The most typical scenario for peat fires is when a fast flaming wildfire sweeps over a region burning the surface vegetation and igniting the peat if this is dry enough. The peat then smolders for a much longer time. This is what happens in Indonesia and probably what has occurred in Russia this summer.
What is peat bog firewood?
There used to be many areas of northern Europe better supplied with peat bogs than with trees. Peat, also called turf, was a convenient household fuel when there wasn't much firewood around. Some regions of North America made use of peat for domestic fires in the 1700s and 1800s - and a few still do.
What is a peat fire?
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.
What is a peat bog and how is it formed?
Peat is an accumulation of decayed vegetation that forms over the space of three to five thousand years in wetlands that are called “bogs” or “peat bogs.” Said more succinctly, it’s sort of like coal, but much softer, and can be used as fuel.
What happens when peat bogs burn?
As Peat Bogs Burn, a Climate Threat RisesAs Peat Bogs Burn, a Climate Threat Rises. In a large wildfire in May 2011 that burned in and around the town of Slave Lake, about 80 miles south of here, some peat continued to burn through the winter, until spring rains and melting snow finally extinguished it.
Can peat bogs catch fire?
Like forests, peatlands are threatened by climate change. Warming temperatures can dry out bogs, making them more susceptible to fires, and to deeper, more intense burning. A peat fire, which can smolder like a cigarette for months, can release a lot of carbon.
What causes a peat fire?
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 long does a peat fire last?
Peatland fires are “the largest and longest-burning fires on Earth,” Rein said. These slow, smoldering fires can burn for weeks and months and consume phenomenal amounts of fuel. Peatland fires are thought to be responsible for 15% of global greenhouse gas emissions every year—the same percentage as the European Union.
What is the longest burning peat bog fire?
As one of the top scientists in the field, he's seen many up close—aboveground, anyway. "Indeed, the oldest continuously burning fire on Earth is the Burning Mountain in New South Wales, Australia, a large coal seam that has been smoldering for approximately 6,000 years," Rein said.
What does a peat fire smell like?
For many Scotch whisky fans, Islay single malt lovers in particular, their favorite drink is defined by the distinct aroma of peat smoke, a bewitching, earthy perfume of ancient moss.
Why are peat fires hard to put out?
Peat has a high carbon content and is naturally porous. Therefore, once dry, peat areas are highly vulnerable to ignition and the resulting fires are almost impossible to extinguish without re-establishing natural groundwater levels.
How do you extinguish a peat fire?
During laboratory experiments at Imperial's HazeLab, they found that adding the suppressant to water helped them put out peat fires nearly twice as fast as using water alone, while using only a third to a half of the usual amount of water.
Does burning peat give off carbon monoxide?
What is in peat fire smoke? Peat smoke differs from normal wood smoke because of what is in the peat and how it burns. Peat smoke contains fine particles, water vapour and gases including carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxides.
What is the longest burning substance in the world?
A coal seam-fueled eternal flame in Australia known as "Burning Mountain" is claimed to be the world's longest burning fire, at 6,000 years old. A coal mine fire in Centralia, Pennsylvania, has been burning beneath the borough since 1962.
Can you burn peat in a wood stove?
The burning characteristics of wood and peat are very similar and a stove designed for one will just as easily burn the other. Peat produces much more ash than wood though so that the stove needs to be de-ashed more often.
Where is the world's oldest continuously burning underground fire?
The Centralia mine fire is a coal-seam fire that has been burning in the labyrinth of abandoned coal mines underneath the borough of Centralia, Pennsylvania, United States, since at least May 27, 1962.
What temperature does peat burn at?
The ignition temperature of peat was 177°C [8].
How do you extinguish a peat fire?
During laboratory experiments at Imperial's HazeLab, they found that adding the suppressant to water helped them put out peat fires nearly twice as fast as using water alone, while using only a third to a half of the usual amount of water.
What gas is released when peat burns?
When peat comes into contact with air, its carbon combines with oxygen in the decomposition process, and is released as carbon dioxide. This is happening the world over.
Does burning peat give off carbon monoxide?
