Fire Emission Production Simulator (FEPS)
Fire
Emission Production Simulator (FEPS) is a user-friendly computer
program designed for scientists and resource managers with some
working knowledge of Microsoft Windows applications. The software
manages data concerning consumption, emissions and heat release
characteristics of prescribed burns and wildland fires.
The original Emissions Production Model (EPM) was designed to help
managers estimate and mitigate the rates of heat, particles, and
carbon gas emissions from controlled burns of harvest-slash residue
in Northwest forests.
In updating EPM, a significant number of improvements were made,
to the usability, applicability, and accuracy of the model. The
calculation approach was totally redesigned, and the model has been
renamed FEPS. The most recent FEPS update, version 1.1, includes
the fuels data from the most popular fuelbeds in the Fuel Characteristic
Classification System and produces hourly emission and heat release
data for prescribed and wildland fires. It now accepts data imported
from FOFEM, Consume 2.1, and Consume 3.0.
FEPS can be used for most forest, shrub and grassland types in
North America and the world. The program allows users to produce
reasonable results with very little information by providing default
values and calculations; advanced users can customize the data they
provide to produce very refined results.
Total burn consumption values are distributed over the life of
the burn to generate hourly emission and release information. Data
managed includes the amount and fuel moisture of various fuel strata,
hourly weather, and a number of other factors.
The basic steps are:
1. You describe an event. This description includes the name,
location, start date, end date, and other miscellaneous properties.
2. For the event, you may specify up to five unique fuel profiles.
Each profile includes fuel loading and fuel moisture information.
3. FEPS will calculate total fuel consumption for each profile.
4. FEPS determines flaming, short-term smoldering and long-term
smoldering involvement and consumption.
5. You indicate how the Event behaves over time.
6. FEPS calculates emissions and heat release parameters on an hourly
basis. Fuel characteristics for each hour are managed by distributing
the fire across the five user-specified fuel profiles.
Upgrades
The most recent FEPS update includes the fuels data from the most
popular fuelbeds in the Fuel Characteristic Classification System.
FEPS version 1.1 produces hourly emission and heat release data
for prescribed and wildland fires, and accepts data exported from
FOFEM and Consume. Remember to uninstall version 1.0 before reinstalling
version 1.1.
When upgrading from version 1.0 to 1.1, the installation software
will retain all of your user-specified Event information. Nevertheless,
we strongly recommend that you make a copy of the FEPS.mdb file
in a safe place prior to upgrading FEPS.
If you wish to receive notice of future upgrades, please subscribe
to our Tools listserve at:
http://lists.oregonstate.edu/mailman/listinfo/feratools
Downloads
FEPS Software v 1.1[.msi 19.5 MB] This is
a self-executing file.
FEPS 1.0 Users Manual [.pdf 5.7MB]
FEPS Users Manual w/o Pictures
from Appendix [.pdf 3.7MB]
To request hard copies of materials, provide feedback, report bugs,
or get help, please contact FEPS:
Ellen Eberhardt, Technical Information Specialist
(541)750-7481
eeberhardt@fs.fed.us
Installation Requirements
FEPS will run on all versions of Microsoft Windows, including Windows
95, Windows 98, Windows NT, Windows 2000, and Windows XP. It requires
12.5MB of free disk space.
Installation Notes
To upgrade FEPS, you must first uninstall version 1.0, then install
version 1.1.
Installation Notes (updated 12/08/05)
When upgrading from version 1.0 to 1.1, the installation software
will retain all of your user-specified Event information. Nevertheless,
we strongly recommend that you make a copy of the FEPS.mdb file
in a safe place prior to upgrading FEPS. The database file, FEPS.mdb,
is located in the same directory as the FEPS executable file. For
a typical installation this would be C:\Program Files\FEPS\. Before
you upgrade FEPS, copy this file to a safe location.
For advanced users, any modifications you have made to the equation
spreadsheets will not be retained. Make a copy of your modified
equation spreadsheets before upgrading, and then copy your saved
spreadsheets back into the EquationSpreadsheets subdirectory after
installing version 1.1.
ERROR: During installation, some users have received an error message:
"Error 1931: The Windows Installer service cannot update the
system file C:\WINNT\system32\hhctl.ocx because the file is protected
by Windows. You may need to update your operating system for this
program to work correctly."
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Chose "OK" and proceed.
Funding provided by the Joint Fire
Science Program and National
Fire Plan.
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