17: "The Technical Details of Fire" Guest: Jack Cohen

06/16/22 • 65 min

Today on the show we speak with Dr. Jack Cohen, a Research Physical Scientist and one of the most renowned and experienced voices on the FireSmart program. We chat with Jack regarding his experience with fire, what he’s learned, and what we can learn by looking at past fires. This episode also covers how homeowners can be prepared, and the importance of FireSmart education and engagement.

Dr. Jack Cohen has been involved in wildland fire research since 1972 and was a research scientist at US Forest Service fire laboratories in Missoula, MT, Riverside, CA and Macon, GA. Dr. Cohen has been interested in understanding the wildland-urban (WU) fire problem since the 1970s, but he formally started his research on how structures ignite during wildfires in 1989. Using computational modelling, laboratory and field experiments, and WU fire disaster investigations, he found that a home and its immediate surroundings within 100 feet, called the home ignition zone (HIZ), principally determine home ignitions during extreme wildfires.

Dr. Cohen retired from the US Forest Service in 2016 but continues his involvement in developing effective methods for preventing WU fire disasters, including research on the recent Lytton events.

Links:

Homeowners Manual: https://homeowners-manual.firesmartbc.ca/

Learn more about the Home Ignition Zone by watching this video: https://firesmartbc.ca/resource/firesmart-home-ignition-zone-assessment/

Explore the report and other resources on Lytton: https://firesmartbc.ca/lytton

Thank you to the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction for sponsoring this recent research on WU Fires. Please see their website at https://www.iclr.org/ for recent reports including Lytton.

Learn more about FireSmart BC: https://firesmartbc.ca/

Dr. Cohen retired from the US Forest Service in 2016 but continues his involvement in developing effective methods for preventing WU fire disasters, including research on the recent Lytton events.

Links:

Homeowners Manual: https://homeowners-manual.firesmartbc.ca/

Learn more about the Home Ignition Zone by watching this video: https://firesmartbc.ca/resource/firesmart-home-ignition-zone-assessment/

Explore the report and other resources on Lytton: https://firesmartbc.ca/lytton

Thank you to the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction for sponsoring this recent research on WU Fires. Please see their website at https://www.iclr.org/ for recent reports including Lytton.

Learn more about FireSmart BC: https://firesmartbc.ca/

Previous Episode

16: "Learn about the Importance of the Home Ignition Zone from a FireSmart Expert" Guest: Alan Westhaver

In today’s episode, we have a special guest, Alan Westhaver. In this conversation, Alan discusses his history with FireSmart, his vast Wildland Urban Fire experience, as well as some of the interesting progress he’s seen over the years within the industry.

The podcast episode dives specifically into the home ignition zone, as well as the recent report he was instrumental in bringing to life: An Examination of the Lytton, BC wildland-urban fire destruction. Alan shares what he and his team learned, what recommendations they have and some of the insights they gathered throughout their research and investigation process.

This podcast was recorded live at the FireSmart BC Conference on May 12th in Kamloops, British Columbia.
Links:

Explore the report and other resources on Lytton: https://firesmartbc.ca/lytton

Thank you to the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction for sponsoring this recent research on WU Fires. Please see their website at https://www.iclr.org/ for recent reports including Lytton.

Learn more about FireSmart BC: https://firesmartbc.ca/

Homeowners Manual: https://homeowners-manual.firesmartbc.ca/

Learn more about the Home Ignition Zone by watching this video: https://firesmartbc.ca/resource/firesmart-home-ignition-zone-assessment/

Next Episode

18: "Incident Investigations & the Importance of FireSmart" Guest: Jack Blair

Today, we are speaking with Jack Blair from the Office of the Fire Commissioner. In our interesting conversation with Jack, we discuss his personal background, his history in fire and wildfire, and his lessons learned from evaluating and investigating multiple fire events throughout the Province and Western Canada.

Jack also shares about the role that FireSmart plays in protecting homes and communities. This is a great episode to learn more about fire investigation, how fire moves, as well as the impacts and influence of FireSmart principles.

Links:

Learn more about FireSmart BC: https://firesmartbc.ca/

Homeowners Manual: https://homeowners-manual.firesmartbc.ca/

Office of the Fire Commissioner Website: https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/safety/emergency-management/fire-safety