Fire research pt. 1: Embers & ignition

Each summer and fall, California burns. Many of California’s plant communities may have evolved to live with fire, but most of the state’s human communities are not especially fire-adapted. Engineering Master’s student Sarah Scott is investigating how wildland fires spread in the hopes that this knowledge can be put to use planning better wildland-urban interfaces and preventing some of the tragedies fires cause annually.

Ember tunnel

Sarah’s research examines how an ember or hot particle ignites pine needles, grasses, and other materials common in wildlands. Using a specialized small-scale wind tunnel, she tests how the size and temperature of embers and hot particles, the type of fuel bed, and wind velocity affect ignition. Above the wind tunnel, an automated lighter heats particles with a flame before dropping them onto the sample fuel material (e.g., pine needles) below. A video camera captures the interaction between these heated particles and the fuel bed, while thermocouples record its temperature.

Ultimately, the information Sarah’s research generates can be incorporated into models for predicting fire development and spread at the landscape scale. Research that begins with the interaction between a single ember and a bed of grass may someday influence the how residential developments interface with the forests, shrublands, and grasslands next door.

Related:

• Introducing a new feature: Research highlights
• Fire research pt. 2: Ghanaian cookstoves
• Fire research pt. 3: Fire in space
• Fire research pt. 4: Indigenous land management
• Combustion and Fire Processes Lab