We consider two problems related to the b–l and b–ε models of propagation of turbulent bursts. We show that these equations admit some particular exact solutions which reduce to a finite-dimensional dynamical system. This makes it possible to describe a singular effect of finite-time extinction, and in particular, nonsymmetric solutions which do not exhibit symmetrization in the asymptotic behaviour. We show that in the multi-dimensional equation related to the b–l model, the nonsymmetric extinction behaviour is governed by the first-order equation. For the b–ε model with α=β=1 and γ<1, using such particular solutions, we establish that the ω-limit set of all the rescaled extinction orbits is essentially infinite-dimensional.