Wild theory about Santa Rosa wildfires

[stickdog99]

http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/10/09/s ... ed-a-city/

His crews initially set up in the Kmart parking lot, “but it didn’t take long before we realized this was not a good spot.” The big box store was one of dozens that burned down.

“We had 20,000 acres in 12 hours,” said Cal Fire Capt. Richard Cordova on Monday afternoon of the Tubbs fire. “It’s pretty much unheard of.”

[stickdog99]

http://cdn.abclocal.go.com/content/crea ... dfire6.jpg



http://cdn.abclocal.go.com/content/crea ... fire16.jpg



http://cdn.abclocal.go.com/content/crea ... 30x354.jpg



http://cdn.abclocal.go.com/content/crea ... dfire2.jpg



http://cdn.abclocal.go.com/content/kgo/ ... 30x354.jpg



https://static01.nyt.com/images/2017/10 ... mbo-v7.jpg

[stickdog99]

http://ww2.hdnux.com/photos/66/50/34/14 ... 4x1024.jpg



http://a.abcnews.com/images/US/calif-fi ... x3_992.jpg

[stickdog99]

http://a.abcnews.com/images/US/calif-fi ... x3_992.jpg



abcnews.go.com/images/Lifestyle/WireAP_ea7cf5f814cc4f608ae956b94eaaaeef.jpg

[stickdog99]

http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Ca ... 03083.html

California Fire Experts Probe Why 17 Fires Erupted in Just 24 Hours

One expert said falling power lines and arson are being considered as causes

The speed with which 17 blazes moved through Napa, Sonoma and other Northern California counties took residents and even firefighters by surprise Sunday night into Monday morning, as people evacuated suddenly in the early hours. By Friday, at least 31 people had been killed, more than 100 had been treated for fire-related injuries, and more than 3,500 homes and businesses had been destroyed.



Scott L. Stephens, a professor in the College of Natural Resources at the University of California, Berkeley, said that all of the fires seemed to ignite between midnight and 2 a.m. Monday, when 50-mph winds were the strongest. Branches or trees could have fallen on the lines or the lines themselves failed, he said.

...

The Mercury News found that Sonoma County dispatchers sent fire crews to at least 10 locations for sparking wires, exploding electrical transformers, fallen power lines and other electrical problems in Sunday night’s high winds. The Bay Area News Group, of which it is part, reviewed emergency calls over a 90-minute period starting at 9:22 p.m. Sunday.

[Blue]

http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/California-Fire-Experts-Probe-Cause-of-Fast-Moving-Fires-450303083.html

California Fire Experts Probe Why 17 Fires Erupted in Just 24 Hours

One expert said falling power lines and arson are being considered as causes

The speed with which 17 blazes moved through Napa, Sonoma and other Northern California counties took residents and even firefighters by surprise Sunday night into Monday morning, as people evacuated suddenly in the early hours. By Friday, at least 31 people had been killed, more than 100 had been treated for fire-related injuries, and more than 3,500 homes and businesses had been destroyed.



Scott L. Stephens, a professor in the College of Natural Resources at the University of California, Berkeley, said that all of the fires seemed to ignite between midnight and 2 a.m. Monday, when 50-mph winds were the strongest. Branches or trees could have fallen on the lines or the lines themselves failed, he said.

...

The Mercury News found that Sonoma County dispatchers sent fire crews to at least 10 locations for sparking wires, exploding electrical transformers, fallen power lines and other electrical problems in Sunday night’s high winds. The Bay Area News Group, of which it is part, reviewed emergency calls over a 90-minute period starting at 9:22 p.m. Sunday.

Man, stickdog, you need to get some rest. You've been posting nonstop for days, weeks.

Seriously, take care, buddy.

Global Warming is a fuckin killer.

[stickdog99]

http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/10/12/c ... -strength/

The heavy winds that downed power lines Sunday night at the start of the deadly wildfires raging across Northern California were far from “hurricane strength,” as PG&E has claimed, according to a review of weather station readings.

However, wind speeds were only about half that level, as the lines started to come down, the weather station records show. At a weather station in north Santa Rosa where the Tubbs fire started, the peak wind gusts at 9:29 p.m. hit 30 mph. An hour later, they were 41 mph.

Click on link to see nice graphic. This was not a "perfectly normal" event, as Dr. Evil would have you believe.

