Vietnam War: Forest Fire as a Military Weapon - Paperless Archives
Vietnam War: Forest Fire as a Military Weapon - Paperless Archives
Vietnam War: Forest Fire as a Military Weapon - Paperless Archives
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
SECRET<br />
CLIMATE FF-HULB<br />
FROSTFREE WINTER; HUMID, LONG BURN SEASON<br />
All equatorial and frostfree tropical climates having high (+) values and high (-) values for the year, or at le<strong>as</strong>t<br />
5 'B" months. Examples are:<br />
Precipitation No. of Months Yearly Humidity Values<br />
Location Pattern "H* ".D""B" +1 (1)<br />
Balboa Hts., Panama Monsoon 8 2 3 +320 -32<br />
Saigon, R. V. N. Monsoon 7 3 4 +273 -45<br />
Malindi. Kenya Monsoon 4 4 6 +157 -58<br />
Kadugli, Sudan Monsoon 5 5 7 +116 -79<br />
Bombay. India Monsoon 4 6 8 +145 -89<br />
Cook town, Aust. Monsoon 5 2 5 +206 -34<br />
Leopoldville, Congo Monsoon 8 3 4 +202 -41<br />
Vientiane. Laos Monsoon 6 3 5 +239 -42<br />
Mandalay, Burma Monsoon 3 5 6 +130 -56<br />
San Jose, Costa R. Monsoon 7 3 5 +270 -29<br />
Temperature: Not limiting.<br />
Precipitation: Plant growth is restricted during several dry months; causes leaf fall from most tree species, and<br />
gr<strong>as</strong>ses become d.-y.<br />
Major vegetation types Semi-evergreen, semi-deciduous, and deciduous tropical hardwood forests. Man-made<br />
savana types and secondary forests are common.<br />
Ground-story vegetation: Woody plants under forest canopy are tree seedlings, vines, and scattered shrubs.<br />
Amount: Low to moderate in dry weight.<br />
Moisture content: Drops during long dry se<strong>as</strong>on, but woody stems retain 100-120 percent of dry weight.<br />
Litter layer: Only current leaf fall. Rapid chemical and biological breakdown during the wet se<strong>as</strong>on.<br />
Total available fuel weight on a good burning day: 0.13 pounds per square foot.<br />
Burn days: Dependable long burning se<strong>as</strong>on.<br />
Desiccation needs. Must remove forest canopy and kill understory plants for successful burning. Use either foliar<br />
sprays or an application of pellets to the soil.<br />
Foliar sprays: Apply a defoliant spray at le<strong>as</strong>t 6 months ahead of planned burning date. w','ait at le<strong>as</strong>t 6 weeks<br />
and apply a repeat spray on the exposed understory. On each date, apply the following mixture per acre:<br />
8 lbs., a.e., of a 1:1 mix of 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T plus 2 lbs., a.e., of picloram ester, both herbicides<br />
combined in diesel oil to make a total mixture of 5 gallons.<br />
SECRET B.7