Exploding bushfires mystery

Firefighters report clear air over bushfires exploding into flame without warning. Scientists now think they know why.

Full story: http://environment.newscientist.com/channel/earth/mg19526151.900

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News & Politics

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• bushfires
• new+scientist
• science
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• fire
• Australia
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[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?

[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.

[KingtutWA]

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

Congratulations.