[stickdog99]

http://abc7news.com/pg-e-source-believe ... s/2521710/

The ABC7 News I-Team has spoken with a current PG&E lineman who believes downed power lines and exploding transformers may have sparked the wildfires raging in the North Bay.

The lineman wants to remain anonymous, but the I-Team reviewed emergency dispatch recordings and in the early moments of this disaster, several calls came in about power lines falling in the high winds and transformers exploding.


This begs the question of why multiple transformers exploded all at the same time.

[Blue]

http://abc7news.com/pg-e-source-believes-downed-power-lines-blown-transformers-started-deadly-north-bay-fires/2521710/

The ABC7 News I-Team has spoken with a current PG&E lineman who believes downed power lines and exploding transformers may have sparked the wildfires raging in the North Bay.

The lineman wants to remain anonymous, but the I-Team reviewed emergency dispatch recordings and in the early moments of this disaster, several calls came in about power lines falling in the high winds and transformers exploding.


This begs the question of why multiple transformers exploded all at the same time.

What exactly do you think is happening in the world today stickdog99? If not Paddock, who? If not wildfires from global warming, who?

[stickdog99]

http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/California-Fire-Experts-Probe-Cause-of-Fast-Moving-Fires-450303083.html

California Fire Experts Probe Why 17 Fires Erupted in Just 24 Hours

One expert said falling power lines and arson are being considered as causes

The speed with which 17 blazes moved through Napa, Sonoma and other Northern California counties took residents and even firefighters by surprise Sunday night into Monday morning, as people evacuated suddenly in the early hours. By Friday, at least 31 people had been killed, more than 100 had been treated for fire-related injuries, and more than 3,500 homes and businesses had been destroyed.



Scott L. Stephens, a professor in the College of Natural Resources at the University of California, Berkeley, said that all of the fires seemed to ignite between midnight and 2 a.m. Monday, when 50-mph winds were the strongest. Branches or trees could have fallen on the lines or the lines themselves failed, he said.

...

The Mercury News found that Sonoma County dispatchers sent fire crews to at least 10 locations for sparking wires, exploding electrical transformers, fallen power lines and other electrical problems in Sunday night’s high winds. The Bay Area News Group, of which it is part, reviewed emergency calls over a 90-minute period starting at 9:22 p.m. Sunday.

Man, stickdog, you need to get some rest. You've been posting nonstop for days, weeks.

Seriously, take care, buddy.

Global Warming is a fuckin killer.

Yeah, rich white guys always turn into mass shooters, and global warming always sets off 17 "wild" fires within a 24 hour period that seek out houses and cars and leave trees unscathed.

i realize that neither of these events seem anomalous to you because they both fit your own political agenda perfectly. Rich white people with guns are bad. So it is no surprise to you that one turned into a suicidal stranger-only mass shooter for the first time in human history.

Human activity upsetting ecological balance is bad. So it is no surprise to you that this randomly set off 17 "wild" fires within a 24 hour period that made cars look like they were parked at ground zero on 9/11 while leaving the trees above these cars unscathed.

No reason to look at the pictures at all because they are just a figment of my lack of sleep or perspective or obsession or something.

Thanks for the sincere concern, Blue, whoever you are.

[stickdog99]

[PufPuf93]

I can explain why fire burns up the center of trees and state the fact that it is maybe not common but not all that rare in many forest fires.

The video does capture a picture perfect instance.

The center burning phenomena depends upon the tree species, age of the tree, fire resistance of the bark, past scars (from prior fires, logging, or other mechanical damage), and degree and characteristic of fungal heart rots present.

Many if not most native species in California have co-evolved with fire and have varying degrees of fire resistance and also various regeneration patterns keyed by fire.

The fungal heart rots are key in the interior burn phenomena. What cause this to occur is an older tree with a rotten and dry interior (caused by specific fungal heart rots). Fire starts in the tree where there is an old fire scar or broken top or other mechanical damage and burns the readily ignited rotted interior of the tree. The tree itself acts as a furnace chimney magnifying the heat.

The bark of the tree may be fire resistant and the sapwood (outer areas of wood) are sound, high in moisture, and do not burn as readily. Most fungal rots are specific to species and where and how they develop. Some are parasites of living trees. Some only infect dead trees. Some only infect sapwood and others only infect heart wood. Some occur in the base of the tree and large roots and some occur only high in crown. Some mostly feed on cellulose, others lignin.

