Is peat good for fires?
Peat can be a major fire hazard and is not extinguished by light rain. Peat fires may burn for great lengths of time, or smoulder underground and reignite after winter if an oxygen source is present.
What are peat fires?
ABOUT PEAT FIRES Peat fires are a glowing global threat with serious economic and ecological impacts. Peat fires usually burn a smaller area than fast-moving forest fires, but they can burn up to 10 times more fuel mass per acre, producing far more smoke.
Can peat soil support a flaming wildfire?
Because most natural fuels can support both smoldering and flaming fires, such as pine needle beds (Wang et al. 2016), twigs, bark (Simeoni 2016) and firebrands (Fernandez-Pello 2017), it is logical to expect that peat soil can also support a flaming fire.
How does peat catch fire?
When peatlands are drained, they become highly vulnerable to peat fire. Dry peat ignites very easily and can burn for days or weeks, even smouldering underground and re- emerging away from the initial source. This makes these fires incredibly difficult to extinguish, and highly unpredictable and uncontrollable.
Do you have to dry peat before burning?
In its natural state, peat is around 95% water by weight (most of which must be dried out before burning) and frequently contains some sand. Today’s rural Europeans still heat their homes with peat, and in Eastern Europe the fuel is even used to fire thermal power plants.
Can I burn peat in my fireplace?
There won’t be any harm in burning peat, but, unless you have air from below the fire and the fuel on a grate, you won’t have much success burning peat well. In an open fireplace you simply use an elevated grate to get a decent burn; in an insert to get a good burn you would have to have one designed for peat or coal.
How do you extinguish a peat fire?
New Imperial research shows a fire suppressant, when combined with water, cuts the amount of time and water needed to extinguish peat fires by 40%. The researchers say this is a big step in tackling smouldering peat fires, which are the largest fires on Earth.
Why is peat soil bad?
Many gardeners trust peat as a growing medium. But it’s not always ideal. It is a poor mulch, quickly dries out, and is easily blown away.
Is peat smoke toxic?
The fine particles released from peat fires pose the greatest risk to your health. When these particles get into your eyes and lungs, symptoms of irritation such as coughing, wheezing and sore eyes are commonly experienced.
Can I burn peat in a wood burner?
Peat briquettes can be burned in a wood stove, but because of the different properties between peat and firewood, it may not be an efficient way to heat your home. Firewood is denser than peat which makes it burn longer with fewer emissions when compared to burning peat briquettes.
Can you burn peat in a woodburner?
Many wood burning stoves can only burn firewood logs, but it may be possible to burn peat in multi fuel stoves, depending on the model of stove and what the manufacturer recommends.
Does peat burn slower than wood?
Peat briquettes can burn much hotter compared to traditional firewood logs and so care must be taken to ensure that temperatures within a stove don’t get too hot. Burning peat briquettes in your stove in smaller quantities can help to regulate temperatures and lead to successful peat fires.
What are the causes of the peat fires?
Droughts, drainage and changes in land use are thought to be main causes leading to the high flammability conditions of dry peatlands. Possible ignition events can be natural (e.g. lightning, self-heating, volcanic eruption) or anthropogenic (land management, accidental ignition, arson).
How big was the peat fire in North Carolina?
In the past, hundreds of firefighters battled a 40,000-acre peat fire in North Carolina that burned for months – the dry region had not received significant rain. Started by a lightning strike, it was the largest wildfire in the United States at the time. Peat fires in Indonesia have added countless tons of carbon to the atmosphere.
How long does it take for a peat fire to burn?
A new study measures emission factors for tropical peatland fires in Malaysia. Oil palm slash and burn on peat soils leads to peat fires that may burn for weeks. This fire measured in July 2016 in north Selangor, Malaysia, burned for at least 4 weeks, releasing smoke constantly into the atmosphere. Credit: Thomas Smith
Where was the most studied peat mega fire?
The most studied peat mega-fire took place in Indonesia in 1997 and led to an extreme haze event (see Figure 1). The smoke covered large parts of South-East Asia, even reaching Australia and China, and induced a surge of respiratory emergencies in the population and disruption of shipping and aviation routes for weeks.