Fire

FireDrone Supports the Firefighters
Researchers are developing a heat-resistant drone that can analyze the source of danger at close range in the event of a building or forest fire. This allows firefighters to optimize the strategy of a high-risk operation before entering the danger zone.
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We Aren't Helpless in the Face of Increasing Fires and Smoke
Canada, Mexico, or the United States have published strategy documents that aim to rebalance fire’s place in our environment through methods such as prescribed fire. Even the most optimistic outlook on these efforts sees them as long-term solutions, though. Yes, a massive paradigm shift is necessary. But it’s also clear something needs to happen immediately, too. To protect ourselves, we can take steps that won’t distract from those long-term goals.
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Colorado Law Will Require Homes to Be More Wildfire Resistant
The state will develop building standards for homes in high-risk areas after ProPublica’s reporting showed previous efforts to require fire-resistant housing materials had been repeatedly stymied by developers and municipalities.
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A Lawsuit to Protect Streams Could Take Away an Important Firefighting Tool
The U.S. Forest Service uses millions of gallons of fire retardant to fight wildfires. There have long been concerns about what happens when that mix of ammonium phosphate, emulsifiers, and colorants finds its way into water.
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Controlled Burns Help Prevent Wildfires, Experts Say. But Regulations Have Made It Nearly Impossible to Do These Burns.
Even though the 2021 Marshall Fire made it clear that the fire threat posed by Colorado’s grasslands endangers large urban areas, federal, state and local rules continue to make it difficult to address the risk.
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Preventing Fires and Explosions
Lines in natural gas grids have to be maintained and serviced regularly. This entails using flares to vent the natural gas. With FlareSimulator, research scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute for Factory Operation and Automation IFF have developed an assistive tool that calculates the correct distance of flares to houses, trees and other nearby objects. This makes it easy to maintain minimum distances and prevent potential hazards and explosions.
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Understanding Plants Improves Wildland-Fire Modeling in Uncertain Future
Drought and warmer temperatures make vegetation dynamics crucial to fire behavior and effects. A new conceptual framework for incorporating the way plants use carbon and water into fine-scale computer models of wildland fire provides a critical first step toward improved global fire forecasting.
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What’s Driving Re-Burns Across California and the West?
Seasonal temperature, moisture loss from plants, and wind speed are what primarily drive fires that sweep across the same landscape multiple times, a new study reveals. As climate change sparks more new fires in old burn areas, understanding the underlying causes can help shape land management strategies.
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For 400 years, Indigenous Tribes Buffered Climate's Impact on Wildfires in the American Southwest
Devastating megafires are becoming more common, in part, because the planet is warming. But a new study suggests bringing “good fire” back to the U.S. and other wildfire fire-prone areas, as Native Americans once did, could potentially blunt the role of climate in triggering today’s wildfires.
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Americans Are Flocking to Wildfire
People are trading hurricane zones for wildfire areas, says national study of migration, natural disasters, and climate change.
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Wildfires Threats Not Commonly Disclosed by U.S. Firms Despite Risk to Economy
Wildfires in the United States, especially in Western states, increasingly pose a significant risk to entire communities, often destroying homes, businesses and lives. Yet U.S. firms rarely report their wildfire risks in required federal filings and instead bury such risks in nonspecific risk disclosures.
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Major Fires an Increasing Risk as the Air Gets Thirstier
Greater atmospheric demand for water means a dramatic increase in the risk of major fires in global forests unless we take urgent and effective climate action, new research finds.
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Sensor Technology Detects Fires Before They Start
Fire alarms generally operate by detecting the presence of smoke, open flame, or higher-than-normal levels of carbon monoxide. Such indicators, however, are byproducts of a fire once it has already started. By using functional nanomaterials-based fire sensor technology, researchers hope to take a step forward from existing detection methods.
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A Machine Learning-Based Solution May Help Firefighters Avoid Deadly Backdrafts
A lack of oxygen can reduce even the most furious flame to smoldering ash. But when fresh air rushes in, say after a firefighter opens a window or door to a room, the blaze may be suddenly and violently resurrected. Researchers have devised a plan for informing firefighters of what dangers lie behind closed doors.
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Reducing Wildfire Danger
With the climate crisis increasing the risk of wildfires in the UK and many other parts of northern Europe, scientists from across the world are sharing their expertise to help tackle the dangers.
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