A huge testing facility is being built in South Carolina that will be able to test the effects of winds up to 140 mph on full-size homes. In addition to testing for category 4 hurricane conditions, the lab will simulate the spread of burning embers in a vegetation fire. Researchers will evaluate the ignition potential of embers and look at ways to make homes less likely to burn when exposed to flaming debris.

The facility will use over 100 huge fans which consume so much electricity that it will only be used at full strength during off-peak hours, because it will draw enough electricity to power 9,000 homes.

Here is a video from WISTV. (If the video is not visible below, go to WISTV and on the right side of the article, click on the little red video symbol.)