Exploding bushfires mystery

[Jaydddeee248]

:\ Its survival... the trees burn, and new plants are born from the ashes... greener and better then before... It sucks, sure, but it's life, and better then countless floods.

[verticalsmurf]

Does this experiment take into account the wood being burned, temperature and wind currents? Fire pockets are easy, hot air from the fires rise and cooler air drops accumulating air borne oils from the trees as it goes. The air pocket is sparked by an ember and Boom. Dancing fires are more interesting. The fire 'dances' (feeding on the evaporated oils) over the tops of trees at an alarming speed causing devistation when the fire touches down again, but doesn't harm the trees it dances over.

[Brontasaurous]

i am pretty sure what they are decribing in the video is called a 'flashover'. when fire burns a fuel source it does not always burn cleanly and that is why we get smoke. smoke is unburnt particals getting caught in the wind direction and is very flammable. often with the reintroduction of oxygen (one of the three components required for fire) there will be a 'flashover'. this is commonly seen in compartment fires where a door is opened and oxygen races to the fires source reigniting it.

[smpwxc]

Very instructive, thank you, learned something!

[bundarrah]

And more. Bruce Espiln should go. No proper warnings at all were issued advising people of the severity of the conditions at the time. He knew how extreme they were and did not pass it on.

[bundarrah]

The whole fire thing IS simple. You need fuel for a fire. More fuel for a hot fire. Australian bush is highly flammable, the eucalypts are full of oil that is gassified in these conditions and explodes. And that doesn't have to happen on a slope either.

Conspiracies? I reckon the Greens in Aus are rubbing their hands with glee as they now see an excuse to get people out of the bush rather than use fuel reduction techniques.

Peter Garrett reckons fuel reduction is a 'threatening' process. WTF?

[J3sst44]

This required scientific experiments? In Australia it's quite simple... Native trees contain highly flammable oils, and when ignited/heated to the point of incineration, they explode. It's why we have some nasty fucking fires.

[thecellarlife]

simple. makes sense. no debate. what the fuck were all you idiots arguing about that took up 3 pages of comments?

[Cayden1986]

I find that comment quite immature and childish.

[cuteasabug17]

thats the most evil thing i have ever read. i feel sorry for you as you must be a very terrible sick person.

[DigbyCat]

come on baby light my fire...

[Swfty01]

What no comment SovereignBeing? Any more thories you want me to debunk? See thats the thing with paranoid conspiracy freaks. If you prove anythings wrong with their theories then it quickly goes VERY quiet.

[sinnsmd]

People will definately rebuild where they lived. Maybe they will realise a little more about clearing around the home a bit, but honestly in the end, the fires moved that fast that even houses WITH clearings around were lost. Its as the Vic government has done and raised standards, and also pointed out the need for more fire safety conciousness, IE: sprinklers etc as well as possibly fire shelters UNDER the houses. All good ideas after the disaster we recently witnessed.

[madzgamez123]

they say the marysville fires on black saturday in victoria could have been prevented if they had an half kilometer firebreak, because of the heat generagted from the flames, thats one very hot and fast fire, and it is also currenty illeagal to clear trees and shrubs in some areas of the state, and

thats all i wanter to add, yes concrete bunkers are a very good idea, it should be almost compulsory in bush fire areas

[habibi1213]

I also love all these armchair scientists with their own theories as well... keep up the good work guys =)

[SovereignBeing]

7.2.2009 = 9.11

think about it folks, not all as it seems here..

[MaGGoT666au]

nothing to do with it but anyway

[habibi1213]

How does this have anything to do with bushfires??? Go waste someone else's time with your stupid comments...

[SovereignBeing]

you honestly have no clue at all do u???

[Swfty01]

More than you do with your conspiracy theory. IT WAS A BUSHFIRE!! What next, terrorists flooded Nth Qld? Terrorists sent the sharks that attacked the unfortuante people recently?I got my car stolen a while ago, did Osama Bin Laden want my car? From what you are saying,terrorists planned to light fires on that date. So did they increase the winds and heat to coincide with that date. Your theories have more holes than a teabag simpleton!

[SovereignBeing]

truth is much stranger than fiction my friend.. they can manipulate the weather easily and have been doing so for decades.. .look up Haarp and see for yourself..

What i am saying is the Government are the terrorists here.. keeping folks like u trapped in fear and burning vast areas of our sacred land...They should be exposed..

look up depopulation agenda and new world order and you might start to grasp abit of the concept..

