Vegetation fires at full scale: BAM measured over 500 °C and up to 238 ppm CO in a pine forest and a fire front of up to 2 m/s on a stubble field — data for models and for PFAS-free firefighting
On 21 July 2026 Germany’s Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM) presented the results of controlled fires and extinguishing trials in the EU project TREEADS: in a pine forest in Saxony-Anhalt and on a stubble field in Brandenburg. The results were described in the journal “Fire and Materials”.
- In the forest the fire was run on a 16 × 22 m plot with line ignition. Measurements: 96 thermocouples and two gas sensors mounted on trees, drone-based video and infrared imaging, and a mobile FTIR spectrometer for real-time smoke analysis; a tilled and foam-treated strip prevented uncontrolled spread. Conditions: 23 °C, light wind, low soil moisture.
- In the forest smouldering of mosses, grasses and deadwood dominated, with intermittent flames lower than 0.5 m and heavy smoke; peak temperatures exceeded 500 °C and CO concentrations reached 238 ppm. The authors note that wind turbulence complicated gas sampling. On the stubble field the fire moved as a fast wind-driven front — according to BAM at up to 2 m/s, covering about 700 m² three minutes after ignition.
- BAM points out that smouldering continues long after visible flames die down and still releases large amounts of smoke — raising the risk of re-ignition and the exposure of firefighters to fire gases. Extinguishing techniques and surfactant-based firefighting water additives free of fluorine and PFAS were also tested.
- The data are meant to improve physical and numerical models of vegetation fire spread under central European fuel and weather conditions and to inform sensor deployment strategies. Recommendations for fire brigades have been incorporated, among others, into a leaflet of the German fire protection association vfdb on the use of firefighting water additives in vegetation fires. TREEADS, funded under Horizon 2020, involves more than 40 institutions from Europe and Taiwan.
Source: BAM — BAM-Freilandversuche liefern neue Daten für die Vegetationsbrandbekämpfung (21.07.2026)