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Fireline Intensity

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Encyclopedia of Wildfires and Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) Fires

Synonyms

Byram’s fire intensity; Byram’s fireline intensity; Fire front intensity; Frontal fire intensity; Frontal intensity; Line-fire intensity

Definition

Fireline intensity is the rate of energy or heat release per unit time per unit length of fire front (kW/m). Numerically, it is equal to the product of the fuel low heat of combustion (kJ/kg), quantity of fuel consumed in the flaming front (kg/m2), and the linear rate of fire spread (m/s).

Introduction

In his publication surveying the scientific literature on wildland fire behavior and effects, Albini (1976) stated that perhaps no descriptor is as poorly defined or communicated as are measures of fire intensity. The term implies some measure of a rate of energy release, but it has also been applied to many measures of a wildland fire’s behavior and impacts (e.g., peak flame temperature, convection column height, maximum soil temperature, fraction of standing timber killed). In this respect, Byram (1959) introduced his concept of...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Wild Rose Fire Behaviour, Leduc County, AB, Canada

    Martin E. Alexander

  2. CSIRO, Canberra, ACT, Australia

    Miguel G. Cruz

Authors
  1. Martin E. Alexander
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  2. Miguel G. Cruz
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Correspondence to Martin E. Alexander .

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. RECOVER-EMR, IRSTEA, Aix-en-Provence, France

    Anne Ganteaume Ph.D

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Alexander, M.E., Cruz, M. (2019). Fireline Intensity. 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_52-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51727-8_52-1

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