Firefighters are killed every year by wildfires. these scientists want to change that.


01 March 2017

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USA   In November 2016, huge forest fires swept through eight southern states in the U.S.


As devastating as these fires were, wildfires are actually pretty common. On average, the United States sees more than 100,000 wildfires every year  in fact, the U.S. Wildfire Tracker shows 45 large fires burning in the United States at the time of this writing.

This means that right now, firefighters are putting their lives on the line as they respond to wildland fires. And because of climate change, the fires are becoming more frequent, intense, and long-burning  making them even more dangerous to the men and women whose job it is to try and put them out.




So, if there is no other option available, the firefighters deploy one of these shelters  they only take about 20 seconds to open  climb inside, strap themselves in, and lie face-down to the ground, feet towards the flames. Then, they try to ride out the fire.

If flames don’t come into direct contact with the shelters, these shelters can provide precious minutes of protection. But if flames do directly contact them, they dont hold up long. And, sadly, they were not enough to save the firefighters at the Yarnell Hill wildfire.



“This is one way that our research could have a real potential benefit in terms of helping protect them and perhaps even save some lives,” Barker says.

Any new material has to be light and easily deployable, Barker explains. It also has to insulate so that the temperature of the air inside the shelter stays breathable. It needs to protect the firefighters not only from the radiant heat of the fire close to the shelter, but it also needs to hold up  at least for a few minutes  if flames actually reach the shelter. It also can’t release any toxic fumes or gases as it heats up.

“We obviously cant make anything that you could carry around be [completely] fire-proof,” Barker says. But if you can make something hold up for a few minutes (instead of seconds) if it catches fire, he explains, “that would make all the difference for their survivability.”

The team made several new materials and tested them. The first trials involved only small swatches, then they built entire prototype shelters and tested them inside a simulator  called the Fire Dome  that produces a fireball over 2,000 degrees and big enough to engulf the whole shelter.

So far, the materials they made are holding up.

“We’ve come up with several candidates of materials. We’ve fabricated them, and we’ve tested them,” Barker explains, “and so far, we are really pleased with the results that we’re seeing.”




“These are human lives. Thats whats important to realize. You work in a laboratory, but it affects real people,” John Morton-Aslanis, a research associate at the textile center, emphasized.

“This is an extremely important project,” said Robert Roise, professor of forestry and environmental resources at the College of Natural Resources. “And if we can get a better product out for them to use, it will change the situation across not just North America, but across the world.”

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