Boeing 737 water bomber purchased for Aussie bushfires

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  • brianlux
    brianlux Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 43,794
    rhanishane said:
    brianlux said:
    I stand by my posts.  SOMEtimes, those water bombers are flown for show.  Read the article.
    I read the article i totally agree. Perhaps only in America as sometimes they are screaming to get the water bombers to fires here. They don't always use them only when they have to
    I wonder if that has to do with differing vegetation, air currents, etc?  Are you fires more in forested, shrub/bush lands or grasslands?  And the terrain- hilly?  Flat?

    "It's a sad and beautiful world"
    -Roberto Benigni

  • rhanishane
    rhanishane NSW Australia Posts: 505
    brianlux said:
    rhanishane said:
    brianlux said:
    I stand by my posts.  SOMEtimes, those water bombers are flown for show.  Read the article.
    I read the article i totally agree. Perhaps only in America as sometimes they are screaming to get the water bombers to fires here. They don't always use them only when they have to
    I wonder if that has to do with differing vegetation, air currents, etc?  Are you fires more in forested, shrub/bush lands or grasslands?  And the terrain- hilly?  Flat?

    honestly they will burn anywhere if conditions are right. Gumtrees are highly flammable because they're eucalyptus. Our native bushland relies on heat and fire to regenerate and pop seeds. Our fires are getting hotter and devastating forests as they cant regenerate when they're obliterated. desert air currents and low humidity, high fuel load Gumtrees drop a hell of a load of leaves, bark and branches. Dry grass lands and farmed land. Were a dry country comprised of majority desert. Hot westerly winds from the centre of Australia. The North West is hot and dry most year round. Dry winters add to fuel load. Rains add to fuel load as it can take just a few weeks of consecutive hot days to dry out all the new growth. Black Saturday was so intense that fire was moving across flooded grass. radiant heat was one of the biggest killers on that day as it sucks the air from your lungs and a lot of people were trapped in their cars trying to escape. People going back for their horses and pets etc and just people trapped in their homes with no where to go were calling family saying this is it. Some had their feet melted off from the intense heat and it was so hot some bodies were found with their bones fused together as they huddled for safety. It was said it had the energy of so many hydrogen bombs cant remember how many. There is also something called a red steer where a fire generates enough energy it basically causes an explosion and can blow a fireball for miles. 
  • rhanishane
    rhanishane NSW Australia Posts: 505
    There was also an entire town in western australia a few years ago which basically had no vegetation completely razed to the ground by fire. Wind and heat just drives it along and it will burn anything. There is a huge burn scar for miles seen from satellite from that fire. 
  • brianlux
    brianlux Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 43,794
    rhanishane said:
    There was also an entire town in western australia a few years ago which basically had no vegetation completely razed to the ground by fire. Wind and heat just drives it along and it will burn anything. There is a huge burn scar for miles seen from satellite from that fire. 
    One of the big reasons we have such huge fires here in the western U.S. is because for a full century, fire was widely suppressed.  Those fires- often started naturally by lightning) are necessary for some plants and trees like manzanita and redwoods to propagate the way your bushlands do.  Has Australia made the same mistake of suppressing natural fires over long periods of time?  Are there other reason for increased fires on you r continent?  Or is it just a matter of too much urban-wildland interface?
    "It's a sad and beautiful world"
    -Roberto Benigni

  • rhanishane
    rhanishane NSW Australia Posts: 505
    edited November 2018
    yes its in the black saturday link up the page basically gives a quick glimpse into the causes and nature of wildfires here.
    Post edited by rhanishane on
  • rhanishane
    rhanishane NSW Australia Posts: 505
    We have a lot of dry storms and lightning watch towers in the blue mountains near sydney. We have planes fly over after storms and for weeks after as when lighting hits a tree usually a big forest gum and it burns into the roots it can sit  dormant for weeks and even months underground till conditions are right a blaze will start in the forest. These trees are called sleepers and happens more often than you would think.
  • rhanishane
    rhanishane NSW Australia Posts: 505
    i recently read an article blaming gumtrees taken to California were likely the cause of its recurring wildfires?
  • rhanishane
    rhanishane NSW Australia Posts: 505
    And again wildfires raging in Aus. The wind change will be coming through about now and turning the flank into the fire front. Good luck to everyone out there in its path take care.
    https://www.facebook.com/363623854300/posts/10157360040619301/

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