Vietnam War: Forest Fire as a Military Weapon - Paperless Archives

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SECRET In developing recommended practices for burning, we have used rules of thumb and simple classifications and descriptions of world climates. The descriptions include those weather elements most important in predicting probability of good burning weather and in selecting dates for desiccation treatments. Probability of Incendiary Success When considering forest incendiary operations for any area of the world, the first climatic determination should be whether the locality will support fires in nearby forests at any time of year. This can be judged quite quickly from the climatic records. Find the driest month and the warmest month. Then calculate whether either month meets both of the following conditions: I. The mean monthly precipitation (inches) is less than the mean daily temperature for the month (OF.) times 0.03. 2. The number of rainy days (0.1 inches or more) is less than the mean daily temperature divided by 10. If both conditions are not met for either the warmest or the driest month, then the location should not be seriously considered as a suitable target for forest incendiary operations. This does not mean that suitable weather for burning may not occur occasionally, and such occasions should be taken advantage of on an opportunistic basis. But the opportunities for successful burning will be too infrequent for inclusion in planned operations. For example: The driest month in Washington. D.C. is November, with a mean temperature of 47 degrees and 2.6 inches of precipitation occurring on 5.9 rainy days. The warmest month is August, with a mean temperature of 75 and 4.3 inches of rain on 7.5 days. Neither month meets our criteria (November would have to have less than 1.4 inches and fewer than 4.7 days; August has few enough rainy days, but must have less than 2.25 inches of rain). Consequently, any guerrilla forces in the woods surrounding the Pentagon will have to be routed by some other means than fire. On the other hand, Missoula, Montana, has its driest month in February with a mean temperature of 27, and 0.9 inches of precipitation on 4.4 days. Its warmest month is July: mean temperature 68, precipitation 1.0 inches on 3.7 days. February does not fit the criteria, but July does; so if military operations were being conducted in the vicinity of Missoula, the use of fire should be explored more carefully. Once it is decided that an area can support planned incendiary operations over forests, the next step is to determine the frequency and extent of periods when successful burning is likely. Figure 26 is a plot of mean monthly temperature versus the PD value (mean monthly precipitation times the number of days with precipitation Z 0.1 inch). The diagonal line represents the 50/50 probability that a day chosen at random during the month will have weather suitable for forest burning. A point above the line means the chances are less than 50 percent-the greater the plus (+) value between the point and the line the poorer the odds. Likewise, the greater the negative (-) value below the line the better the odds for occurrence of a suitable burning day. When all 12 months of climatic data are calculated for a location, the result is a good picture of the forest fire possibilities during the year. The climatic data for Missoula are in Table 4 and Figure 27. The plotted points show a better than even chance of weather favorable for incendiary operations from early July through early September-and little chance the rest of the year. The data show (-) humidity values of 4.0 and -3.9 for the two months of good burning weather-July and August. They also show that weather most favorable for growth of green vegetation occurs during May through June-when (+) values are highest. The decision as to whether 2 months of summer burning weather will justify the planned use of forest incendiaries will depend on the projected military situation, and on the posibilities for drying the green vegetation ahead of burning. SECRET 29
SECRET FIG. 26 PROBABILITY OF SUCCESSFUL BURNING 50- - - - - - Z /. • 10 Cu) z oic 0. 5 _ _ _ _ z-E 1.0 II- __/ , / !1_ 0 _ __ _ _ _ MEA _ _ _ _HL _ _MP _')3 0120 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100110 I MEAN MONTHLY TEMP. ( 0 °F) 3 SECRET
Page 1: VIETNAM WAR Forest Fire as a Milita
Page 4 and 5: Forest Fire as a Military Weapon A
Page 6 and 7: OF7 A iD5S Hil'---0 __ = IIIII- _w
Page 8 and 9: SECRET FOREST FIRE AS A MILITARY WE
Page 10 and 11: SECRET INDEX (Continued) Page Weath
Page 12 and 13: SECRET FOREST FIRE AS A MILITARY WE
Page 14 and 15: SECRET detailed and timely intellig
Page 16 and 17: SECRET I I I i it FI.I FIG. 2 I I B
Page 18 and 19: I SECRET I I I I I S....... '•FIG
Page 20 and 21: SECRET FI.I TYIAIRONFR BEOR FIG.FIG
Page 22 and 23: SECRET REQUIREMENTS FOR SUCCESSFUL
Page 24 and 25: I I SECRET heating adjacent unburne
Page 26 and 27: I SECRET FUEL TYPE 8o e1 82 83 84 I
Page 28 and 29: I SECRET I ii 11 I S~FIG. 17 | GRAS
Page 30 and 31: I I SECRET I I FIG. 18 SHRUB TYPE I
Page 32 and 33: Relative Humidity SECRET Table 2 "S
