Disastrous fires like the Thomas Fire (the largest fire in California’s history) are expected to continue impacting the state. Did you know that researchers at UC Riverside Department of Mechanical Engineering have been committed to the study of wildfire behavior in the county? Work conducted at The Laboratory for Environmental Flow Modeling (LEFM) strives to clarify key physical phenomena involved in Southern Californian chaparral wildfires. Results from their studies may be applied to improve current wildfire spread models, used operationally during fire events. Learn more about the work of Dr. Princevac and his team in their National Geographic feature (National Geographic Video) and some of their most recent publications (see Cobian-Iñiguez et al). Test your wildfire knowledge by playing GridFire (Play GridFire here), the wildfire educational game developed by members of the LEFM laboratory and the FIELDS Program (NASA – JPL – UCR).