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The Need

for a High-performance Modernized Fire Lab Facility

SUMMARY

USFS logo

1963

There is ONLY ONE Experimental Research Facility for the USFS to study wildland fire: The Fire Science Laboratory, Missoula, MT, with equipment built over 60 years ago

With increasingly severe fire seasons, a new laboratory will allow experiments on extreme wildfire behaviors that cannot be studied anywhere else in the world, crucial to understanding both wildland fire and its mitigation before it’s too late

Challenges & Opportunities

Although the use of the facilities is increasing by R&D as well as NTDP, effective use for mandated experimental activities is declining because:

  • The increasing number of users in the burn chamber leads to less and less time allocated to any one group.
  • Experiments carried out in the burn chamber and wind tunnels are often elaborate, requiring weeks for setup and takedown, leading to a further reduction of time dedicated exclusively to experiments.
  • Some work (e.g., retardant testing by NTDP Fire Chemicals group) requires warm outside temperatures and is therefore limited to working mid-spring through mid-fall.
wind tunnel work

The Fire Sciences Laboratory in Missoula, Montana, includes a Burn Chamber and High- and Low-Speed Wind Tunnels, all built in 1960 during the original Fire Lab construction. The large burn chamber is a 40 x 40-foot area with a 60-foot-high ceiling. It supports diverse fire science topics, including fire behavior research, research on physical processes of fire, smoke and emissions research, mandatory fire-retardant testing, and K-12 educational programs. 

Long-term Research

No experimental facilities outside of Missoula are currently dedicated to wildland fire. Facilities designed for structure fires are remote from the western wildfire expertise, making logistics of scheduling, staffing, and transporting materials difficult and prohibitively expensive. Short-term funding in fire mitigation tends to be directed toward buildings, industry, and detection technology, whereas long-term research is required to deal with large-scale wildfire problems.

Long-term Research

No experimental facilities outside of Missoula are currently dedicated to wildland fire. Facilities designed for structure fires are remote from the western wildfire expertise, making logistics of scheduling, staffing, and transporting materials difficult and prohibitively expensive. Short-term funding in fire mitigation tends to be directed toward buildings, industry, and detection technology, whereas long-term research is required to deal with large-scale wildfire problems.