ENHANCING UNDERSTANDING OF WILDFIRE BEHAVIOR AND SUPPRESSION WITHIN THE UK FIRE AND RESCUE SERVICE

Late April - May (2011) saw a widely reported UK 'wildfire crisis', including in very highly populated areas (e.g. Berkshire). Wildfires in moorlands, heathlands, woodlands and forests affected England, Scotland, Wales and NI, leading to large-scale landscape impacts, road and school closures, and significant strain on the emergency services. In fact whilst not commonly publicised, the UK Fire and Rescue Service (FRS) responds to > 60,000 wildfires annually across the UK, yet only the Northumberland FRS (NFRS) train specifically in wildfire behaviour/suppression. NFRS have developed responsibility for extending this training to other UK Fire and Rescue Services so that they do not rely solely on knowledge of structural fire behaviour and suppression, which is a poor basis for understanding and suppressing vegetation fires spreading across landscapes. KCL has expertise in remote sensing, in situ fire measurement, and use of simulation models. This KE activity will build on existing links between KCL and NFRS to enhance the training programme and materials offered by NFRS to other UK FRS', in order that the wider Service can better understand wildfire behaviour, enabling them respond more efficiently and effectively, better identify suppression options and where and when to apply them safely during wildfire outbreaks. Specific outputs will be (i) a simulator for use in enhancing understanding of wildfire behaviour amongst FRS personnel, (ii) a micro-UAV-based imaging system and data processing tools for recoding fire behaviour, (iii) an archive of simulated and real fire behaviours representing a wide range of UK vegetation fire conditions, (iv) a 'UK Wildfire Manual' and the Wildfire Prediction System (WPS), updated with knowledge gained during this project, and (v) a complete training package based on the above for use at future courses run by NFRS for the UK Fire Service. Currently 800 personnel have been trained by NFRS, and it is anticipated that NFRS will be involved in the training of over 600 personnel from up to 10 fire services over the next 3 years (this figure is a conservative estimate).

The sustained benefit ultimately resulting from this project is a better trained UK fire fighting community, armed with the knowledge to more effectively deal with the types of wildfire that regularly occur in UK landscapes, and able to use their resources to do this more efficiently and with less risk to fire fighters.

RCUK define research impact as: [Impact 1] fostering global economic performance, and specifically UK economic competitiveness; [Impact 2] increasing the effectiveness of public services and policy; [Impact 3] enhancing quality of life, health and creative output.

The primary KE impact will come via [Impact 2], in terms of significant enhancements to the efficacy of the UK Fire and Rescue Service [UK FRS] (a National Public Service) through improvements in their ability to understand and interpret UK wildfire behaviour, and via their consequential use of more appropriate and effective fire suppression tactics which are better tailored to the actual wildfire situations encountered. At present, outside of project partner the Northumberland Fire and Rescue Service [NFRS], there is relatively limited appreciation of these aspects at the national level. The project also directly addresses [Impact 1] - since one of the primary aims of the training delivered to the wider UK FRS by project partners NFRS is that ultimately fewer resources will be deployed inappropriately to wildfire situations (thus improving the Service's economic efficiency), and [Impact 3] - since there will be a clear reduction in risk to fire fighters through better and more appropriate wildfire understanding and suppression tactics. The sustainability of these impacts will be assured through the fact that one key output of the project is improved training materials [Objective 3], which will be developed by KCL and project partners NFRS and which will then be used by NFRS to train the wider UKFRS; both during the projects lifetime and also long after this project has completed. This guarantees that the benefits will be spread throughout the UKFRS at the national level. It is expected that NFRS will train 600 personnel from up to 10 fire services over the next 3 years (see Letter of Support from Project Partner NFRS), and this is expected to continue into the future. Furthermore, in addition to training materials, the WPS system will be held by trained UKFRS personnel in the form of a manual, within which certain project outputs will be incorporated - for example sensitivity charts that provide a rapid and easy to interpret method for assessing the sensitivity of fire intensity/flame length to the driving forces of fuel load, slope and meteorology in UK fuel types. Therefore, the materials from the training will be directly incorporated into UK FRS activities when deployed in future wildfires. In the near future, the current training courses will be incorporated into a BTEC qualification which will be delivered in three units, set at level 3 and level 4. The wildfire manual currently being produced will be used by all UK Fire and Rescue Services, and will determine operational service direction in relation to wildfires in the future. This is expected to result in further increased demand for wildfire training from other FRSs in England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.