Fires are being deliberately lit just outside of Christchurch this week to test new theories on how wildfires spread under various conditions.
The experimental research is a collaboration between multiple organisations, including Fire and Emergency New Zealand and the United States Forest Service.
A series of controlled stubble fires were lit in a dry field in Darfield – all in the name of research.
“What we believe is that there’s a little bit of an old theory, which is fire uses radiation to spread, heats the fuels in front of it to the point of combustion. That’s happening out there, but we also believe there’s this convection that’s happening out there that’s really pushing those flames forward and leapfrogging the fire front,” SCION Research’s Tara Strand told 1News.
“And that’s why we see some of these extreme wildfire spreads out on the landscape around the world today.”
It’s hoped the research will shed light on how wildfires spread under various conditions. (Source: 1News)
Instruments are set up to monitor and measure the flames, with drones capturing what’s happening from above.
Mark Finney from the US Forest Service said the Canterbury landscape gives them good scope for testing how fast fires spread and how, as well as “how the energy is released in different fuel types”.
“Here in New Zealand, we have some advantages – the crops’ stubble that we’re burning today, but also gorse fuels,” he said.
Strand said getting out of the lab and into the field is proving valuable for the US Forest Service.
“They’ve come all the way to New Zealand because it’s really important to scale it up and see what it’s like at scale, larger flames with the true weather, with the true fuels,” she said.
They’re planning to complete six burns in a two-week window.
They’ll then analyse the data, and the information will be passed on to those on the frontline to update their training.
“The work that we’re doing here has direct implications for fire anywhere in the world,” Finney said.
Fire and Emergency New Zealand’s Darrin Woods said the research could lead to some changes in the way they predict fire behaviour.
“So, a better appreciation for how fires behave in the landscape. So how fires burn, essentially,” he said.
Woods said while our firefighters aren’t used to being on the sidelines, it’s “a good opportunity for our people to get out here and actually watch fire for a change rather than trying to put the wet stuff on the hot stuff”.
“It’s always a good opportunity to sit back and actually see how the fire burns.”