What is in peat fire smoke? Peat smoke differs from normal wood smoke because of what is in the peat and how it burns. Peat smoke contains fine particles, water vapour and gases including carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxides.
Why is it hard to find descriptions of anyone lighting a domestic peat fire?
Because of the significance laid on never letting the hearth go cold it's hard to find descriptions of anyone lighting a domestic peat fire. There would surely have been varied local customs for building the pile of turves, the use of kindling etc. - just as there were different tools and customs for cutting peat.
What fuel is peat?
Peat is a very "ashy" fuel. Baking was ‘down under’, in the fire’s heart using a ‘baking iron’ ....a flat circular piece of cast iron approximately 1⁄2in thick and 2ft diameter ...set on a bed of hot ashes. ... biscuits or yeast cake were placed...on the iron and covered by the baker, a flattened cast-iron dome.
What does peat smoke smell like?
Peat smoke has a pungent "peat-reek", and the smell gives a special flavour to fish or meat hanging from the ceiling or fireplace to be preserved by smoking. The distinctive aroma comes through in some whiskies too.
What is peat used for?
Some regions of North America made use of peat for domestic fires in the 1700s and 1800s - and a few still do. (See quote lower left column.) It's been used for cooking, heat, and what we would now call background lighting for longer than history has been written.
Why is peat important to Scotland?
In Ireland, Scotland and parts of England it was considered very important to keep the fire burning all the time. At bed-time a peat block and/or ashes would be arranged to "smother" the fire without extinguishing it, so it would stay gently smouldering overnight. Then in the morning it would be blown into life again. Because of the significance laid on never letting the hearth go cold it's hard to find descriptions of anyone lighting a domestic peat fire. There would surely have been varied local customs for building the pile of turves, the use of kindling etc. - just as there were different tools and customs for cutting peat. Peat quality varies too, depending on its depth, colour, age, and more.
Where is peat used for heating?
Natural, locally-dug peat is still used for domestic heating in Scotland and, famously, in Ireland where the slices of peat are always called turves and the fires are turf fires - even when manufactured peat briquettes are used. In the 19th century cutting peat for fuel was an important part of life in Scandinavia, ...
Can peat be stacked?
They must be stacked so simple heaps will shed rainwater. Better still, the stack can be thatched, or sheltered in a farm building. There is a lot of information on the web about traditional peat harvesting.
Abstract
Florida is the only state maintaining permanent, well-equipped and adequately manned, fire-fighting stations for preventing and controlling peat-bog or muck-soil fires. Origin of peat-bog fires in California, Florida, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin is probably similar, smoking perhaps being commonest cause.
Citation Formats
Parker, D J, Benson, J B, Cash, F E, and Bird, J H. Peat-bog fires: their origin and control. United States: N. p., 1947. Web.
What is a peat bog?
A peat bog is a type of wetland whose soft, spongy ground is composed largely of living and decaying Sphagnum moss. Decayed, compacted moss is known as peat, which can be harvested to use for fuel or as a soil additive.
Where are peat bogs found?
Peat bogs are found throughout the world where cool temperatures and adequate rainfall prevail. Estimates indicate that peatlands (bogs and fens) cover as much as 5 percent of the land surface, primarily in northern temperate and arctic regions. Canada contains approximately 130 million hectares of bogs, while the United States has approximately 7 million hectares.
How do bogs form?
A bog begins in a low spot where ground-water is close to or above the surface. Such a spot, sometimes called a fen, contains a wide mix of water-tolerant plants, including grasslike plants such as reeds and sedges, and trees such as alders. Groundwater has a relatively high mineral content, which helps support this variety of plant types. Because water in such low spots is still, oxygen is not replenished quickly, and normal decomposition of dead plants is slowed somewhat by the low oxygen content. When plant deposition exceeds plant decay, the fen begins to fill in, and the uppermost level of the fen loses contact with groundwater. In many wetland areas, this leads to drying out of the wetland and development of a field or woodland. However, if there is sufficient rainfall and other conditions are right, the fen may be transformed into a raised bog — a self-contained wetland that grows up to and even above the surrounding terrain.
What is the pH of bog water?
As a result, the pH of bog water may be as low as 3.5, about the acidity of tomato juice. As new Sphagnum grows atop the partially decayed growth of previous years, it compacts the layers below it into the thick, crumbly, spongelike material known as peat.
