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Every PyroRisk article, newest first.

A metal roof gutter packed with dry pine needles and cones, where four charred, glowing pieces of bark smoulder and a thin wisp of smoke rises, with pine trees and a dusk sky behind.

Wildfire Science

Home Hardening: Why Embers, Not Flames, Burn Down Houses

Most homes lost to wildfire never meet the flame front. See how embers get in, what home hardening buys in the field data, and where it stops working.

October 24, 2026 · 19 min read

A long, dim medieval oak roof attic seen down its length: steep rafters and heavy trusses form a timber tunnel over the rounded, dusty stone backs of the vaults, with a plank walkway down the middle and work lamps hanging from the beams.

Fire Case Studies

Notre-Dame Fire: Why an 800-Year-Old Roof Burned in Hours

The 2019 Notre-Dame fire grew for half an hour in a 100 m oak attic before anyone called firefighters. See the fuel, the lead, the vaults and the rebuild.

October 16, 2026 · 19 min read

A test room built like a small nightclub stage: a low wooden platform in front of a recessed alcove, with grey egg-crate acoustic foam on the alcove and upper walls above brown wood paneling, and three thin instrument poles on the empty floor.

Fire Case Studies

Station Nightclub Fire: Why 100 People Had Only 90 Seconds

The Station nightclub fire killed 100 people in 2003. See how stage gerbs, acoustic foam and one narrow inner door left the crowd about 90 seconds to escape.

October 10, 2026 · 19 min read

A full-scale facade fire test rig in a bright laboratory hall: two tall walls clad in grey composite panels meet in a corner, with a square combustion chamber at the foot of the left wall holding a crossed stack of timber sticks.

Fire Case Studies

Grenfell Tower Fire: The Cladding Physics Behind 72 Deaths

The Grenfell Tower fire began as a kitchen fire. See how polyethylene cladding, a stay-put plan that outlived the building and gamed tests killed 72 people.

October 6, 2026 · 19 min read

A white wall outlet on a grey wall, its cover plate scorched brown around the upper socket, where a wisp of smoke rises from a plug. The cord drops to an oak floor near two white power strips joined by a short cord.

Fire in Daily Life

Overloaded Power Strip: How a Daisy Chain Starts a Wall Fire

A power strip fire rarely starts in the cord. It starts at a worn contact that no breaker can see. Learn the physics of daisy chains and how to stay safe.

October 3, 2026 · 20 min read

An outdoor turkey fryer on a concrete driveway under a grey sky. A tall metal pot, full to the rim with oil, sits on a burner stand over a lit gas flame, between a white propane cylinder and a frost-covered turkey on a folding table.

Fire in Daily Life

Turkey Fryer Fireball: The Physics of Water in Hot Oil

A turkey fryer holds five gallons of hot oil over an open flame. See why 100 g of ice makes 200 L of steam, how pots overflow, and how to fry safely.

October 1, 2026 · 20 min read

A white duvet hangs down against the left side of a radiant space heater in a dark bedroom. Two quartz tubes glow orange behind the wire grille, grey smoke rises above the heater, and its cord runs to a wall outlet.

Fire in Daily Life

Space Heater Season: Why 3 Feet and Off at Night Save Lives

A space heater starts a small share of US home heating fires but causes most of the deaths. Radiant heat, tip-over physics and sleep explain why.

September 29, 2026 · 19 min read

Two round white smoke alarms mounted side by side on a hallway ceiling at night, with grey smoke drifting toward them from a doorway lit by a faint orange glow and a moonlit window at the right

Fire Safety Engineering

Ionization or Photoelectric Smoke Alarm? Why Experts Split

Ionization alarms beat a photoelectric smoke alarm by seconds in flaming fires, then lose by 30 minutes in smoldering ones. Here is why experts still split.

September 25, 2026 · 19 min read

Fire Safety Engineering

2-Hour Fire Wall: What a Fire Resistance Rating Measures

A 2-hour fire resistance rating means a wall survived a 1918 furnace curve, not a real fire. Here is what the test proves, and where it falls short.

September 22, 2026 · 19 min read

Structural fire test in a laboratory: an unprotected steel I-beam glows dull orange and sags between two concrete columns while flames run along its top flange, thermocouple wires trail from the web down to an instrument rack, fragments of spalled concrete and exposed reinforcing bars litter the floor around a cracked column, and a fire safety engineer in a hi-vis jacket and white hard hat watches a rising temperature trace on a tablet

Fire Safety Engineering

Critical Temperature: Why Steel Softens and Concrete Spalls

The 550 °C critical temperature of steel comes from a load ratio, not from metallurgy. Here is the real physics, and why hot concrete explodes.

September 13, 2026 · 19 min read

Tunnel fire scene inside a long alpine road tunnel at night — wet asphalt reflects warm sodium lighting under a curved concrete vault, two jet fans hang from the ceiling, a green emergency exit sign glows above a steel refuge door and an emergency telephone on the right wall, a stopped lorry far down the bore trails grey smoke that flattens along the ceiling, and a tunnel safety engineer in a hi-vis jacket and white hard hat stands by a service pickup in the foreground reading an event-tree diagram and a falling risk curve on a tablet

Fire Risk Assessment

Road Tunnel Fire Risk: The QRA Born From Mont Blanc 1999

The Mont Blanc tunnel fire killed 39 people in 1999. Here come the event trees, design fires, critical velocity and F-N lines that now govern tunnel QRA.

September 8, 2026 · 18 min read

ALARP weighing at a grid-scale battery storage site at golden hour — rows of white lithium-ion battery containers behind a chain-link fence with a brick house beyond, an antique brass balance scale on a weathered steel site table with a stack of coins on one pan and a small steel model of a battery container on the other, an open safety case binder showing a red, amber and green inverted tolerability triangle, and a fire safety engineer in a hi-vis vest and white hard hat resting a hand on the binder while studying the scale

Fire Risk Assessment

ALARP: How 'As Low As Reasonably Practicable' Became Law

ALARP turns a 1949 mining case into a legal test. Here come the tolerability limits, the gross disproportion arithmetic, and how a BESS case uses them.

September 6, 2026 · 19 min read