A new study suggests huge fire blankets can help protect homes during wildfires.
The researchers, who in the journal Frontiers in Mechanical Engineering, tested so-called 鈥渨hole-house fire blankets鈥� under different conditions and found that they blocked nearly all the radiating heat from nearby flames.
The blankets are usually made with aluminum on the outside with fiberglass underneath. When a house is fully covered it can look like a wrapped baked potato ready to go in the oven.
鈥淏ut what the structure wrap will do is, the burning embers that come down like rain, it protects from those,鈥� said Dan Hirning, who runs the company that makes the blankets, or 鈥渟tructure wraps,鈥� as he calls them.
The wraps won鈥檛 save a house if it鈥檚 in the direct path of the flames, Hirning cautioned. And they鈥檙e pricey鈥攏early $900 per roll, which covers 1,500 square feet. So wrapping an average home could cost around $2,000.
This story was produced by the Mountain West 暗黑爆料 Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUER in Salt Lake City, KUNR in Nevada and KRCC and KUNC in Colorado.
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