Academic literature on the topic 'National Fire Plan (U.S.)'

ABSTRACT The U.S. government has elected to proceed unilaterally with respect to oil spill response plans for vessels—despite the fact that it is party to two important treaties which support a globally unified system. While the timetable for implementing the vessel response plans required by U. S. legislation moves forward for tanker owners, the U. S. executive branch has not kept pace by providing badly needed guidelines—demanded by the same legislation. Of particular importance are the failure of revisions to the U. S. National Contingency Plan, area contingency plans, and oil spill cleanup contractor approval procedures and guidelines to appear.

Goods and shelves are closely and numerously put in the logistics center, so there are many hidden dangers. People’s life safety and property safety are threatened by fire. The key of putting out fire and evacuating people is to grasp the changes of the important parameters in the fire. In this paper the FDS (Fire Dynamic Simulator) software developed by the U. S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is used to build a fire model and sets two fire scenarios to analyze the fire spreading process in logistics center. According to the numerical simulation results, reasonable suggestions are put forward in the end.

Prekomjerni unos soli ključni je čimbenik u epidemiji prehipertenzije/hipertenzije. Hrvatska je 2014. objavila Strateški plan za smanjenje prekomjernog unosa kuhinjske soli u Republici Hrvatskoj 2014. – 2019. prema preporukama Svjetske zdravstvene organizacije te je preporučena količina soli 5 grama na dan (2 g natrija), dok prema najnovijim istraživanjima stanovnici u Hrvatskoj i dalje prosječno dnevno unose dvostruko više od preporučene dnevne količine (11,6 g na dan). U eksperimentalnom dijelu ovog istraživanja u slučajno odabranim uzorcima iz maloprodaje analitički je ispitan sadržaj natrija (te računski ukupni sadržaj soli) u više vrsta pekarskih proizvoda (kruh, peciva). U tu svrhu, primjenom sofisticirane analitičke opreme ICP-MS (induktivno spregnuta plazma s masenom spektrometrijom) utvrđene su količine natrija u različitim vrstama kruha, kruščića i peciva te uspoređene sa zahtjevima nacionalne regulative o maksimalno dozvoljenom sadržaju natrija u kruhu koji propisuje maksimalno 1,4 %. Prosječna vrijednost svih uzoraka iznosi 1,46 g / 100 g, što prelazi dozvoljenu količinu. Rezultati ukazuju na to da se svi proizvođači još uvijek nisu prilagodili odredbama pravilnika te da ne zadovoljavaju zahtjeve premašujući dozvoljene količine natrija, odnosno soli u kruhu i pecivima.

ABSTRACT We have developed a prototype oil spill response configuration system to help U. S. Coast Guard (USCG) planners determine the appropriate response equipment and personnel for major spills. Advanced artificial intelligence planning techniques, as well as other software tools, have been applied to spill trajectory modeling, plan evaluation, and map display. We have successfully demonstrated the initial prototype system to various USCG personnel at the regional and national levels on a specific major spill scenario from the San Francisco Bay area.

Wildfires in Indonesia 2015 burnt forests in many protected areas, including remaining forests in Tesso Nilo National Park. We investigated the extent to which 2015's wildfires affect the remaining habitat and the spatial distribution of ungulates in the park by using satellite images to identify burnt and unburnt forest patches. Habitat conditions and the presence of ungulates indicated by the number of ungulate signs were compared between burnt and unburnt areas. The fire devastated trees at different rates depending on tree life form stages. We found that younger trees were more vulnerable to fire. The abundance of ungulates did not differ significantly between burnt and unburnt areas, but all vegetation characteristics were significantly different (Mann-Whitney U-test p-value < 0.05). We surmise that food such as new shoots or leaves, particularly at the edge of burnt areas, attracted ungulates out of unburnt areas. The remaining forest is relatively small, and the park is under continued pressure from illegal conversion, so any further loss of remaining forest as refugia will likely harm the ungulate population. We recommend that management should prioritize the preservation of remaining pristine habitat and the reduction of fire suppression, especially during the dry season.

ABSTRACT Offshore oil and gas developing projects have been started on the Sakhalin shelf and the sea of Okhotsk. These large scale developing projects require multi-national cooperative spill response, then agreements for emergency occasions have to be ratified between neighbor countries under international schemes such as Northwest Pacific Action Plan (NOWPAP) initiated by United Nations Environmental Progamme. As of the moment, there are no diplomatic agreements concerning with oil spill response between stakeholder counties, then custom clearance and other international migration procedure will be an obstacle for exchanging both materials and professionals. A comparative analysis of oil spill contingency plans of Russia, Korea and Japan resulted in some clear differences in these countries approaches. The Korean National Contingency Plan explicitly determines the roles of an ‘on-scene coordinator’ who is a unique organizer for oil spill response. On the other hands, the same kind of Japanese plan does not even contain a word of such ‘on-scene coordinator’. For the Russian case, they have U. S. like Federal Emergency Management Agency, but allocation of roles between this agency and Ministry of Transport are still ambiguous.

