Operation Euroka was a 210,000 square m (50 acres) free-burning mass fire experiment carried out in Queensland, Australia. At the peak of the fire, 42 min after ignition, the maximum average induced horizontal wind velocity at the edge of the fire was 4.2 m/see. The fire was of relatively low intensity, with a peak convective heat-release rate of 2.0X 10 to the tenth W and a peak radiant energy-release rate of 4 X 10 to the ninth W. The ratio of the radius of the projection of the conical portion of the convection plume onto the surface to the radius of the fire bed was only 0.18, compared with the value of 0.4 reported for the more-intense Flambeau fires. Consequently, this ratio may be a function of the fire intensity. If this is so, then, for a fire of a given size, the induced inflow wind velocity is a stronger function than the cube root of the heat-release rate.

[This publication is referenced in the "Synthesis of knowledge of extreme fire behavior: volume I for fire managers" (Werth et al 2011).]