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. 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.