Observed changes in hydrological conditions indicate the need for economical use of water. This pertains to water management on a national scale, river basins and drainage systems. The outflow of water can be extensively regulated after various forms of retention in the catchment. The water level regulators presented herein enable the damming of water in drainage networks and the adjacent ground. Their advantages include their simple structure and operation principles and also the ability to adapt to currently existing devices in sub-irrigation systems. Laboratory tests were conducted to determine the hydraulic characteristics and operating conditions of three innovative regulator solutions. They focused on changing water damming heights by the closure of successively placed beams in order to obtain the required water level in the given hydrometeorological conditions. The structures of the regulators were made of plastics and rectilinear fillings for securing S-type excavations and elements of sheet piling with a developed shape in the plan of U and Z types, offering advantages compared to traditional materials (with respect to installation, operation and durability). All tested regulators were characterized by the effective flow Qe, caused by water leaks due to the lack of tightness of the regulator elements. The regulator with rectilinear beams of S-type closures offered the highest effective flow, which was 4 ÷ 5 times higher than in other regulators. U- and Z-type regulators were better at facilitating the regulation of the water table and the flow than the S rectilinear regulator. This led to both: the greater tightness of connections and the use of an overflow with a developed crest in the plan. The U and Z controllers had the highest hydraulic efficiency, expressed as the flow increase coefficient, at overflow layer heights of up to 5.0 cm. For tested fillings larger than 5.0 cm, U-type beams with a cylindrical corner shape had a lower flow increase coefficient (kq = 1.25) than Z-type beams with an angular corner shape, for which kq ∈ <1.35 ÷ 1.38>.

