Scientists Burn Homes to Save Others as Wildfire Threat Grows

In a remote South Carolina research facility, scientists set fire to houses for a crucial purpose: to understand how wildfires destroy homes and how better building practices can save them. The work has taken on new urgency as climate change intensifies wildfire seasons across North America.

At the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety in Richburg, South Carolina, researchers have burned 13 homes to study the rapid progression of fire damage. During one recent test, wind-whipped flames took less than three minutes to go from licking the side of a house to shattering windows and consuming the interior.

“We crash test houses,” explained Roy Wright, president of the institute, a nonprofit established by insurance companies to improve building resilience.

The research facility’s 100-acre site features a six-story wall of 105 fans that can simulate hurricane-force winds. For wildfire testing, these powerful fans blow flames toward carefully constructed test homes, while millions of dollars worth of cameras and sensors capture critical data from inside and outside the structures.

The stakes couldn’t be higher. From 2016 to 2025, wildfires in the United States annually burned an area roughly the size of Massachusetts—about 11,000 square miles. That’s 2.6 times the average burn area seen in the 1980s, according to the National Interagency Fire Center. Canada has experienced an even more dramatic increase, with burned areas averaging 2.8 times larger than in the 1980s.

The financial toll is equally staggering. Since 2020, wildfires have caused an average of $17.7 billion in annual damages across the United States, based on data from NOAA and Climate Central.

“Climate change is intensifying and extending fire seasons across the U.S., while population growth puts densely packed neighborhoods into fire-threatened areas,” said Park Williams, a UCLA climate and fire scientist. The last three years have seen devastating fires ravage California, Hawaii’s Maui, and the Carolinas.

Williams warns that current drought conditions across the United States—particularly in the West and Southeast—coupled with record heat and unprecedented low moisture levels, point to an extraordinarily dangerous fire season ahead unless late spring rains provide relief.

Research Leads to Stronger Building Codes

The institute’s findings have already influenced California’s building codes. New homes in the state must now incorporate ignition-resistant walls, tempered or double-paned windows, and mesh coverings over vents to prevent embers from entering structures.

Creating a 5-foot buffer zone around homes has emerged as another crucial defense strategy. This “defensible space” should be clear of easily combustible materials like pine straw, wood fences, hot tubs with flammable insulation, or overhanging branches.

During test burns, researchers place wooden structures resembling Jenga towers within this buffer zone and use variable wind speeds of 30-55 mph to push flames toward the test home. Once windows and walls are breached, the home’s contents—furniture, clothing, plastics—quickly become fuel, sending showers of burning embers that can ignite new fires blocks away.

However, Syracuse University fire researcher Jacob Bendix cautions that even the best fire standards “are of more limited value” during the most severe fire conditions, especially those involving very high winds.

Fire Prevention Becomes Big Business

As wildfire threats grow, so has the market for home protection products.

Nicholai Allen witnessed the devastating 2018 Woolsey fire near his home in Ventura County, California, and was inspired to become a wildland firefighter to learn more about protection techniques. He now sells Safe Soss products, including carbon filters for attics and vents, heat-resistant ember-stopping tape, and garden hose-compatible fire retardants, recently available at major hardware chains.

“It’s kind of like if you live in the snow, you have a snow shovel, you have scrapers, and you know that you have to take certain preventative steps in order to live in an environment that, hey, sometimes snows,” Allen explained.

Scientific Precision Drives Testing

The test fires are conducted with meticulous attention to detail. Researchers prefer spring testing at the South Carolina site because while summer temperatures match those in the fire-prone West, July’s high humidity would poorly replicate conditions in mountain canyons where many wildfires occur.

Houses are built to closely resemble regular homes but without electrical or plumbing systems. Before testing, tarps and heating machines bring the structures to summer temperature levels. The tests occur on a massive concrete pad outside the main testing hangar.

The facility also conducts research on other hazards like hail damage, with another section of the campus featuring dozens of partially buried roofs exposed to natural elements—freezing, baking, and soaking—sometimes for more than a decade to test durability.

As drought conditions worsen and temperatures rise across much of North America, this research will prove increasingly vital for communities facing the growing threat of catastrophic wildfires.