SME Northern Lights Chapter 370 proudly presents . . . .
Development of a Fire Shelter for Use in Wild Land Fire Operations
Fire shelters are used by wild land fire fighters in the United States as a last line of defense in the event that they are in danger of being over run by a fast moving forest fire. There are typically 2-4 deaths per year in the United States resulting from entrapment of wild land fire fighters and over the 20+ years the old fire shelter was in use it was estimated to have saved more than 200 lives through more than 2000 deployments. In 2000, while conducting experimental fires in the NWT in Canada, it was discovered that when exposed to the hot gases from a forest fire the materials used in the then current fire shelter would break down and form a flammable mixture of hydrocarbons within the shelter. This mixture of hydrocarbons would invariably ignite resulting in flames both inside and outside the shelter.
Mark was contracted by the Forest Service in the United States to explain the process that led to the breakdown and subsequent failure of the existing fire shelter, develop a process for screening potential new materials for use in a replacement fire shelter and finally develop test methods and equipment to test and evaluate new fire shelter designs. He and a group of equipment specialists at the Missoula and Technology Development Center, developed, tested and patented a new design for a fire shelter. The “New Generation” fire shelter as it is being called is now in service in the US and to date some 200,000 shelters have been produced.
Mark will examine some of the hazards faced by wild land fire fighters and review the process by which the “New Generation” fire shelter came into existence.
About Our Speaker:
Mark is a mechanical engineer working in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Alberta. He teaches undergraduate Measurements, Thermo-systems design (HVAC), Energy Conversion and Senior Design. Mark’s research interests fall into two very different areas: Building Energy Conservation and Equipment for use with Fire Hazards.
While the energy conservation is quite benign the fire related research has involved Mark in the destruction of buildings, equipment and fairly large tracts of forest. He was responsible for the design and testing of a “fire shelter” used by the US Forest Service and jointly holds a patent on the design with colleagues in the Forest Service.
He has received several awards for teaching, both in the classroom and laboratory courses as well as a citation from Washington for his work with the Fire Shelter in the US. He is involved in technical committees in both ASHRAE and the NFPA and with SME through the Capstone Design Awards, sponsored by SME and Mechanical Engineering.