(francuski) Le d?veloppement et le renforcement de l'Etat serbe se sont traduits par l'?tablissement de contacts intenses, et sur un vaste plan, tant avec les ?tats voisins qu'avec des contr?es plus ?loign?es, ouvrant ainsi la voie ? de fortes influences originaires du monde byzantin et des pays d'Europe centrale et occidentale. L'id?ologie imp?riale, d'une part, et la culture aulique ainsi que celle fond?e sur les id?aux de la chevalerie, d'autre part, se sont rencontr?es sur le territoire serbe o? leurs traces s'entrem?lent dans la diplomatique, les monnayages mais aussi dans la vie quotidienne. Une de ces traces particuli?res est assur?ment constitu?e par l'apparition et l'emploi de l'h?raldique. De nombreux exemples de blasons repr?sent?s sur des sceaux, des monnaies, des monuments fun?raires, des parures, des v?tements et de la vaisselle r?v?lent l'importance conf?r?e ? l'h?raldique en Serbie m?di?vale o? cet art re?oit une place ? part enti?re sous le r?gne de Stefan Dusan. Cette p?n?tration de l'h?raldique est parfaitement attest?e par le sceau et les monnaies de ce souverain sur lesquels l'image du blason ainsi que les repr?sentations simplifi?es de divers attributs rev?tent un r?le de tout premier plan. Il convient ?galement de mentionner ici la place importante de l'h?raldique parmi les seigneurs de Stefan Dusan, laquelle est attest?e, entre autres monuments, par la dalle fun?raire du vo?vode Nikola Stanjevic ? Konca, la repr?sentation du casque avec lambrequins d'Orest, un des puissants vassaux de l'empereur, visible sur une tour ? Serr?s, une ceinture du s?bastocrator (?) Branko, etc. Tous ces exemples t?moignent de l'instauration d'une culture fond?e sur les id?aux de la chevalerie et aulique ? l'?poque de Stefan Dusan, qui ?tait assur?ment li?e au r?le important jou? par les puissants et l'arm?e. Les changements r?els et profonds alors survenus sont ?galement parfaitement attest?s par l'apposition de symboles h?raldiques sur les monuments fun?raires. Cette pratique a trouv? sa pleine expression sur le monument fun?raire de l'empereur Dusan qui a ?t? rehauss? d'un gisant ? personnification du d?funt rev?tu de tous les attributs du pouvoir corporels et t?moignage de sa puissance, o? cette statue mortuaire est un emprunt propre ? l'Europe occidentale. La p?n?tration des symboles h?raldiques s'est effectu?e sous l'influence importante, voire capitale, des chevaliers et mercenaires allemands recrut?s par la cour de Stefan Dusan, avec ? leur t?te le chevalier Palman. Cette th?se trouve en sa faveur les symboles h?raldiques m?mes relev?s en Serbie, qui, par leur caract?re, appartiennent ? l'h?ritage de l'h?raldique germanique ? teutonique, ainsi que les nombreuses analogies avec les insignes repr?sent?s dans Le r?le d'armes de Zurich dat? vers 1340. Sur la base du mat?riel disponible il reste difficile de dire dans quelle mesure l'h?raldique et l'esprit inspir? de l'id?al de la chevalerie ont p?n?tr? dans les strates inf?rieures de la soci?t?. De nombreux documents, avant tout ?crits, attestent assur?ment toute l'importance alors conf?r?e au blason. Sur la base des monuments conserv?s il est d?j? possible de conclure ? l'existence de certaines r?gles et principes h?raldiques: le blason compos? d'un ?cu orn? d'une ?roue?, d'un casque avec cimier repr?sente par un cousin, une rosette et un plumet, apparaissant sur une monnaie de Stefan Dusan, respectivement la repr?sentation de ces m?mes ?l?ments sans ?cu sur d'autres monnaies mais aussi sur le sceau de ce m?me souverain r?v?lent clairement que les repr?sentations h?raldiques avaient trouv? place dans la symbolique du pouvoir royal, respectivement imp?rial en Serbie m?di?vale. Par ailleurs, l'utilisation d'une symbolique h?raldique reprenant les m?mes embl?mes sur les monnaies de l'empereur Uros, du serviteur Branko, du joupan Nikola Altomanovic, Djuradj 1er Balsic, Vuk Brankovic et Jakov ne fait que confirmer l'importance des repr? sentations h?raldiques chez les dynastes serbes. L'?tape suivante dans le d?veloppement de l'h?raldique est constitu?e par l'apparition de nouveaux symboles h?raldiques li?s ? certaines familles et r?gions, tel que le symbole compos? d'un casque cimier associ? ? une repr?sentation de l'imp?ratrice apparaissant sur des monnaies de l'empereur Uros, de l'imp?ratrice Jelena, du roi Vukasin et de la reine Jelena, symbole que nous trouvons ?galement sur un sceau du roi Vukasin. C'est sous une m?me lumi?re qu'il convient ?galement de voir la marque familiale des Balsic qui sera reprise parmi les seigneurs et petits seigneurs, tout particuli?rement sur le territoire de Kosovo, ? en juger par les nombreuses trouvailles de bagues sceaux sur ce territoire. Une place particuli?re revient aux blasons familiales des Lazarevic ayant pour motif principal un casque avec cornes de veau qui appara?t sur des sceaux et des monnaies du prince Lazar, et qui ? l'?poque de Stefan Lazarevic formera un symbole h?raldique complet associ? ? l'image d'un aigle bic?phale aux ailes d?ploy?es repr?sent? sur un ?cu, des monnaies ou sous forme de cimier sur un casque, sur un sceau. Ce m?me embl?me a ?t? un bref temps gard? par Djuradj Brankovic sur un rare dinar, avant de le remplacer par un ?cu orn? d'une bande diagonale et d'un lys dans chaque champ libre, associ? ?galement ? un casque avec cimier en forme de lion sur un sceau conserv?. D'apr?s ce sceau exceptionnel Lazar Brankovic a adopt? le lion ? embl?me familial ? qui orne l'?cu et le cimier. Durant cette p?riode le r?le de la culture fond?e sur les id?aux de la chevalerie et aulique jouait un r?le significatif comme l'atteste le fait que le despote Stefan ?tait membre de l'ordre de chevalerie du Dragon cr?? par le roi de Hongrie Sigismond et que c'est en cette qualit? et en qualit? de souverain qu'il adoubait des chevaliers. D'apr?s les dires de Konstantin Filozof des ?occidentaux? venaient ? la cour de Serbie pour que le despote les ?couronne? en tant que chevalier. On note dans l'h?raldique serbe m?di?vale le m?lange de deux symboles ? le blason des chevaliers allemands et l'embl?me imp?rial. Le blason repr?sentait un symbole des armes au sens originel de cette notion alors que l'aigle bic?phale ?tait consid?r? comme le symbole du souverain, ?national?. Ce symbole a eu, dans une premi?re p?riode, une signification id?ologique et symbolique ? la base de laquelle se trouvait le rattachement de la dynastie serbe ? la famille byzantine r?gnante. L'aigle bic?phale, ? en juger par ses mod?les iconographiques, a ?volu? en marque du souverain, pour, dans une derni?re phase de son ?volution, ? l'?poque des despotes, recevoir la signification d'un symbole h?raldique. Celui-ci impliquait le droit ? h?riter du tr?ne et de l'empire serbes repr?sent?s par l'image de l'aigle bic?phale embl?me reconnaissable sur la carte d'Angelin Dulcert de 1339 et sur le sceau de Tvrtko 1er. La manifestation parall?le de fortes influences originaires d'Occident et de Byzance se refl?te ?galement dans le mausol?e de Stefan Dusan o? le monument fun?raire de ce souverain, en forme de gisant, c?toyait des fresques ex?cut?es selon le programme et l'iconographie byzantines. Nous retrouvons ?galement cette symbiose sur de nombreuses ?missions mon?taires ? commencer par celles du r?gne de l'empereur Uros avec repr?sentations de symboles h?raldiques d'un c?t? et de l'empereur ? cheval tenant un sceptre de l'autre c?t?, repr?sentation qui peut ind?niablement ?tre li?e ? l'id?ologie imp?riale byzantine. La question se pose de savoir si la Serbie m?di?vale a vu se d?velopper des symboles nationaux ayant pu conduire ? la cr?ation de son propre blason. Les diff?rentes repr?sentations de blasons enregistr?es ? partir du r?gne du roi Dusan, en passant par les dynastes serbes, jusqu'? l'?poque du despote Lazar Brankovic semblent ?tre en faveur du d?veloppement d'une h?raldique familiale, alors que l'id?e d'un symbole national n'a m?ri que progressivement pour recevoir sa pleine forme apr?s la chute du despotat, assur?ment en tant qu'expression d'une aspiration ? la r?alisation du renouveau de l'Etat serbe. Cette id?e ?tait li?e ? l'embl?me de l'aigle bic?phale ? symbole national ? et aux symboles h?raldiques ? embl?mes de l'h?ritage byzantin, europ?en mais aussi serbe.

