As wildfires across the West continue to display truly unprecedented behavior, scientists for the U.S. Forest Service are trying to understand how an extreme conflagration “breathes” and grows – or, sometimes, subsides.

They are pioneers, following lines of inquiry never before considered, examining the superheated gases and smoke produced by these massive fires and the miles-high plumes they produce.

The goal is straightforward: Save lives. Understand how these extreme fires move and spread, and you can begin to predict their behavior. And that knowledge might just give firefighters and emergency responders the warning they so desperately need to save lives – their own and those in the communities they’ve sworn to protect.

That’s why this recent report by Douglas Fox, writing for High Country News, is such essential reading. It’s masterful storytelling, yes, but also an incredibly detailed, yet accessible, look at the history of fire science and the latest research on extreme fire behavior. [Read more…]