Wildfires
Post Fiend
Joined: Dec 2005
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i would say yes, its natures way to deal with growth and fertilize the land...BUT...the way humans detroy and devolop and mow everything down in their path, i don't think nature needs to do it so much anymore, and the amount of fires humans have caused sure does to me make up for any lagging mother nature had.
Posting Guru
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 1,666
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From: Sunny tourist infested FL
I live in area where these started (brevard county). The fire that has been closing I-95 for the last 2 weeks was arson...
The sheriffs were chasing a guy on a quad, but lost him in the brush.
The one south of FT Myers was set by teenagers. All have been arrested and charge with felony arson.
The one north of us, in volusia county was a controlled burn gone bad...
Let's see....
It's 90 degrees, 30% humidity and 20 mph winds. LET'S HAVE A CONTROLLED BURN!
The one here in brevard was mis-managed from the start...
The county waited wayyyyyyyyy to long to ask for assistance. When it first started, they let it burn for almost 2 hours before attacking it.
They ran out of water, they did not calling in for aerial water drops until 5 days later, and refused help from other counties until it started to get close to homes on the west side of I-95.
Not saying that they did not do their job, BUT, how many mistakes does it take to let a small 5 acre fire turn into a 5500 acre disaster.
The sheriffs were chasing a guy on a quad, but lost him in the brush.
The one south of FT Myers was set by teenagers. All have been arrested and charge with felony arson.
The one north of us, in volusia county was a controlled burn gone bad...
Let's see....
It's 90 degrees, 30% humidity and 20 mph winds. LET'S HAVE A CONTROLLED BURN!
The one here in brevard was mis-managed from the start...
The county waited wayyyyyyyyy to long to ask for assistance. When it first started, they let it burn for almost 2 hours before attacking it.
They ran out of water, they did not calling in for aerial water drops until 5 days later, and refused help from other counties until it started to get close to homes on the west side of I-95.
Not saying that they did not do their job, BUT, how many mistakes does it take to let a small 5 acre fire turn into a 5500 acre disaster.
Last edited by wildcard30; May 9, 2006 at 07:21 PM.
Lead Driver
Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 5,241
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From: Other side of the sunrise
Originally Posted by wildcard30
Let's see....
It's 90 degrees, 30% humidity and 20 mph winds. LET'S HAVE A CONTROLLED BURN!
In the Western US, where climates are typically more deserty, it is not unlikely for relative humidities to drop well into the single digits. Hence the assumtion of some to figure that 30% is no big deal. The difference is the type of vegetation.
Definately a bad time for a controlled burn in my humble opinion.
Just thought some might find this informative.
Hotshot
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 10,244
Likes: 7,654
From: Chino Valley, Arizona
(It's 90 degrees, 30% humidity and 20 mph winds. LET'S HAVE A CONTROLLED BURN!)
This is why here in Arizona they no longer do controlled burns the have "prescribed burns" not too much control in a controlled burn
This is why here in Arizona they no longer do controlled burns the have "prescribed burns" not too much control in a controlled burn
Hotshot
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 13,589
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From: NW burbs of chicago
Do you think it is just natures way of dealing with the extra growth
Fire does do good, Certian types of plants need fire to reproduce
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Post Fiend
Joined: Mar 2004
Posts: 24,418
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From: San Francisco, Ca.
Because of the more than usual rainfall in this part of the country, I imagine we're going have record breaking forrest fires.
olfordsnstone, 30% is low for Florida.
I remember when I lived in the Mojave Desert the humidity hit 4%, but sand doesn't burn.
jake00, I remember the Yellowstone fires in 1988 that burned 793,000 acres of Yellowstone parkland and a total of 1.2 million acres overall.
We were backpacking somewhat in the area. It was smokey.
Yes, fires are an important eco cleaner. And they promote new growth.
The largest scorched area I saw was when I drove to Alaska in '83. 5 million scorched acres.
They let it burn itself out.
olfordsnstone, 30% is low for Florida.
I remember when I lived in the Mojave Desert the humidity hit 4%, but sand doesn't burn.
jake00, I remember the Yellowstone fires in 1988 that burned 793,000 acres of Yellowstone parkland and a total of 1.2 million acres overall.
We were backpacking somewhat in the area. It was smokey.
Yes, fires are an important eco cleaner. And they promote new growth.
The largest scorched area I saw was when I drove to Alaska in '83. 5 million scorched acres.
They let it burn itself out.
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Joined: Apr 2004
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From: Lolo Montana
I was in Yellowstone during the fires of 88. And I have been back many times since then. Just can't get enough of it. The fires did clear alot of the under brush. Things are starting to look good again. It would be nice to still clears some of the burnt trees out of there. But on the other hand. They add to the wonders of the Park. There was also a fire the last time we were there in 2004. Not as bad, but you could still smell and see the smoke. It was around Yellowstone lake area.
Tom
Tom
Posting Guru
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 1,666
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From: Sunny tourist infested FL
Originally Posted by olfordsnstone
For those of you who are not too shocked about 30% Relative Humidity, take note. 30% is VERY low for Florida. It's the chemical composition of the vegetation in Florida. At 30% you can expect super extreme fire behavior.
Definately a bad time for a controlled burn in my humble opinion.
Just thought some might find this informative.
Definately a bad time for a controlled burn in my humble opinion.
Just thought some might find this informative.
Thanks for adding that info. 30% is very low for Florida. Our fire index in brevard is 620 out of 800. 800 is the max on the scale.
The fires in my area are mostly contained. I-95 in this area is closed every morning from 5 to 9 am because of the smoke.
In volusia, it's closed 24/7 right now...
The weather guessers are saying rain for tomorrow. That would be great. So far this year, we are only 7 inches behind the norm...
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