In the name of science and to study firefighting methods, members of the New York City Fire Department (FDNY) spent much of the first two weeks in July setting fire to 20 abandoned townhouses on Governors Island, about a kilometer from the southern tip of Manhattan.

In a series of “live burn” experiments, conducted in collaboration with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and Underwriters Laboratories (UL), New York firefighters challenged conventional wisdom and tested new tactics for controlling fires and rescuing occupants inside burning homes.

“We studied these fires from start to finish,” explains NIST fire protection engineer Dan Madrzykowski , who led the NIST research contingent at Governors Island. “We turned these row houses into laboratories for real-life experiments that will provide guidance for improving firefighting tactics.”

 …