As Southern California grapples with intense flames, scientists in Worcester, Massachusetts, are researching how wildfires spread in an effort to mitigate the damage that they cause.
The work focusing on the generation and movement of embers is happening at Worcester Polytechnic Institute’s Fire Protection Engineering Department, using a wind tunnel large enough for a person to walk into.
“We know that it’s one of the most common ways to spread forest fire and for it to transition from a forest fire to a residential area fire,” said WPI PhD student Fernando Ebensperger. “The main issue is that this is the phenomenon that provokes the fire instead of being in a narrower place, starts spreading in multiple directions which creates a secondary problem to manage the resources and being able to maintain the whole fire controlled.”…