How are bogs threatened?
Like other wetlands throughout the world, bogs are threatened by human activities, including draining and filling, and harvesting of peat. Estimates indicate that 90 percent or more of former boglands has been lost in several European countries. see also Bryophytes; Carnivorous Plants; Wetlands. Richard Robinson.
Is peat a fuel?
Peat has been harvested as a fuel for millennia, and it is still used this way today. Fuel peat is harvested both commercially and by individuals. Because bog peat is approximately 95 percent water, it must be dried before use. Dried peat is also used as a soil additive in gardens and nurseries, and its harvest and export for this purpose is economically significant to Canada, Sweden, Ireland, and several other countries.
Who wrote the book of swamp and bog?
Eastman John A. The Book of Swamp and Bog: Trees, Shrubs, and Wildflowers of the Eastern Freshwater Wetlands. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 1995.
Where did the peat mega fire take place?
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.
How long do peat fires last?
Reports of peat fires lasting for several months are not unusual, like the 1997 Borneo fires in Indonesia, 2000 Okavango delta fires in Botswana or 2008 Evans Road fire in North Carolina, USA. Peat fires occur with some frequency worldwide in tropical, temperate and boreal regions. 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).
What is smouldering combustion?
Smouldering combustion is the slow, low temperature, flameless burning of porous fuels. It is especially common in wildland fuels which are thermally thick and form a char on heating. In the natural environment, smouldering fires burn two types of biomass: thick fuels like tree branches or logs, and organic soils like the duff layer or peat.
What is the term for the burning of thick fuels after a fire?
The persistent smouldering of thick fuels is typically observed for a few days after a flaming wildfire has passed, and it is often referred to as residual combustion. This can make residual smouldering be responsible for the majority of the biomass burned during a wildfires. Peat soils are made by the natural accumulation ...
How does smouldering fire affect the climate?
Smouldering fires contribute considerably to global greenhouse gas emissions , and result in widespread ecosystem destruction. Moreover, because peat is ancient carbon, and smouldering is enhanced under warmer and drier climates, it creates a positive feedback mechanism in the climate system, a self-accelerating global process [Rein, 2013].
How is peat made?
Peat soils are made by the natural accumulation of partially decayed biomass and are the largest reserves of terrestrial organic carbon. Because of this vast accumulation of fuel, once ignited, smouldering peat fires burn for very long periods of time (e.g. months, years) despite extensive rains, weather changes or fire-fighting attempts.
What is the role of moisture in mega fires?
role of moisture is such that natural or anthropogenic-induced droughts are the leading cause of smouldering mega-fires. The second most important property that affects ignition is the mineral content.
How much peat was consumed in the bog?
As much as four feet of peat was consumed in some parts of the bog. “All that peat, combusted and gone,” said Sophie Wilkinson, a McMaster doctoral student. Five years later, the bog is showing few signs of returning to its old self. “It is definitely on the brink,” Ms. Wilkinson said.
Why does peat build up over centuries?
The peat slowly builds up over centuries because the annual growth exceeds the decay. A relatively small amount of peat is mined to burn as fuel, to improve backyard gardens or to add smokiness to Scotch.
Why are peatlands threatened?
Like forests, peatlands are threatened by climate change. Warming temperatures can dry out bogs, making them more susceptible to fires, and to deeper, more intense burning. A peat fire, which can smolder like a cigarette for months, can release a lot of carbon.
Why is peat mined?
A relatively small amount of peat is mined to burn as fuel, to improve backyard gardens or to add smokiness to Scotch. But most of it stays where it is, and because it accumulates carbon over such a long time, it contains more carbon than is in all the world’s trees and plants, and nearly as much as the atmosphere does.
How much land is peatland?
But peatlands play an important role, too. There are an estimated 1.6 million square miles of peatlands, or about 3 percent of the earth’s land surface, mostly in northern latitudes in Canada, Alaska, Europe and Russia. Image.
Where was the Red Earth Creek burn?
The site of a recent prescribed burn in Red Earth Creek, Canada on June 17, 2016. After each wildfire, peat moss grows and accumulates carbon, building a new layer on top of each other.
