We often hear about destructive fires in the media. We know that fire is dangerous and can cause severe damage...
Using the huge 2019 Nelson wildfire as a starter, this Connected article explores wildfires, focussing on: what wildfires are their causes how they affect us how...
Scientists Tim Curran (Lincoln University), Sarah Wyse (University of Auckland) and George Perry (University of Auckland) assessed the flammability of a variety of exotic and native...
Scientists Tim Curran (Lincoln University), Sarah Wyse (University of Auckland) and George Perry (University of Auckland) looked at the impacts of exotic plant species on fires....
Position: Resilience to Wildfires Leader, Scion Field: Social wildfire research Lisa Langer is a social research scientist. One of her current areas of focus is social...
Chemical fire retardants help delay or prevent combustion, but there are potential health and environmental issues around the use and production of the chemicals, and the...
Most of us use the word ‘heat’ to mean something that feels warm, but science defines heat as the flow of energy from a warm object...
Fires behave differently. Some burn slowly and evenly; others are extremely hot, burning fiercely and quickly. Different fires have different coloured flames. Some fires start easily;...
What is smoke and why do some fires seem to have more smoke than others? Smoke is a collection of tiny solid, liquid and gas particles....
Fire is the visible effect of the process of combustion – a special type of chemical reaction. It occurs between oxygen in the air and some...
These are some common misunderstandings about fire. They acknowledge that children have made reasonable sense of the ideas based on their experience and should be validated...
Position: Research Leader at Olsson Fire & Risk. Field: Fire engineering. When we first interviewed Mike he was Associate Professor, Department of Civil and Natural Resources...
Position: Wildfire Scientist, Fire and Emergency New Zealand. Formerly Extreme Fire Project Leader, Scion. Field: Fire research Grant was interested in science and the natural environment...
Position: Emeritus Professor, Department of Civil and Natural Resources Engineering, University of Canterbury. Principal research engineer, (FSRI). Field: Fire engineering, dynamics and research. Professor Charley Fleischmann’s...
Position: Currently Director of Fisheries Management, Ministry for Primary Industries. Previously Fire scientist, Scion. Field: Rural (vegetation) fire behaviour and management. Stuart began his career by...
Fire engineers and scientists work to reduce the risk of fire. They do this to save property and the environment, but most importantly, they do this...
Rural fire scientists study fire behaviour, and fire risk and use their findings to manage fire risk in the outdoors by developing tools that fire managers...
Scion scientists Grant Pearce and Stuart Anderson want to get a better understanding of fire behaviour. They use the knowledge to improve the models and tools...
Fires behave differently in different situations. Fire behaviour in the outdoors is quite different from the behaviour of fire inside a building or structure. The biggest...
A new way of studying and researching the effects of fire is to use models of fire on a computer. Sometimes, an actual fire is replicated...
In New Zealand, we have a number of house fires, fuelled by the things we have in our houses. Our furniture is flammable and often causes...
Learning to manage this chemical reaction What actually is fire? How does it start? How and why does it behave in different ways? How can we...
If had gone into Dr Mike Spearpoint’s office at the University of Canterbury and quietly stood still, you could have heard lots of beeping noises. If...
We often hear about destructive fires in the media. We know that fire is dangerous and can cause severe damage and destruction and, at times, death....
An inquiry approach is a method often used in science education. The question bank provides an initial list of questions about fire and places where their...
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