FPInnovations – FERIC division is working to find out just how hot it can get for firefighters that get too close to a wildfire.

Greg Baxter, senior fire researcher with Feric, is collaborating with the University of Alberta’s department of engineering to determine the limits for a firefighter’s survival zone when caught in a wildfire.

Finding those limits will mean greater safety and preparedness for firefighters that find themselves in harm’s way.

“Number one is safety,” Baxter says. “There are other safeties and procedures in place, but things happen and this is to address the worst-case scenario where you will feel the heat and there could be some burns, but you should survive.”

The project is currently in the initial stages after it was tabled by Feric last fall. Baxter gathered a group to work with and was out in the field for the first test burn in early May.

Using thermal cubes – small boxes about 3 inches square that measure heat radiation levels – Baxter and his team are able to gauge the threshold for those that find themselves surrounded by fire. At this time, it is estimated that seven kilowatts-per-metre squared is the burn injury limit, he says.

However, in initial comparison of the heat in two different circles in grass fuels – one five-metre diameter and one 10-metre diameter – a firefighter that’s hunkered down on the ground in the 10-metre circle would have been exposed to roughly 10 kW/m2 from this particular fire, Baxter says.

Ultimately, the research hopes to provide firefighters guidelines that mean a chance at survival when there are no other options.

“There have been some situations where people have been burned over – situations where the person who has hunkered in place has lived and the person who has gotten up and ran didn’t make it.”

So far, tests have only been done in grass fuels, but Baxter and his team hope to move testing to standing timber when the methodology is refined. Tests will be coordinated with prescribed burns when possible at a number of locations in Alberta and the NWT.

For more information, contact Greg Baxter at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or go to www.feric.ca.

By GAVIN MEALING