Abstract

Abstract Overview

Electromagnetic fields (EMFs) near electric powerlines and buildings influence how plants burn, contributing to the unusual severity and patterns of wildfires.

Key Mechanisms and Findings

• Triggering Factors: Electronically generated EMFs impact low-growing plants through activation of voltage-controlled calcium channels, causing an increase in plant terpenes and other volatiles like polyamines, lipid peroxidation volatiles, and methyl jasmonate, triggering excessive production of peroxynitrite and reactive free radicals.
• Enhanced Flammability: Highly volatile terpenes make plants more flammable, and these volatiles, accumulating in the air under calm conditions, form a dense layer that can spread over the ground, amplifying EMF effects.
• Explosive Chemicals: Interaction between terpenes and free radicals results in explosive terpene-derived chemicals like hydroperoxides, nitrate esters, and nitro compounds which further escalate fire severity.
• Impact on Infrastructure: When these explosive fires reach buildings, they can cause structures to also burn explosively at high temperatures, leaving behind a characteristic light gray powder.

Conclusion

The research illustrates that EMFs can significantly alter fire dynamics by changing the chemical composition within plants. These findings challenge prior assumptions about high voltage powerline maintenance and fire causation, suggesting a strong contributing role of EMFs.