Fire Safety Science Digital Archive

This paper describes results of FROSTFIRE, a forest fire experiment carried out in July 1999 and also surveys results of the Donnelly Flats forest fire in June 1999. An investigation of the Donnelly Flats forest fire site found that the main burnt matter were branches with needles of black spruce and mosses and lichen which cover the ground. On the basis of these results, a vegetation investigation was carried out before the FROSTFIRE experiment. The following items were measured: weight of branches with needles of two black spruce trees and the thickness of mosses which covered the surface around the trees. Thunder storm observations by video camera from the Poker Flat mountain top recorded multiple lightning strikes. After the storm, three plumes from forest fires were observed in different directions and the probability of ignition of forest fires by the lightning is discussed Finally, the combustion calculations using mean tree densities of black spruce and mean thickness of mosses estimate the quantity of CO2, released in forest fires in Alaska.