ABSTRACT While developing its new crisis management plan in 1989, BP America (BPA) modified the incident command system (ICS) for use as the organizational structure of its oil spill response team. This was done to be compatible with the post-Exxon Valdez organization of the Alyeska response team and for certain advantages it would provide for responses in other locations and in other types of crisis situations. The ICS was originally developed for fighting wildfires in California and has since been widely adopted by other fire and emergency services in the U. S. While retaining most of the ICS structure, ?PA developed modifications necessary to fit the unique requirements of oil spill response. The modified ICS was used during a full scale test of ?PA's draft crisis management plan in December 1989, and thus was familiar to ?PA's top executives and other participating response team members. When the American Trader spill occurred in February 1990, BPA's management used the modified ICS organization even though the crisis management plan had not been finalized or widely distributed within the company. Details of the organizational structure evolved as the spill response progressed, in part due to the changing requirements of the response over time and in part because of previously unrecognized issues. This paper describes that evolution and the resulting final structure. Essential differences between the original ICS and BPA's oil spill version of it are highlighted. Despite the unrecognized issues and the unfamiliarity of some team members with the ICS, the organization worked well and can be credited with a share of the success of the American Trader response.

The Australian Fire Danger Rating System (AFDRS) was launched on 1 September 2022, bringing a generational change to the way that Australia calculates and communicates fire danger. Its focus is improved public safety and reduced impacts of bushfires though: • Improving the science behind fire danger predictions. • Improving the way that fire danger is communicated. • Providing government and industry with better decision-making tools. • Reducing future costs associated with bushfire impacts. The previous fire danger rating system was introduced in the 1960’s by Australia’s first full-time bushfire researcher, Alan McArthur, based on extensive experimental fires. While useful, the system included only two fire behaviour models (dry sclerophyll forest and grassland), was not easily updateable and fires were being experienced that increasingly exceeded its design parameters. In July 2014, Senior Officers and Ministers agreed that the development of a new system was a national priority. The new system was developed by the New South Wales Rural Fire Service in collaboration with the Bureau of Meteorology, all Australian states and territories and the Commonwealth government. Program management and system implementation were coordinated by AFAC (Australia’s National Council for Fire and Emergency Services). The new AFDRS uses contemporary fire behaviour science, makes better use of available data and uses software infrastructure that can be continuously improved. The AFDRS starts with eight fire behaviour models representing a representative range of Australian vegetation types, it captures current fuel information, uses satellite data, integrates weather from the Bureau of Meteorology and calculates fire danger down to a 1.5km by 1.5-kilometer grid. These calculations are linked to tools that assist fire operational decision-making via a Fire Behaviour Index that is calibrated to operational implications for fire management. A separate arm of the project developed a public-facing Fire Danger Rating framework, guided by one of Australia’s largest social research projects. The research found that, while fire danger signage was well recognised, few acted on fire danger ratings to plan their activities. Focus groups and subsequent surveys found that the community preferred a simplified public-facing system where each fire danger rating had a distinct call to action. The implementation of the new system required an enormous effort from all levels of government across all States and Territories as well as the Commonwealth. It required updates to legislation, policy, procedures, web pages and other IT infrastructure, as well as replacement of physical signage. However, as a result, Australia has a significantly new way of calculating and communicating fire danger, that is continuously improvable and which will bring benefits for decades to come.

