Wildfires cause huge destruction every year and working out exactly how they burn and predicting where they will go is no easy task.
At the University of California a team of researchers have been recreating these fires indoors, in an attempt to better understand them.
This involves various experiments such as working out in what conditions a surface ignition will spread and trying to identify what the important variables are.
They hope the research will help firefighters out in the field tackle real real fires more effectively.
More: National Geographic