CORVALLIS, Ore. —In the midst of fire season, Oregon State University is trying to gain a better knowledge of how wildfires spread.
They are studying firebrands. Those are embers or sparks that can be carried by the wind and potentially start a fire.
Researchers are burning trees and shrubs to track when are where the embers land.
“We take it back to the lab and use a camera to take pictures of these char marks, and then we use computer algorithms to back out numbers and sizes of these char marks which then gives information about these firebrands,” said David Blunck, OSU Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering.
OSU says long term it hopes to help firefighters respond to fires more efficiently.
© 2024 KOBI-TV NBC5. All rights reserved unless otherwise stated.