Magnitude and Spatial Distribution of Urban Flammable Materials in the San Jose Area, California

摘要

The distribution and quantity of flammable materials in urban areas is of importance for any study of the fire spread and plume dynamics which may result from a nuclear attack. This study presents a methodology which uses aerial photographs and a 1000 feet sample grid to collect this information for San Jose and adjoining urban areas in California. A detailed literature search was carried out to develop estimates of the fuel loading of the major building types in an urban environment. Due to the ambiguities in this literature, the values as used here are approximations, but are supported by details of sources and assumptions. Some straightforward calculations using the results from the air photo interpretation and the literature search, yield information about the fire load and also urban characteristics per grid cell, including information on fire breaks which are important features with respect to fire spread. The results yield an average preliminary and partial fuel value of 9.2 kg/m sup 2 . This value is less than fuel loads estimated in the literature using different methods of obtaining data and is certainly less than the actual fuel loading for San Jose. However, we doubt that with further work we will find the average San Jose value to be any higher than 13 kg/m sup 2 . Additional sources of fuel which remain to be accounted for both in aggregate magnitude, and expected burnable fractions, include asphalt of roofs, streets, sidewalks, and parking lots, fuel storage facilities, fuel and natural gas in pipelines, natural vegetation, and external storage of lumber, construction, commercial and industrial-process materials. (ERA citation 11:032766)