Malibu fire: how do residue travel and ignite miles away?
Theres this Malibu brush fire on TV, it's windy and fear-provoking
So far has destroyed 1 castle, 1 church, and few homes
The strange piece is that a couple of isolated houses are burning on the coast (PCH), how is this possible? How do embers travel so far? By the time an ember falls miles away I suppose it would be tiny (quarter inch) and not have a flame or the power to ignite a roof or a brush? Please can someone explain
Answers:
wind
If the turn can knock over big rigs, somewhat ember is nothin'.
Santa Ana winds.
the wind can take really far i dont know but,fillmore piru and lot of other counties are burning rite presently
The turn picks up little pits of wood and ash still on fire and Carries it up into the atmosphere and then down onto wood deck, other dry brush and wood shake roofs or anything else that can catch fir. Once the little piece of wood lands on deck or wood shake roof the bend blows really hard and the Little ember efficiently lights fire to the other object.
p.s. yes the bend is so high and powerful that it carry the little piece of wood that far. I witnessed things on fire falling from nouns from a fire line three miles away
It's enormously, very dry here right very soon - (I'm down the coast from Malibu), and the wind is blowing pretty rugged. To give you an example, the entwine blew my 3 foot long plastic skeletons (Halloween decorations) right off the house and into the driveway (about 30 foot away). It also knocked over some pretty hefty grassland chairs.
Given this, I expect the embers are much larger than what you're thinking - and given how dry it is, it's not taking profusely of heat/fire to make something ambush. Apparently a deadly combination.
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