: The Problem of Extremely Low Ignition Frequency and Overall Flammability Score |
| title_fullStr | Testing Vegetation Flammability: The Problem of Extremely Low Ignition Frequency and Overall Flammability Score |
| title_full_unstemmed | Testing Vegetation Flammability: The Problem of Extremely Low Ignition Frequency and Overall Flammability Score |
| title_short | Testing Vegetation Flammability: The Problem of Extremely Low Ignition Frequency and Overall Flammability Score |
| title_sort | testing vegetation flammability the problem of extremely low ignition frequency and overall flammability score |
| url | http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2014/970218 |
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