[LINK] Bush Fire Speeds (was Re: home emergencies)

[Sylvano]

On Fri, February 20, 2009 9:41 am, Danny Yee wrote:
> Ash Nallawalla wrote:
>> > Mr Ropar, sobbing at times, said it took just two minutes for the
>> > flames to travel 20km, roar up the Sherwin Ranges and explode over the
>> > top.
>>
>> Which was calculated by Karl to be 600 km/h.
>
> Is that completely impossible?  With a crown fire spreading by radiant
> heat, I don't see why the wind speed is necessarily a limitation.

Most things I've found, mention speeds of 5 to 10 km/h

According to the CSIRO bushfire safety tips fact sheet 2008
http://www.publish.csiro.au/samples/Essential%20Bushfire%20Tips%20sample.pdf

Fastest known fire front speeds:
- Grass Fires: 22km/h
- Forest Fires: 15km/h

But of course that's different to travelling embers, which the fact sheet
says that from eucalypt fires they can travel up to 8km or more, depending
on convection patterns.

Sylvano
-- 
Gnomon Publishing
http://www.gnomon.com.au/