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Science from LA fires could help better predict fire behavior in the future
Data and observations from the LA wildfires could help scientists to better predict fire behavior in the future leading to improved public safety.
SAN JOSE, Calif. - While it is difficult to find any kind of silver lining to the devastating Los Angeles wildfires, scientists can use data being collected now to help anticipate and better understand fire behavior.
The data could help reduce property damage and casualties in the future.
A laboratory at San Jose State University is one of the premier fire behavior research centers in the nation. The lab’s director said Friday that one of the key issues in the Los Angeles wildfires is the "wildland-urban interface."
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The wildland-urban interface, also referred to as WUI, is the region where the forest and the backcountry meet the urban city, according to Professor Craig Clements, the head of San Jose State's Wildfire Interdisciplinary Research Center.
The team in his lab focuses on understanding fire behavior and applying that research to help improve public safety.
"What happens is a lot of houses get built in that zone and they encroach into the forest, and a lot of the areas that were burning in the LA fires were WUI fires or wildland-urban interface fires," Clements said.
Inside the lab, Clements and his team use technology to research fire weather behavior. These include moisture sensors, data from drones, and a mobile Doppler radar, which is used to study the dynamics and patterns of wildfire plumes.
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"We can peer into the plume, we can see the velocities or the wind speeds, we can see the debris inside the plume and where it is falling out – and that allows us to do is to collect data that we can then compare to a simulation," Clements said.
The Los Angeles fires are also an example of WUI fire behavior that is not well understood, Clements said.
"It is the structure-to-structure propagation of the flame front, or the ember showers, that we don’t have a lot of information on," Clements said.
So while human suffering and utter destruction are front and center right now, the science from the Los Angeles fires could ultimately help keep all communities safer in the future.
"We will glean a lot of new information from these devastating events," Clements said.