evidence: The wildfire that hit the town of Lahaina, Hawaii, was the definition of extreme. Wind gusts of over 50 miles per hour drove the flames with alarming speed, eventually destroying more than 2,000 homes and buildings. [...] Amid the blackened rubble, small pockets of houses were left standing, a pattern that’s common even within the most destructive wildfires. In the wake of Lahaina’s fire in August 2023, the surviving structures were assessed by a team from the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS), a nonprofit research group funded by the insurance industry. They study why buildings burn, even by setting some they’ve constructed on fire. [...] Like many communities, homes in Lahaina are densely packed, the smaller lots allowing for little space between the houses. That can help spread a wildfire, when the radiating heat from one burning house is powerful enough to ignite its neighbors.