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The effect of mulching, which can be used for community protection, on overall forest fire behaviour is one area that FPInnovations, a forest research institute, is studying at the Canadian Boreal Communities FireSmart Project near Fort Providence. - photo courtesy of FPInnovations

Safer firefighting researched

Roxanna Thompson
Northern News Services
Published Monday, August 8, 2011

DEH GAH GOT'IE KOE/FORT PROVIDENCE
A site located near Fort Providence is continuing to aid research into forest fires.

The Canadian Boreal Communities FireSmart Project has been located approximately 50 km north of Fort Providence for the last 14 years. The site was originally developed in the mid-1990s by the territorial government and the Canadian Forest Service for the International Crown Fire Modeling Experiment. Eighteen high-intensity crown fires were lit at the site at the time for research purposes.

Under the FireSmart project, the site is now used to conduct research to validate fire smart principles and enhance firefighter safety.

FPInnovations, a forest research institute, is one of the primary users of the site.

"Fort Providence is the only place of its kind in Canada," said Ray Ault, the program leader for FPInnovations' wildfire operations research group based out of Hinton, Alta.

There are not many sites that are suitable for lighting fires and testing theories, he said. Fires can also be lit safely at the site because of the expertise of the local fire crews.

"We do the research, they do the firefighting," said Ault. "The crew there is just exceptional, first class."

FPInnovations, which has been coming to the area since 2001, is primarily focused on community protection from fires. The institute has a number of plots prepared at the site to test different scenarios.

One of the primary projects is examining how mulch changes overall fire behavior. More communities are choosing to mulch the forest debris that is cut down to provide wildfire protection. There are assumptions, however, on how mulch affects fire spread and intensity, said Ault.

To see how fire interacts with mulch, the institute has mulched around the outside of a number of plots at the project and plans to light the plots on fire and observe the results.

The institute is also testing the fire smart recommendation about spacing of trees. In one plot the trees were cleared to have three-metre spacing and a local fire crew built a mock cabin in the middle of the plot. Another two mock cabins were built in the middle of an untouched plot. The plan, said Ault, is to put water-enhancing gel that should reduce fire potential on the two cabins three and five hours, respectively, before lighting the plot on fire. The experiment will give fire crews a guideline for how long the gels are effective, he said.

The institute is also conducting experiments that will benefit fire crews. The group has plots ready to burn next year with circular areas cleared. The goal is to find out how large of an opening a fire crew would need to survive if they were trapped by a fire in a boreal forest.

"Surprisingly that information doesn't really exist in the boreal forest yet," said Ault.

The institute had originally planned, along with other groups, to do their burns in late June. A combination of weather and high fire danger, however, meant fires couldn't be started. FPInnovations now plans to conduct four burns this month.

Approximately 15 researchers were at the site between June 20 to 29. In addition to FPInnovations, there were researchers from the University of British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Alberta Sustainable Resource Development. Between them the researchers had 15 projects that they wanted to conduct this year, said Larry Nixon, the wildfire risk management co-ordinator with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

Although no burning could be conducted, lots of prep work was done, said Nixon. Researchers also took advantage of a forest fire that was burning approximately 90 km north of the site.

Using a helicopter they put new equipment, including cameras, temperature gauges and gas sensors, in fireproof boxes in the path of the fire. The equipment records data from fires and the goal was to examine how it worked, he said.

The Canadian Boreal Communities FireSmart Project continues to be important, said Nixon because it is providing new information about forest fires that has practical applications.

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