NASA helping to develop better fire shelters

(Video: fire shelter testing in June, 2015.)

After 19 firefighters were killed while fighting the Yarnell Hill Fire in Arizona in 2013, many people called for better fire shelters, since the shelters used then were not effective in preventing the 19 fatalities.

This January, NASA reached an agreement with the US Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service to test prototype fire shelters made from the space agency’s next-generation thermal protection systems (TPM) materials.

The team of engineers from NASA is developing flexible heat shields that will protect spacecraft from the high temperatures of atmospheric entry under NASA’s Hypersonic Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator (HIAD) project. NASA and the Forest Service have found that there are common performance requirements between fire shelters and flexible heat shields that can be used to benefit both organizations.

In September, 2014 small scale testing on 39 material samples began at Missoula Technology Development Center (MTDC). Thirteen materials that showed no obvious shortcomings were sent to Mark Y. Ackerman Consulting in association with the University of Alberta for the first round of third party lab testing. The only materials that had an improvement in the thermal protective performance tests were those that were bulkier and heavier than the current shelter material. Third party test results are being shared with those who have submitted materials for possible improvements.

Prototype shelters were tested for the first time in a forest fire setting in late June, 2015 when NASA’s Langley Research Centre, University of Alberta adjunct professor Mark Ackerman, and the US Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service travelled to Fort Providence in Canada’s Northwest Territories to conduct a series of controlled outdoor burns.

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Author: Bill Gabbert

After working full time in wildland fire for 33 years, he continues to learn, and strives to be a Student of Fire.

2 thoughts on “NASA helping to develop better fire shelters”

  1. Saltydog….The current shelter is no were near adequate. Think of it this way, if its your “Last Ditch Effort” do you really want to get into a shelter that is only adequate? Are the19 lives of the GMHS not enough of a cost to you?

    Ramp up of production of a new Shelter would be aproxmatley 100,000 units per year for the first 3 years.

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  2. It would seem shelters are pretty adequate, for what they are: a last ditch effort. The trend seems to be heavier….. Then again it would make sense that NASA could do a good job. I hope rural departments and cash strapped agencies don’t have to spend nearly $400 per shelter again like they did a few years ago.

    How many fire shelters are in use? I’d imagine a low guess of 50,000 at $400. That’s 20 million dollars, enough for better education and training? A volunteer department with 50 shelters would really be hurt to buy new ones again.

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