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OSU research sparks new understanding of how fire spreads

A small structure on fire.
Noah Camuso
/
KLCC
Blunck’s previous research focused on how many firebrands are released from various plants around Oregon. This is his first experiment on how fires spread through communities.

As wildfire season approaches, scientists from Oregon State University are studying how embers spread flames from one building to another.

A wooden shed in a field.
Noah Camuso
/
KLCC
Researchers surrounded the burn with ember collection trays. The paint used on the trays is temperature sensitive so researchers can count the number of embers that fell on each tray during the experiment.

In a field on a farm in North Albany, researchers ignite a pile of gasoline soaked kindling inside a wooden shed. After a few minutes, the flames overtake the structure, releasing a flurry of firebrands–or flying embers–into the air.

Those firebrands are a major way fires spread through communities and forests. But according to OSU engineer David Blunck, there’s relatively little research about how many firebrands are released when a structure burns.

“Is it a hundred? Is it a million? Is it ten million? We don’t know,” Blunck said. “And so our goal is to be able to quantify that number, or at least estimate that number of firebrands in simulations."

This study is specifically looking at how the size of a structure changes how many firebrands are released. If Blunck’s research moves along as planned, they’ll burn the next series of sheds inside a wind tunnel.

Noah Camuso is a freelance reporter for KLCC.
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