Our Changing World: Inside a fire lab

New Zealand experiences more than 4,500 wildfires every year – and the risk of big, destructive wildfires is increasing with climate change. 

Ellen Rykers visits the fire lab at the University of Canterbury, a purpose-built facility for setting things on fire and studying how they burn. 

Researchers can burn couches or create fire tornadoes. But today, Ellen is with PhD researcher and firefighter Kate Melnick, who is researching gorse, a prickly shrub that is both common and flammable. 

We join Kate as she sets up a large gorse bush in the lab, ready to burn.