The technique is similar to blowing out a candle, researchers explain

May 23, 2014 20:07 GMT  ·  By
Scientists are researching the possibility to use explosions to put out wildfires
   Scientists are researching the possibility to use explosions to put out wildfires

Dr. Graham Doig and fellow researchers believe that one day in the not-so-distant future it might be possible to use explosions to keep wildfires from spreading, maybe even put them out altogether.

The scientists are now busy researching the viability of this idea and explain that, according to experiments carried out and information obtained thus far, the technique would not be all that different to blowing out a birthday candle.

Granted, a really big candle sitting on top of a seriously oversized cake, but the same principles would apply, Dr. Graham Doig with the University of New South Wales in Australia and colleagues maintain.

Daily Mail informs that the explosions these brainiacs expect will one day serve to control and extinguish wildfires would be controlled ones and would create a shock wave and a rush of air that would separate the flame from its fuel source.

Given the fact that flames are not exactly what some would call independent and are overly attached to their fuel source, separating the two would put out the fire, the same source explains.

“The sudden change in pressure across the shock wave, and then the impulse of the airflow behind it pushed the flame straight off the fuel source. As soon as the flame doesn't have access to fuel anymore, it stops burning,” Dr. Graham Doig says in a statement.

The scientists working on this research project imagine explosives being carried to an area affected by a wildfire by helicopter and fired up in a safe manner. The technique would especially come in handy when it comes to keeping flames from engulfing tree tops.

“Once it moves into the treetops, that is the big problem, so we have been thinking in terms of having another tool in the toolbox that firefighters can use to get something under control and then get in there with water-bombing and firefighters on the ground,” Dr. Graham Doig explains.

Although it might be a while until firefighters in Australia and in other parts of the world start using controlled explosions to put a leash of wildfires that threaten to engulf large patches of land, the idea does sound promising.

Interestingly enough, word has it that the oil and gas industry are no strangers to using rushes of air to put out fires inside wells. However, this technique has not yet been used to try and gain control of flames burning in open spaces.