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Direct Flame Contact

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  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Wildfires and Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) Fires

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Synonyms

Flame impingement; Intrusion of flames

Definition

Direct flame contact is one of the three structure ignition pathways, together with firebrands and radiant heat. Direct flame contact refers to flames impinging on building systems and materials. It may come either from the main wildfire flames, from burning elements and ornamental vegetation surrounding structures, or from neighboring structures.

Introduction

Flame contact is the most hazardous structure ignition mechanism at the Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) as it provides the highest heat fluxes (radiant and convective). Flame contact might be originated from nearby burning wildland fuels, burning ornamental vegetation, and nonnatural burning items close to structures and neighboring structures.

Flame contact from the main wildland fire perimeter may play an important role in igniting peripheral structures of a community, in those cases where wildland fuels are too close to settlements. This situation involves usually high...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain

    Elsa Pastor

Authors
  1. Elsa Pastor
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Elsa Pastor .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. United States Department of Commerce, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD, USA

    Samuel L. Manzello

Section Editor information

  1. National Research Institute of Fire and Disaster, Tokyo, Japan

    Sayaka Suzuki PhD

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Pastor, E. (2019). Direct Flame Contact. In: Manzello, S. (eds) Encyclopedia of Wildfires and Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) Fires. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51727-8_64-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51727-8_64-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-51727-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-51727-8

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference EngineeringReference Module Computer Science and Engineering

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