BS: Weird Fire Scenes - Why?

Subject: BS: Weird Fire Scenes - Why?
From: Lizzie Cornish 1
Date: 14 Aug 18 - 02:18 PM

I know there are some Firefighters on Mudcat....and was wondering if they could please explain these seemingly odd fires/fire damage, as I keep seeing many such photos on the internet, of trees left untouched whilst houses have burnt down, house after house.....

Is this the normal way a Wild Fire goes?


Video of 'wild fires'

Thank you
Lizzie

Subject: RE: BS: Weird Fire Scenes - Why?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 14 Aug 18 - 04:27 PM

Because fire is fluid in how it travels but it isn't a flood. It follows eddies in the air and if there is a column of heat rising from one place another fire can be pulled into/toward it, pulling it away from the direction it was traveling.

Subject: RE: BS: Weird Fire Scenes - Why?
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 14 Aug 18 - 07:45 PM

Probably a little tasteless, but years ago there was an outbreak of major fires in the South of France
After the blaze subdued investigators went in to see could they discover the cause and were somewhat nonplussed to find a number of bodies in swimming gear or diving equipment
They eventually realised that some of the planes fighting the fires, especially equipped to fly low over the sea and scoop up sea water to quench the flames had inadvertently scooped up swimmers and divers in their loads and dropped them on the blaze

I read about that in the same Sunday Times article (entitled bizarre accidents) which described a spate of incidents where a number of owners of automatic cars in America were mown by their own vehicles when returning from a quick visit to a shop
Apparently, they had left the car parked with the engine running and their large pet dogs, which had been left locked inside, became restless and had dislodged the lever which threw the car into motion.
The last sight the owner ever saw was the dog staring out lovingly from the drivering seat of the speeding car
For my sins, Pat and I both choked on our teas I read ot both these accounts
Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: BS: Weird Fire Scenes - Why?
From: Rapparee
Date: 14 Aug 18 - 10:52 PM

My wife's cousins in Redding had the fire come to within 20 feet of their house and no farther. The smoke damaged the roof, the refrigerator, the sides, the furniture, but the house wasn't burned. They are all quite involved in one way or another with the US Forest Service or the California Division of Forestry and, while thankful, were not surprised by the fire's behavior.

Subject: RE: BS: Weird Fire Scenes - Why?
From: Joe Offer
Date: 14 Aug 18 - 11:26 PM

Well, it's an interesting attempt at a conspiracy theory. Obviously, the narrator mustn't have received basic firebuilding training from the Boy Scouts. Otherwise, he'd know that the most effective way to build a fire, is to build a log cabin or teepee of dry wood, with highly-flammable kindling and tinder in the middle. Trees are generally green, and Nature spaces them a considerable distance apart so they can grow in the sunlight. They will flare up like a torch under the right conditions - but even then, the trunks will rarely burn completely.

Neighborhoods burn much better than forests, because they are rows and rows of perfect Boy Scout log cabin fires, all ready for burning.

My house is in the middle of a very vulnerable area, and it worries me. There was a fire right around the corner just this week Sunday night. It burned only 1.5 acres. A crew of 60 people put it out before it could do any property damage.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: BS: Weird Fire Scenes - Why?
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 14 Aug 18 - 11:27 PM

Jim, you'd better run that one by Snopes. No aircraft or helicopter retrieving water is going to be anywhere near land, let alone swimmers or divers. They travel away from shore to fetch water safely without getting too close to land or objects they could hit.

Subject: RE: BS: Weird Fire Scenes - Why?
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 15 Aug 18 - 03:02 AM

That's what the article said Acme - I have no doubt that, given the circumstances and the size o the blazes, time and speed was of the essence - I put it pu as a piece of tasteless whimsey lifted from a French newspaper, not because I attach any credence to it - maybe it was a no news week
Jim

Subject: RE: BS: Weird Fire Scenes - Why?
From: leeneia
Date: 15 Aug 18 - 10:56 AM

Hi, Lizzie. I tried to follow your link, but the video seems to be only for Facebook users.

