Fire on the Web

Fire on the Web

What's a Watt?

Fire output examples
Energy and power are two related terms used to specify the heat given off by a fire. Using the metric or SI system of units, energy is measured in Joules and power is measured in Watts. Power is the rate or how fast energy is given off or absorbed. A Watt then is one Joule per second. A kilowatt is 1000 Watts. A megawatt is 1,000,000 Watts. These expressions are often abbreviated 1 kW and 1 MW.
Examples
Power outputs for objects other than the light bulb were obtained from Babrauskas' chapter II-1 on Burning Rates found in the SFPE Handbook of Fire Protection Engineering. Other examples can be found here.

object Power Output (peak)

christmas tree (dry) 500-650 kW

christmas tree (green) 69 kW

light bulb 100 W

trash cans 50-300 kW

Upholstered Chair 2 MW

object	Power Output (peak)
christmas tree (dry)	500-650 kW
christmas tree (green)	69 kW
light bulb	100 W
trash cans	50-300 kW
Upholstered Chair	2 MW

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Date created: August 24, 2010 | Last updated: January 23, 2011 Contact: Webmaster