Preventing Wildfires from Spreading: Insights from Cutting-Edge Fire Experiments
Real-life fire experiments are providing new insights into the complex question of how far apart two structures, such as a house and a shed, should be in order to limit the risk of fire spreading from one to the other. The experiments conducted by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, in collaboration with CAL FIRE, the U.S. Forest Service, and the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety, examine how fires spread from sheds of different sizes and with a range of fuels to identify critical separation distances. This information will be used to develop better building codes and preventive measures to mitigate the impact of wildfires.
It may seem obvious that a flammable structure placed next to a house poses a fire hazard, especially if it’s in a wildfire-prone community. What has been less clear, though, is how far away these items, such as sheds, need to be located to significantly limit fire spread to homes. New research led by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has begun to provide important answers.
A team of fire safety experts at NIST, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) and other organizations has conducted a series of rigorous experiments to gauge the ability of flaming sheds to ignite residential-type structures. Based on their data, the authors of a new report determined that, under certain conditions, wooden and steel storage sheds up to 64 square feet (5.9 square meters) in size should be at least 10 or 15 feet (3 or 4.5 meters) away from homes depending on their size. In most cases, the spacing for sheds of these sizes is unregulated, even in wildfire zones, but the new ..
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