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

[Jan Whitaker]

At 03:49 PM 22/02/2009, Antony Barry wrote:

>Then there would be hot spots where the fire front was curved,
>running round a depression for instance. After the Canberra fires
>there was a depression near the Tuggeranong Parkway. Outside the
>depression tree trunks survived. Inside there was nothing. The heat
>was focussed into the area.

huh
I was just out on a drive in our area and couldn't believe what I was 
seeing. Probably within 5km of my house! I had this vision of a 
somewhat contained, single paddock or a little park area. No way. 
There were hectares of burned paddocks and trees. I understand there 
were 3 houses lost, but we couldn't find where they'd been. We did 
see several houses where the fire came very close.

Back to burning patterns, I made a comment that fire burns up hill 
faster than down. To me it made sense because the fire would be 
closer physically to the hill upslope than to the downslope. Does 
that hold, assuming of course there wasn't wind driving down a hill 
for some reason?

Jan



Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
jwhit at janwhitaker.com
business: http://www.janwhitaker.com
personal: http://www.janwhitaker.com/personal/
blog: http://janwhitaker.com/jansblog/

Our truest response to the irrationality of the world is to paint or 
sing or write, for only in such response do we find truth.
~Madeline L'Engle, writer

Writing Lesson #54:
Learn to love revision. Think of it as polishing the silver for 
guests. - JW, May, 2007
_ __________________ _