Page 34 and 35: I U I I I I I SECRET I FIG. 21 CONI
Page 36 and 37: S~SECRET A I. B O I I I IB. IN O LE
Page 38 and 39: I I SECRET I- I I I I I I I FIG. EV
Page 42 and 43: U SECRET The yearly sums of (+) val
Page 44 and 45: I Fireclimate Classification SECRET
Page 46 and 47: SECRET TABLE 5 KEY TO IDENTIFICATIO
Page 48 and 49: SECRET SHumid, long bum season (HUL
Page 50 and 51: I SECRET Table 6 Surfac,,/Volume Ra
Page 52 and 53: I SECRET FIG. 29 AVAILABLE FUEL WEI
Page 54 and 55: SECRET 100 80 FIG. 31 FLAME HEIGHTS
Page 56 and 57: I SECRET I Table 7 Precipitation Ef
Page 58 and 59: I SECRET FIG. 32 EQUILIBRIUM MOI$TU
Page 60 and 61: •Sunshine: SECRET Solar radiation
Page 62 and 63: I I SECRET I Ii I II I g I FIG. 34
Page 64 and 65: Technique"s for Kdlin, D•rming an
Page 66 and 67: SECRET I t '4Pi I I FIG. 35 * AERIA
Page 68 and 69: SECRET FIG.36 EFFECTS OF OVERSTORY
Page 70 and 71: SECRET FIG. 37 TYPICAL EFFECT OF CO
Page 72 and 73: I .SECRET Use of Systemic Desiccant
Page 74 and 75: SECRET 6. Effectiveness of foliar s
Page 76 and 77: SECRET Example of a Desiccation Pla
Page 78 and 79: SECRET If a lighted match is droppe
Page 80 and 81: SECRET 0 0 ----- 0" E I- -- z -- o
Page 82 and 83: SECRET The advantages of multiple i
Page 84 and 85: SECRET DISCUSSION The deliberate in
Page 86 and 87: 1 SECRET U MINH FOREST FIRES PROLOG
Page 88 and 89: SECRET Spread Analysis: Spread to K
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SECRET HEADQUARTERS US ARMY ADVISOR
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I SECRET MACV-IVC-2 24 May 1968 SUB
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SECRET NAVAL GUNFIRE MISSIONS DATE
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SECRET Rach Gia - Kien Giang Hourly
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SECRET APPENDIX B Pertinent Incendi
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SECRET Major vegetation type: Tropi
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SECRET CLIMATE FF-HUSB FROSTFREE WI
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SECRET FIG. B2 CLIMATE FF-HUSB HANO
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SECRET Soil appiicat ion: Apply 20
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SECRET CLIMATE FF-NHLB FROSTFREE WI
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SECRET CLIMATE FF-DRYL FROSTFREE WI
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SECRET CLIMATE MI-HUYL MILD WINTER;
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SECRET FIG. B6 CLIMATE MI-HUYL NEW
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SECRET Soil application: Apply 15 p
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SECRET CLIMATE MI-HULB MILD WINTER;
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SECRET FCa. W8 CLIMATE MI-HULB RHOD
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SECRET FIG. B9 CLIMATE MI-NHSB AUST
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SECRET Dates for examl ocationAU.s
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SECRET CLIMATE MI-DRYL MILD WINTER;
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* climates& j SECRET CLIMATE CL-HUY
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SECRET FIG. 512 CLIMATE CL-HUYL COL
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SECRET Dates for example location (
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SECRET t (IIMATI (L HILD ('(X)I WIN
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SECRET (1lMAU- (L NH.% 41()1. *INTI
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I SECRET (IIM-AIF ( Hl•Nt1 ( Wl W
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SECRET FIG. 816 CLIMATE CL-NHLB GRA
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SECRET FIG. 817 CLIMATE CL-DRYL LAS
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Foliar sTray: Apply per acre: SECRE
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Warm continental climates SECRET CL
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SECRET FIG. B19 CLIMATE SC-HUSB MT.
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SECRET Dates for cxampre location (
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SECRET CLIMATE SC-NHYL SHORT COLD W
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SECRET FIG. B21 CLIMATE SC-NHYL PAR
Page 156 and 157:
SECRET FIG. 522 CLIMATE SC-NHSB SAN
Page 158 and 159:
SECRET FIG. 823 CLIMATE SC-NHLB REN
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SECRET Foliar Žpxa: Apply per acre
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SECRET CLIMATE LC-HUSB LONG COLD WI
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SECRET Foliar spray: Apply during t
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"SECRET CLIMATE LC-NHLB LONG COLD W
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SECRET CLIMATE VC-HUYL VERY COLD WI
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I SECRET FIG. 827 CLIMATE VC-HUYL D
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SECRET "CLIMATE VC-NHSB VERY COLD W
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SECRET I Publiction-,: Protect EMOT
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