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

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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).