[Swfty01]

You are sad little individual. It states on the HAARP website its only effective over a limited area. The conditions experienced on Black Saturday were over the WHOLE southern Australia so that dispels that theory. What do you think the government will achieve by causing something like this?Absolutely nothing. Depopulation? 200 lives isnt go to do much in terms of overpopulation. And the New World Order debate,well thats the consipacists fallback. Time to find a new hobby for you I think.

[jimfredmaxken]

Fool.

[KingtutWA]

Well done SB, you have displayed your stupidity to millions of intelligent people.

Congratulations.

[KingtutWA]

At approximately 17kmh, the wind speed is enough to over-ride the incoming air from the fire plume.

A plume draws air from around it, hence a fire appears to burn towards the middle.

Once the surrounding air moves faster than the incoming air, the fire spreads quickly.

[poundsy82]

The Fire would have literally exploding through the hot scrub. combine that with almost gale force winds and theirs your combination for disaster.

In the time warnings went out it was already to late.

[poundsy82]

Conditions on said day of black Saturday where horrible. i live about 60km's away and 2 suburbs over from me it was 49 degrees C. The amount of pre heating that the fine fuel >6mm dia, would have received would have been massive. the amount of flammable vapors already being given off from fine fuel would have been massive. all it would have taken was a hot car exhaust, a cigarette butt, any spark would have set it off.

some reports where that the fire covered 20km's in a few short minutes...

[extramural]

So the Victorian fires started 7/2/2009 and the destruction caused was just a matter time then. It will be interesting to see if people rebuild there knowing the dangers? Was there even a warning anounced as the fire approached knowing the possible danger to the humans in the path of the fire or is all this info just kept secret for a privileged few? Australian bush fire services need all the help they can get and I can't understand why alot of the people were not warned earlier.

[Advicedog]

Can anyone rec a place to stay in Melbourne with rooms that are non-smoking and dont have open fires?

[Twiztidninjas]

the boom is trees blowing up haha

[Gnomusy]

There is a studied theory explaining the blow-up, published by D. Viegas in the Combustion Journal, which points to the fact that there is a feedback process of self-feeding of oxygen income due to the ever-growing low pressure caused by the ever-growing flame front. This, as Prof. Viegas states, is triggered and caused mainly by topography (slope), creating its own winds, behaviour and direction of spread. A model has been developed and tested with real fires, results are very convincing.

[blaahhrrgg]

Oh man, John Dold on my youtube? More likely than i thought.. this dude just taught me calculus for a semester.

[sacfs]

arnt scientists smart, they can workj out something that my 6 yr old bro could. any gas explodes any slope makes a difference. go study a compartment fire course if you really want to see gasses and smoke explode

[hughlooks]

Yes, gases play a major part in fueling a fire (cause small explosions), but great amounts of heat need to be taken into consideration here also. Heat alone can cause great amounts of flame bursts, fed by oxygen.

[pondhead]

what are the gases that are produced by radiative heating in front of the flame front, if heavier than normal air, do they collect in hollows, like a gas leak on a boat in a boat's bilges and then explode?

[locojadeo]

happens all the time in australia. There are alot of native trees that produce flammable gases when superheated. eg.the Eucalyptus gum tree .

[shroomo]

Why slate a science video made by... SCIENTISTS? It is said right from the beggining that it is a mystery and that this professor THINKS he knows why. Go watch some videos of chavs in pimped BMW's.

It's a valid theory and we need people like this to solve these problems, then we can think of a way to prevent them.

[TweakerTV]

I don't buy this for gas production theory for one second. What gas is it? How is it produced from these plants?

Fire burns up steeper slopes faster because the uphill side is closer to the fire. This causes increased radiative heating of the fuel (unburned brush), drying it out and heating it up faster.

[teddybeardustin]

Did an idiot make this video?

You can do this same experiment with two pieces of paper. A fire will burn a paper in the vertical position faster than it would a paper held on horizontal because the flames burn upwards.

And these bushfires explode because they deprive the area of oxygen, and when a gust of wind suddenly introduces a large quantity, you see rapid oxidation.

Similar principle behind the cause of a backdraft.

[dam0nk3yking]

ur so smart.. lol

[nl59]

i guess they think there must be more than one explanation towards it.

[madkaffir]

Wow interesting...

[MaxSafeheaD]

A sound theory imo.

[thisissteveg]

thrilling

[benton090775]

looks like glasgow airport lol

[jamed2017]

lmao

[groovygroovy]

incendio gran canaria

[DjHardaFasta]

lol yh shhh they had curry the night before

[666RobD666]

he lies the reason it blows up a lil is because there is a fireman farting

[cocobirdcoco]

lol

[cheesetots]

lmaoo

[ilovehandbags06]

lOL

[GuyFrankland]

So now we know, thanks science dude!