AboutDavid L. Russell, PE Expertise I`m a Chemical,Civil and Environmental Engineer and have a number of projects in all phases of the environment.
I have worked in the chemical industry and am active in professional societies, and am currently on an industrial wastes committee for the Water Environment Federation, and have taught courses in remediation in the US and abroad.
I have written one book on Remediation of petroleum Contaminated Sites, and have a second book on PRACTICAL WASTEWATER TREATMENT to be published by John Wiley in September, 2006. I've also written over 30 articles on various elements of environmental problems and cleanup. Most Recently, I have addressed a NATO Scientific and Techical Conference on Ecoterrorism, and have worked with the same group on remediation of sites contaminated with Chemical Warfare Agent materials and othe materials as well. . I can answer q`s about Chemical and Environmental Engineering, land development, air pollution, water pollution, soil and water cleanup, combustion, international environmental problems, industrial processes chemical processes. Civil and Environmental and Chemical Engineering. Overall, I have over 35 years of experience in this area. Note: I do not answer homework questions
Experience I love work in the third world and developing areas
because it is challenging and one can get a sense of accomplishment.
Question I am writing a novel and would like some logistical help. Can a person or group of people find safety inside of a cave while a forest fire is raging outside of the cave? Would the fire extract all of the oxygen from the cave, rendering it a useless source of safety? If not, and the cave could be a short-term sanctuary for humans in the event of fire, what would the dimensions of the cave need to be? Is there a limit to how many days a human could survive inside a cave before the heat from the fire, a reduction in oxygen, or other factors would make the environment an unsafe haven? Would the size of the entrance, the direction the entrance faces, or whether the cave is level with the entrance vs. descending downward make a difference in the number of days the cave would offer protective shelter? Please let me know if there is a speleologist or other university expert to whom I should address these questions, if writing to you is an incorrect avenue. Thank you in advance for your kind attention to this query. Note: I posed these questions to the allexpert in the area of geophysics, F. Qayyum and he directed me to try life sciences.
DAWN
Answer What you ask depends upon the situation. There are a number of accounts of foresters fighting a fire and being trapped, yet surviving under their shelter blankets, and this causes me to assume that the issue is heat and oxygen deprivation is a secondary cause of death. Afterall, there is enough oxygen to support combustion, but the heat may sear the lungs. So protection from radiation and the searing heat probably would be afforded by a cave, but then it would also depend upon the depth and size of the cave.
I would suggest that you contact the US Forestry service and ask their experts on fire fighting. What I say is theoretical only, and it may be, and probably is that the firefighters also have oxygen bottles with them for just such emergencies. So I don't really know.
Sorry.
