• Korean Journal of Agricultural and Forest Meteorology
• /
• v.11 no.4
• /
• pp.192-205
• /
• 2009

The unexpected wind over the Mt. Hwawang on 9 February 2009 was deadly when many spectators were watching a traditional event to burn dried grasses and the fire went out of control due to the wind. We analyzed the fatal wind based on wind flow simulations over a digitized complex terrain of the mountain with a localized heating area using a three dimensional computational fluid dynamics model, CFD_NIMR_SNU (Computational Fluid Dynamics_National Institute of Meteorological Research_Seoul National University). Three levels of fire intensity were simulated: no fire, $300^{\circ}C$ and $600^{\circ}C$ of surface temperature at the site on fire. The surface heat accelerated vertical wind speed by as much as $0.7\;m\;s^{-1}$ (for $300^{\circ}C$) and $1.1\;m\;s^{-1}$ (for $600^{\circ}C$) at the center of the fire. Turbulent kinetic energy was increased by the heat itself and by the increased mechanical force, which in turn was generated by the thermal convection. The heating together with the complex terrain and strong boundary wind induced the unexpected high wind conditions with turbulence at the mountain. The CFD_NIMR_SNU model provided valuable analysis data to understand the consequences of the fatal mountain fire. It is suggested that the place of fire was calm at the time of the fire setting due to the elevated terrain of the windward side. The suppression of wind was easily reversed when there was fire, which caused updraft of hot air by the fire and the strong boundary wind. The strong boundary wind in conjunction with the fire event caused the strong turbulence, resulting in many fire casualties. The model can be utilized in turbulence forecasting over a small area due to surface fire in conjunction with a mesoscale weather model to help fire prevention at the field.