Carolina Weather Group

Setting a home on fire intentionally... or shooting hail out of a potato gun at roofing material... are all ways the Insurance Institute for Business Home and Safety uses science to make our lives safer. For the Carolina Weather Group's 500th podcast episode, the team goes on-location to the giant IBHS weather lab in Richburg, South Carolina. In this video, you will see scientists light a home on fire INTENTIONALLY in order to study how wind spread wildfires. On-hand for this experiment in the Carolinas, CALTECH and CAL FIRE from California, where wildfires can quickly become deadly and destructive. IBHS utilizes its wind tunnel to push over flames at 35 mph. Scientists want to see how quickly a fire can spread from one building to the next. See what happens when those fans crank up and blow onto the fully engulfed home. From fire to ice... we take you inside IBHS' hail lab, where they make and study the impact of hail on roofs. Shooting hail at roofing materials of various ages and construction material