Watch FPE Professor Michael Gollner Explain Fire Tornadoes and Wildfire Research

Watch FPE Professor Michael Gollner Explain Fire Tornadoes and Wildfire Research

Watch FPE Professor Michael Gollner Explain Fire Tornadoes and Wildfire Research

A lab-created fire tornado.
A lab-created fire tornado.

University of Maryland assistant professor Michael Gollner (Department of Fire Protection Engineering) explained–and demonstrated–the phenomenon known as a fire tornado in an episode of Daily Planet, airing on the Discovery Channel in Canada. The episode was part of the series’ “Forces of Nature Week.”

Gollner demonstrated several experiments he and his group use to predict wildfire behavior, including extreme events such as the fire tornado, also known as a fire whirl.

"There are still so many things we can discover and learn that will save people's lives," he explains in the segment. "[We're] trying to understand how the fire actually jumps between...fuels and spreads and grows...And if we can understand that, we might be better able to predict where the fire is going to go."

Watch the segment online at Discovery Channel Canada
Gollner's segment begins at approximately 2:59.

 

screenshots from video

April 23, 2014


Prev   Next

Current Headlines

Fischell Institute Hosts Maryland Department of Commerce Secretary

Rudolph Awarded Women in Defense Scholarship

Edward Eisenstein Elected President of American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

Why 'Thinking More' Isn't Always Making Generative AI Smarter

BIOE Professor Publishes Global Consensus on Brillouin Microscopy in Nature Photonics

Researchers Develop Autonomous Materials Discovery Engine Using AI

UMD Team Led by Yu Named Best Paper Award Finalists at DAC 2025

ECE Professor and Former Chair Pat O'Shea Named Vice President for Research for UMD's Joint Research Enterprise

News Resources

Return to Newsroom

Search News

Archived News

Events Resources

Events Calendar