Queensland researchers are using supervised fires to investigate how to develop safer timber buildings.
Under the supervision of firefighters, researchers monitored fires that reached about 1,000 degrees Celsius.
Fire engineer Mick Conway said understanding new materials and innovative design was crucial to building safer timber structures.
Queensland researchers investigating how to improve the safety of timber houses have set ceiling compartments on fire at temperatures of about 1,000 degrees Celsius.
Firefighters supervised the tests, which were monitored with live streaming cameras and heat-and pressure-sensing instruments.
"It was a pretty unreal experience," University of Queensland's PhD candidate Josh Madden said.
The research is central to a PhD project he led and part of a wider body of work at the ARC Research Hub to Advance Timber for Australia's Future Built Environment.
"For me, being a researcher, I know all the theory behind it … It was pretty eye-opening," he said.
Mr Madden, who has worked as a fire safety engineer, said mass timber was becoming increasingly common in the building sector.
"Current fire safety guidance was generally built around the assumption that structural materials don't burn," he said.
"But the issue with timber is that timber actually burns."
Mass timber is engineered layers of wood compressed, glued, or nailed together to form uniform panels and slabs.
