Can wood catch fire if it's surrounded by water?

Question

Are there any arrangements of water around wood that can prevent it from catching fire? I'm mostly interested in structures with these three cross-sections:

~██~   ▒██▒   ▒██▒   █ Wood
~~~~   ~~~~   ▒~~▒   ~ Water
                     ▒ Air

These arrangements will be in a waterslide that may or may not catch fire at some point.

There is a related question about properties of fire but it doesn't address the effects of fire around water. — Sadly Not, Mar 16 '11 at 13:33
I don't think water changes anything, but sadly it'll take some time for me to make sure — badp, Mar 16 '11 at 14:20
Sadly, you wont be able to restrain us from telling bad jokes. About your question, i think the first possibility will not witness fire spread. Can't tell for sure, though, so i'll make a few try this evening... — Lysarion, Mar 16 '11 at 15:05
@Lysarion I need a definite answer or my poor waterslide might suffer :P also, if anyone submits an answer please discuss water above wood if it makes a difference. — Sadly Not, Mar 16 '11 at 15:26
I guess this is a top-down view? Or is it a cross-section diagram? — Kevin Yap, Mar 16 '11 at 16:31

Kevin Yap · Accepted Answer · 2011-03-16T23:19:47.783

12

It appears water doesn't stop logs from catching fire, as they caught fire in all of these configurations (I lit the Netherrack blocks on fire for all the tests).

Water underneath:

enter image description here

Water on the sides:

enter image description here

Mixture of configuration 1 and 2:

enter image description here

Water flowing right to the logs:

enter image description here

edited Mar 16 '11 at 23:19

answered Mar 16 '11 at 16:39

Kevin Yap

35,752
18
146
192

+1, water seems to function like a normal non-flammable block for the purposes of fires. I've been trying to to prove it, but I couldn't think of that second configuration that you have – Ullallulloo Mar 16 '11 at 16:53

Can wood catch fire if it's surrounded by water?

1 Answers1