Title: Structure Fire Protection in the Wildland Urban Interface　
Speaker: Dr. ZHOU Aixi
From: University of North Carolina at Charlotte, USA
Date: Feb28, 2012
Abstract:

Structure Fire Protection in the Wildland Urban Interface Dr. Aixi Zhou, Assistant Professor  Department of Engineering Technology, University of North Carolina at  Charlotte Wildland fires that occur in the Wildland Urban Interface (WUI) cause loss  and damage to government infrastructure and buildings, homes and businesses,  injuries and loss of life to firefighters and citizens, and disrupt many  communities each year.

Various mitigation approaches have been explored or  developed to protect these resources and communities while improving the  safety of firefighters. Recently, the use of pre-wetting agents and ignition- resistant materials for the outside of structures has been recommended and  practiced.  Prewetting agents (e.g., water, foams, or gels) are used for  short-term applications (several hours); while ignition-resistant materials ( e.g., intumescent coatings or composite wraps) can be used when longer fire protection (several days or months) is required.　 
Supported by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the USDA Forest  Service, faculty members in the Fire Safety Engineering Technology program at UNC Charlotte have systematically evaluated the performance and effectiveness of prewetting agents and ignition-resistant materials under  various fire conditions.

The study sponsored by the DHS focused on the  performance and effectiveness of pre-wetting agents. Intermediate-scale calorimetry (ICAL) tests were performed using three types of agents (water, foam and gel) on ten types of live plants and four types of wall and roof  panels. More than 300 ICAL tests were performed. Following the ICAL tests,  six full-scale outdoor fire tests were conducted to validate the key  findings from the ICAL tests. The project sponsored by the USDA Forest  Service focused on the performance and effectiveness of ignition-resistant  materials. The study consisted of three major phases: Bench-scale testing by a Cone Calorimeter, ICAL testing, and full-scale outdoor validation testing.　
The tests were conducted using two types of ignition-resistant materials (10  coatings and 7 wraps). More than 200 Cone and ICAL tests were performed for  this study. Eight full-scale outdoor fire tests were conducted to validate  the key findings from the Cone and ICAL tests. 
This talk presents key findings and recommendations from these two studies. Firstly, the performances of each material under various fire conditions are presented. Secondly, performance criteria for different materials and  various fire conditions are discussed, and the correlations of performance  criteria to appropriate fire and thermal properties are presented. Finally, the development of standard testing method for evaluating the performance and effectiveness of pre-wetting agents and ignition-resistant materials for  WUI structure fire protection are discussed.