Thanks for your insight, Acme.

Subject: RE: BS: Weird Fire Scenes - Why?
From: Rapparee
Date: 15 Aug 18 - 10:00 PM

Nope.

Subject: RE: BS: Weird Fire Scenes - Why?
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 16 Aug 18 - 04:24 AM

The driverless cars story is equally invented:
Apparently, they had left the car parked with the engine running and their large pet dogs, which had been left locked inside, became restless and had dislodged the lever which threw the car into motion.
The last sight the owner ever saw was the dog staring out lovingly from the drivering seat of the speeding car

How is this known? Did the dead person tell the reporter what they'd seen?
I'm a little surprised that these were both in the Sunday Times, not the issue for Easter Day was it? (That did coincide with all-fools day this year)

Subject: RE: BS: Weird Fire Scenes - Why?
From: leeneia
Date: 16 Aug 18 - 12:12 PM

How did a dog depress the button while shifting the gear lever?

Subject: RE: BS: Weird Fire Scenes - Why?
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 16 Aug 18 - 12:27 PM

The car wa an automatic and had no gears - I have never driven one so I don't really know what I'm talking about
I believe from the article that it only happened in certain makes of cars
For all I can remember, the articles may have appeared on April 1st and have been written with someone with a sense of humour as tasteless as mine
Jim

Subject: RE: BS: Weird Fire Scenes - Why?
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 16 Aug 18 - 12:33 PM

My late friend, Tom Munnelly, the collector, moved to this part of West Clare in the 1970s
He used to tell the story of their first Christmas Morning when the chimney of their rented house caught fire.
New to the area and in a panic, Tom ran next door to borrow a ladder, leaving his wife and children to stem the blaze
The neighbour told him he had a ladder in the yard, but "Perhaps you'll stop and have a drink with us to celebrate Christmas"
Jim

Subject: RE: BS: Weird Fire Scenes - Why?
From: Senoufou
Date: 16 Aug 18 - 02:31 PM

A propos of nothing but...

My father once chucked a huge lump of rancid lard from the chip pan into our coke boiler and shut the lid.
There was a massive explosion and the blast blew the entire chimney stack and many roof tiles to smithereens. The noise was deafening - all the neighbours ran outside, and were rained on by bits of brick.

The fire brigade arrived and put out the resulting fire. The kitchen was full of sooty water.

We girls were delighted at all the drama. We'd never been so well-entertained.

While mother mopped up, father slunk away with a bright red face. I think he cried.

Subject: RE: BS: Weird Fire Scenes - Why?
From: Donuel
Date: 22 Aug 18 - 09:20 AM

American Samoans sing while battling California wild fire http://www.samoanews.com/linking-samoans/tribes-call-spirits-give-firefighters-strength-fight-carr-fire but are considered Illegal Aliens.
They have stayed one step ahead of ICE.

Subject: RE: BS: Weird Fire Scenes - Why?
From: Donuel
Date: 22 Aug 18 - 10:03 AM

http://www.samoanews.com/linking-samoans/tribes-call-spirits-give-firefighters-strength-fight-carr-fire

Subject: RE: BS: Weird Fire Scenes - Why?
From: leeneia
Date: 23 Aug 18 - 09:49 AM

Thank you for the link, Donuel. That's beautiful singing.

Are you sure they are illegals when they are from AMERICAN Samoa?

Subject: RE: BS: Weird Fire Scenes - Why?
From: EBarnacle
Date: 23 Aug 18 - 02:42 PM

Clearly as illegal as fellow citizens from Guam and Puerto Rico.

Subject: RE: BS: Weird Fire Scenes - Why?
From: Joe Offer
Date: 23 Aug 18 - 05:39 PM

Urban legend specialist Jan Brunvand has something to say about SCUBA divers dropped onto forest fires in Curses! Broiled Again! (click).
In short, he disproves the legend. But gee, the planes fly over my house after they scoop water from a lake not far from here, and the lake isn't very big....

-Joe-