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In the Camp Fire that killed 100 people, the trees in the town of Paradise didn't burn. The buildings did. Firefighters were shocked to enter the town and see
by gamblor956 6y ago
In the Camp Fire that killed 100 people, the trees in the town of Paradise didn't burn. The buildings did.
Firefighters were shocked to enter the town and see so much foliage unburnt between the ruins of smoking buildings. You can see some of those pictures on the Wikipedia page for Paradise, CA.
While the trees and dry bush do provide the bulk of the fuel for fires, man-made structures are far more flammable than the forests that surround them, especially in the towns consisting of older structures that don't have modern anti-fire alterations.
- throw0101a 6y agoThe trees were alive and had moisture, whereas the buildings had dead leaves and pine needles that were dry, so when fire brands/embers landed on them they had lots of kindling. I'm not sure why firefighters would be shocked as the fire scientists at (e.g.) the USDA Forest Service have been doing research on this for many years: * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vL_syp1ZScM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vL_syp1ZScM
- gamblor956 6y agoYes, my point was that trees are not the risk, the buildings are. CA forests are built around wildfires, and have adjusted to them over the centuries. We have not. (The firefighters were shocked because they weren't expecting the trees in the town to be almost untouched, given the devastation in the surrounding forests.)
- onlyrealcuzzo 6y agoYeah, a lot of trees are pretty fire resistant as well. Not all trees are kindling.
- m463 6y agofascinating: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradise,_California#/media/File:Paradise_after_the_Camp_Fire,_July_2019-7428.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paradise,_California#/media/Fi... You can see that the outer layer of the trees burned but they retained their form. Seeing this I can imagine that tree rings for the sequoias probably have a lot to teach us.