Does peat grow bigger?
Drier peat allows more oxygen to get to the roots of trees and other vegetation. This causes them to grow bigger, which means they use more water, further drying the peat.
What is peat bog?
Peat is an accumulation of decayed vegetation that forms over the space of three to five thousand years in wetlands that are called “bogs” or “peat bogs.” Said more succinctly, it’s sort of like coal, but much softer, and can be used as fuel.
How does peat work?
How Peat Works. Peating occurs after the barley used to make scotch has been soaked in water to kick-start germination. This is the process that turns barley to malt and occurs on what’s known as a “malting floor.”. To dry the new malt, peat is burned in furnaces under the malting floor.
Is Icelandic peat the same as Islay?
So far, testing has shown that Icelandic peat most closely resembles the peat in Islay. If and when non-domestic peat is ever used, it may create some sticky new questions for the Scotch Whisky Association. But fortunately we’re a long way from crossing that bridge.
Is Irish peat lighter than Scottish peat?
The flavors and intensity of peat will vary depending on the bog’s environment. Gardiner points out that Irish peat, which is much lighter in coloration than Scottish peat, is also less dense and has a much milder effect on the malt, thanks to differences in soil. The peat bogs of Scotland also vary.
Did Scotland use peat?
As Gardiner hinted at earlier, there was a time when smokiness defined every scotch, not just those from Islay. But the widespread use of peat declined when railways extended into Scotland, bringing extra fuel sources that could be burned in place of peat. But Islay, which sits off of Scotland’s west coast, couldn’t be connected by rail, so peat continued to reign supreme.
Is peat bogs protected?
Today, a greater concern is the continued availability of what was once considered free fuel. Although peat bogs still account for around 20% of Scotland’s land mass, preservation laws now protect bogs sitting on public land. And that’s likely a good idea, as it requires a few millennia to make more of the stuff. BenRiach.
What do peat towers do to sod?
These little towers of peat allow the wind to blow through the sods and help with the drying process.
What did the Irish use to heat their homes?
In the past, Irish people used turf to heat their homes and cook their food. Turf was harvested from a bog. Cutting turf by hand is a laborious task.
Where is turf piled high?
Turf piled high in Connemara, County Galway. Once the turf is deemed dry enough it is gathered together into a great mound or rick for storing. In the summer months of 1846, at the time of the Great Irish Famine (1845 – 1850), many Irish people were too hungry and weak to work in the bog. Cutting turf and saving it was exhausting work.
Do Irish pubs burn turf?
Many Irish pubs in the west of Ireland still burn turf in open fires, helping tourists and locals experience a little bit of the olden ways of Ireland. Slán agus beannacht leat! (Goodbye and blessings) Irish American Mom. Read more: A Mammy’s recipe for real Irish egg salad sandwiches.
Why are peat bricks compressed?
The bricks are compressed in order to force out any moisture, and then dried further using heat and pressure. The resulting peat brick (or briquette as they are commonly known) is a fuel that is virtually smokeless, slow-burning, and easy to store and transport.
Where does peat come from?
It was found to be a useful alternative to firewood for cooking and heating throughout Ireland and other parts of the European continent. Harvested from the bogs scattered throughout the Irish landscape, peat forms over time from decaying vegetation. Peat is the forgotten fuel.
What is Irish peat known for?
With a wonderful aroma and long, hot burn, it remains popular today. Learn more about Irish peat. Ireland's Black Gold. Peat is commonly known by the Irish as 'turf' and has been harvested for centuries by a method known as 'cutting.'. Peat has been an invaluable source of heat and energy throughout history in Ireland.
What is the forgotten fuel?
The Forgotten Fuel. Peat is the forgotten fuel. While oil, coal and natural gas are exported around the world, few people outside Northern Europe are aware of this energy source. Peat is thick, muddy and when harvested, looks like dark, earthen bricks.
What is Irish firewood?
Siobhán's Irish Firewood is this traditionally harvested, rough Irish turf. Industrial turf harvesting involves huge tractors that scrape peat from the surface of bogs. This scraped peat is then shredded, and collected into bricks.