For example take the case of Douglas fir. Many fungi inoculate of Douglas fir but only 6 specific wood fungi are common enough to take note. Two of these most important fungi that infect the Douglas-fir heartwood occur on living trees, and the extensive rot is found on only old and relatively large trees. Pileated woodpeckers excavate their cavities in Douglas-fir not in sound trees but in trees that have these two specific fungi infections that have taken years to develop. The cavity is excavated through bark and a sound sapwood but the interior heartwood is soft from the rot and easily excavated. Other live and dead trees, many with sapwood rots, may be places where pileated woodpeckers forage but are not used for cavity nests.

In a forest wild fire there is usually a mosaic of ground fire and crown fire, 100% crown fire being a most extreme condition of weather, fuel, and terrain. For a crown fire there typically needs to be a "fuel ladder". Prior to modern man in California and many other forests the forest was kept more open because more frequent but lower intensity fires kept the forest open with spaced large trees with fire resistant bark. However, even if trees have green foliage after a fire and show up as alive on immediate infrared, the trees may well be destined to die from the fire. Even with thick bark and for smaller trees with thin bark the fire can cook all or part of the cambium layer and kill the tree.

On a forest fire or in doing controlled burns one the first things a suppression or holding crew will do is to fell the "snags" (dead trees) or other large trees with dead portion. Why? Because they are dry, dead, and usually part rotten and ignite so much readily than live trees. Fire starts high in the trees from embers and wind and then throws burning debris from a height enhancing the spread of the fire. They are also dangerous to ground crews.

There is something wrong with the margins on this page and I hope when fixed it will also fix this post.

[seemslikeadream]

cars have gas tanks....some houses have propane tanks

yep

The Atlas Peak fire: 'You could hear the propane tanks exploding'
http://www.latimes.com/local/california ... story.html



As the Atlas Fire bore down on Klaczak and Solari’s neighborhood, they heard a series of explosions.

“We were standing outside, the neighbors were getting ready, and you could hear popping all over the place, like bombs,” Klaczak said. “It was everybody’s propane tanks going off.”
http://www.mauinews.com/news/local-news ... alifornia/

[PufPuf93]

cars have gas tanks....some houses have propane tanks

Also homes may have shake or asphalt shingles and once ignited a house likely burns hotter than a forest. Green wood in trees is 45% to 55% water while the lumber and other wood in a house is only 12% or so water. Plus there arte all sorts of other hot fuels in houses and other development. This is why forest fires leave standing trees even if they are all killed. Many are often still of quality to be used for lumber after dying in fires. Fire salvage is a controversial issue.

Most of the house and building fire started from the roof or some other instance of exposed wood or other material that readily burns hot.

The pictures are horrific and look to me like all out war. Fire bombing was used by the allies in WWII, think Dresden and Tokyo.

The Japanese set loose balloons to set forest fires along the Pacific coast. One of these balloons managed to kill and elementary school teacher and part of her class north of Klamath Falls, OR far from the Pacific. My Mother during WWII spent time in a fire lookout that looked down on the Pacific coast to watch for the balloons and other Japanese excursions.

It will be interesting to hear the results of the fire investigations. PG&E is already getting blame. I will find it hard to believe that there were not arson starts but they may be hard to identify. There is going to be more of this in California given climate change and increased urbanization, especially into lands that will be at increased risk for fire.

[Blue]

Yeah, rich white guys always turn into mass shooters, and global warming always sets off 17 "wild" fires within a 24 hour period that seek out houses and cars and leave trees unscathed.

i realize that neither of these events seem anomalous to you because they both fit your own political agenda perfectly. Rich white people with guns are bad. So it is no surprise to you that one turned into a suicidal stranger-only mass shooter for the first time in human history.

Human activity upsetting ecological balance is bad. So it is no surprise to you that this randomly set off 17 "wild" fires within a 24 hour period that made cars look like they were parked at ground zero on 9/11 while leaving the trees above these cars unscathed.

No reason to look at the pictures at all because they are just a figment of my lack of sleep or perspective or obsession or something.

Thanks for the sincere concern, Blue, whoever you are.



I was giving sincere concern, stick. I've mostly agreed with your posts since I was a poster the same time you were at DU years ago (under another name you probably wouldn't remember anyway).

I really don't understand why you are accusing me of an agenda?!? Never said the things you are accusing me of. And yes, it is terrifying and shocking and unbelievable what is happening right now to Planet Earth. But man, I used to work with glaciologists in the 1980's and this is WHAT THEY PREDICTED.