In this episode of Fire Fundamentals, together with Dr Sara McAllister, we dwell on how stuff burns... And it is far from an easy question. While the general theme of the episodes is porous fuels, we discuss them from different angles, highlighting the similarities and differences between foamed and permeable materials.

In this episode, we cover:

• role of permeability, entrainment and forced flows through porous fuel beds;
• differences in physical properties between porous materials and their bulk forms;
• ignition (flaming and smouldering) of porous fuels;
• natural and artificial fuels, open and closed cell fuels;
• hazards specific to porous fuels in wildfires and in building fires;

And also a bit of discussion on future research of Dr McAllister along with the need for canonical tests to characterize their flammabaility.

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