Fires, as a research topic, encompass the study of uncontrolled combustion processes in natural or built environments, including their ignition mechanisms, propagation dynamics, energy release, and interaction with surrounding materials and atmospheres. Scientific investigation addresses thermal radiation, convection, and conduction, flame chemistry, plume behavior, and the production and transport of particulates and gaseous emissions. Research spans wildland and forest fires, structural and industrial fires, and their impacts on ecosystems, air quality, climate, and human health. It also includes fire detection, modeling, and suppression strategies, as well as risk assessment and mitigation within environmental, engineering, and public safety frameworks.
Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin is assessing damage to its launch pad after a rocket exploded during a test firing, creating a giant orange fireball seen and felt for miles around.
Space Exploration
May 29, 2026
0
21
When the Dome Fire tore through the Mojave Desert in 2020, it reduced 1 million Eastern Joshua trees to blackened skeletons. Scientists expected the underground ecosystem to be equally devastated. Instead, they found it thriving.
Ecology
May 29, 2026
0
15
With peak wildfire season approaching, scientists with NASA's FireSense project have created low-cost thermal sensors to install on fire bulldozers that will alert firefighters when heat from a nearby fire reaches a dangerous ...
Environment
May 28, 2026
0
16
Test burns involving wooden structures of varying heights suggest taller buildings tend to be more prolific producers of the wind-carried firebrands that are a leading cause of structure ignition in wildfires. The findings, ...
Environment
May 28, 2026
0
9
Southern California is emerging from yet another round of wildfires just as the wildfire season gets underway. It's been less than 18 months since catastrophic wildfires hit the communities of Altadena and Pacific Palisades.
Environment
May 26, 2026
0
8
An international team of scientists has used artificial intelligence and 35 years of satellite data to uncover the shocking scale of environmental destruction in one of the world's most important ecosystems.
Environment
May 26, 2026
0
11
The most destructive wildfire season on record in Europe was in 2025, with more than 1 million hectares burned and tens of thousands of people displaced by fires across the continent.
Environment
May 22, 2026
0
19
Larry Graves pulled up to a home tucked into a Colorado mountainside. His radio was crackling, as was the wildfire burning beyond the trees—it was time to move.
Environment
May 22, 2026
0
16
When fire tore through Los Angeles County in January 2025, westerly winds blew most of the smoke and ash over the Pacific, keeping the main measure of air quality, total mass of particles smaller than 2.5 microns, at or near ...
Environment
May 21, 2026
0
7
The world's forests form a vast network of carbon reservoirs, keeping carbon sequestered from the atmosphere where its presence is disrupting Earth's climate systems. Many corporate, national and state climate policies rely ...
Environment
May 20, 2026
0
16
