Heat treatment of firewood : meeting the phytosanitary requirements

Abstract

The movement of firewood within emerald ash borer- (EAB-) infested states and into adjoining states has been a major contributor to the spread of EAB throughout the United States and Canada. In an effort to stop the further spread of EAB from infested areas and to facilitate interstate commerce, USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has required and are enforcing a heat-treatment process in the firewood industry to heat sterilize firewood before it can be shipped out of infested areas. States and firewood producers are now faced with challenges implementing heat-treatment processes and meeting the heat-treating standard. The purpose of this project was to transfer background knowledge and advanced heat-treating technology to field application through field heat-treatment demonstrations, on-site workshops and web-based training seminars (webinars). We evaluated a series of temperature sensors/probes and data loggers for their applicability in heat-treating process and constructed easy-to-install temperature monitoring systems suitable for field heat-treatment operations of different scales. Successful on-site heat-treatment demonstrations were conducted at four firewood heat-treating facilities. Two training workshops were developed and presented to regulatory field staff and firewood producers. The content of training included certification of treatment facilities, recommended heat-treating strategies, and temperature monitoring and thermal verification.

Citation

Wang, Xiping; Bergman, Richard; Brashaw, Brian K.; Myers, Scott; Joyal, Marc. 2011. Heat treatment of firewood : meeting the phytosanitary requirements. General technical report FPL-GTR-200. Madison, WI : U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, Forest Service, Forest Products Laboratory, 2011: 34 p.