Dark as night, hot as hell in burning forest
A scientist who studies extreme fire behaviour says heat from the Australian bush fires would be felt hundreds of metres away.
Scion’s Grant Pearce told the Herald that if we could put ourselves amid the monster fires tearing through lofty eucalypt forests, it might well be like standing in hell.
Daytime darkness, ember storms, howling, sucking wind, unbearable heat and an immense wall of fire.
Picture this: Flames burning at up to 1300C, high in tree canopies, up to 50m tall.
Pearce has even heard reports of grass fires at the flame front 6m to 8m high — and burning deep. “These fires are likely running hundreds of metres deep, all because of the residual fuel on the ground that burns for much longer.”
While air temperature over 40C, winds had been gusting, in some areas, at 65km/h.
“You’ve got twigs, and pieces of bark and leaves, thousands of them, all glowing and being whipped up by the wind at flying at you like in a sandstorm,” he said. “[The fires] also generate a lot of noise . . . like a freight train.”
Another dramatic feature was gigantic plumes of smoke, easy to see from space and big enough to create their own weather. “All of these smoke columns can rise several kilometres into the atmosphere, making big nuclear bomb-like clouds that can generate thunderstorms.”
The sheer pace of the fires — spreading at distances of up to 12km each hour — was similarly frightening, making attacking them from the front nearly impossible. “Because these fires are generating so much heat, you can’t get close enough to use pumps, hoses and fire trucks anyway.”
The work of fighting the fire was incredibly testing.
“When these firefighters are doing these arduous tasks, it’s equivalent to what elite athletes experience, with heart rates exceeding 150 beats per minute,” Pearce said. “On top of that, they’re getting smoke exposure, which can mean breathing difficulties.”
He said rural firefighters wear much gear than urban counterparts. “They’d quickly overheat just from the heat the body builds up, so they use much lighter overalls that are treated with fireproof materials and chemicals.
“This provides a little bit of protection, but also allows the heat generated by the body to escape through the neck, collar and sleeves.
“They’ll have helmets, and might have a standard mask . . . But they’re not going to have any other protective clothing.”
Pearce said shifts would be long — sometimes up to 12 to 14 hours each day, over several days. “Generally, [they work] in really hard, short bursts, they get a bit of spell, move on . . . then get back into it.”