The 2017 wildfires marked a dramatic milestone in Portuguese society, which corresponded to an extreme intensity and the inherent loss of life, property, and thousands of forest hectares. This high impact led to a paradigm shift regarding prevention and firefighting, highlighting the need for an integrated fire management approach and assuming as imperative the integration of wildfire risk reduction on spatial planning at municipal level. This turning point was expressed in the prolific legislative production, namely in the guidelines for preventing and fighting wildfires, given by the Resolution of the Council of Ministers (RCM) n.º 157-A/2017; on the principles set out in the Directive for Preventing and Fighting Wildfires, defined by the RCM n.º 20/2018; in the approval of the National Plan for the Integrated Management of Wildfires (PNGIFR), emanated from the RCM n.º 45-A/2020, which established the need to implement an Integrated Management System for Wildfires (SGIFR), whose vision and objectives were defined in the RCM n.º 12/2019, and its operating rules were enacted in the Decree-Law n.º 82/2021. As such, the SGIFR establishes, at a national level, strategic guidelines with a view of risk reduction, changing the behaviour of owners, users and other beneficiaries of the rural territory. In addition, SGIFR proposes integrating wildfire risk reduction in spatial planning through the insertion of fire hazard map, namely in the master plan’s constraints map (i.e., the map where are identified the administrative easements and public utility restrictions that may constitute limitations or impediments to any specific form of land use). The constraint map is one of the documents of the Municipal Master Plan, i.e., the fundamental legal instrument in the management of the municipal territory that defines the strategic framework for territorial development and the spatial organisation model of the municipal territory. This paper identifies the weaknesses of the approach proposed by the SGIFR to promote wildfire risk reduction through spatial planning, and its short and long-term impacts. Firstly, we used an online questionnaire answered by 18 municipalities from the Centre Region of Portugal, in order to examine the local experts’ experience in applying the legislation of spatial planning and wildfire management policies. In a second step, we collected data from a focus group with representatives of the technical forestry office from 8 municipalities where the difficulties, the challenges and needs to integrate spatial planning and wildfire risk reduction were discussed. One of the main weaknesses is related with the integration of the fire hazard map in the constraints map of the Municipal Master Plan, considering the high inter-annual variability of fire hazard and the long-term definition of the municipal development model. This procedure will create building permit constraints which can limit the development and continue to favour the depopulation of the rural areas. This paper contributes to bridging a critical gap in knowledge on the role of spatial planning in the reduction of wildfire hazard and exposure, given the characteristics of fire hazard that are distinctive from other natural hazards (e.g., floods, costal erosion, earthquakes).

This paper proposes a “public goods” approach to the development of “civil society” as a foundation for building a sustainable environment. Economists define “public goods” as goods that cannot be delivered through traditional marketplace mechanisms, such as fire protection and education. Civil Society organizations also can be viewed as public goods. A central feature of sustainable liberal democracies is the existence of intermediary civil society collective organizations. These organizational units are supported by macro-level governmental institutions under the rationale of providing citizens benefits that cannot be provided by the market or directly by the state. This approach provides an alternative to zero-sum conflicts and leads to compromise solutions that will gain taxpayer support. Research findings from a variety of places provide historical illustrations of the effectiveness of a public goods approach include: (1) the U. S. TVA organizational design during the New Deal and the contemporary cross-party appeal of criminal justice reform; (2) the formation of the European Coal and Steel Community - the forerunner of the European Union – which provides one-third of its budget for local-level sustainability projects; and (3) the successful vertical integration of smallholder cooperatives in East Africa that encourages sustainable family, community, and national development.