I wonder if he was misquoted and meant both units to be kilowatts per metre? It wasn't terribly intuitive but it is apparently a measure of fire intensity known as Byram's fireline intensity. http://www.forestencyclopedia.net/p/p487 Some number around 3500 - 4000 kW/m is taken as the threshold of completely uncontrollable, and 100 000 kW/m as an approximate upper limit or worst case fires. Our forestry service uses metric in published articles, but you don't have to dig deep in their backup, before you find BTU/lb, fire advance in chains per hour, etc. There is an empirical relationship between flame length (slant length if not vertical) and Byram's fireline intensity http://www.forestencyclopedia.net/p/p492 --- On Mon, 4/20/09, Pat Naughtin <[email protected]> wrote:
From: Pat Naughtin <[email protected]> Subject: [USMA:44788] Bushfire Commission To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]> Date: Monday, April 20, 2009, 10:59 PM Dear All, The investigation into the Victorian bushfires began yesterday. In the early evidence it was stated: The blazes probably reached an intensity of 100,000 kilowatts per square metre. "The maximum intensity for control of forest fires is about 4000 kilowatts per metre," Mr Rush said. You can read the full report at http://www.theage.com.au/national/bushfires-commission-to-examine-mass-evacuations-20090420-acr5.html Cheers, Pat Naughtin PO Box 305 Belmont 3216, Geelong, Australia Phone: 61 3 5241 2008 Metric system consultant, writer, and speaker, Pat Naughtin, has helped thousands of people and hundreds of companies upgrade to the modern metric system smoothly, quickly, and so economically that they now save thousands each year when buying, processing, or selling for their businesses. Pat provides services and resources for many different trades, crafts, and professions for commercial, industrial and government metrication leaders in Asia, Europe, and in the USA. Pat's clients include the Australian Government, Google, NASA, NIST, and the metric associations of Canada, the UK, and the USA. See http://www.metricationmatters.com for more metrication information, contact Pat at [email protected] or to get the free 'Metrication matters' newsletter go to: http://www.metricationmatters.com/newsletter to subscribe.
