Definition
Natural and synthetic substances used as chemical additives to improve water effectiveness for extinguishing wildfires.
Introduction
The use of extinguishment agents in direct and indirect fire-fighting operations started in the early 1930s because these substances delay the ignition, reduce fire intensity (from flaming to smouldering combustion) and spread, decrease fuel consumption, and delay combustion recovery (Kalabokidis 2000; Giménez et al. 2004). The extinguishment agents help to control wood pyrolysis and combustion through several mechanisms (Liodakis et al. 2008): (a) acting as fire-fuel barriers; (b) cooling fuels by the endothermic decomposition of the added chemicals; (c) diluting with noncombustible gases the combustible gases evolved from burning fuels; (d) trapping free radicals; (e) increasing char...
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References
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González-Prieto, S.J. (2019). Extinguishment Agents. 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_124-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51727-8_124-1
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