This paper experimentally and theoretically examines the horizontal burning of four species of wood exposed to incident heat fluxes of 25-75 kW/m(2) with their grain oriented either parallel or perpendicular to the incident heat flux. Mass loss, temperatures, and char fractions were measured. A one-dimensional integral model that describes the transient pyrolysis of a semi-infinite charring solid subject to a constant radiant heat flux was developed. The solutions to the integral model for the burning rate were compared with data using analytical short-time and long-time solutions. Reasonable comparative results are shown for mass loss rate, surface temperature, char depth, and effective thermal penetration.