- Joined
- Jul 22, 2019
As an Australian who's state burns to the ground every decade or so, allow me to explain.Yea I have. The problem is confusing weather conditions that affect fire behavior, with the fire's ignition source. The two are not related. But the discourse of these two often misunderstood topic is creating confusion.
Climate change doesn't start fires. A heat source, intentional, unintentional or natural, starts fires.
Weather conditions will absolutely start fires in eucalyptus forests. Many fires are started by high winds, because dry branches rubbing together will create enough friction to cause a fire, and once it's going there will be enough oil in the leaves for it to spread. If the trees are green (ie, if there's been recent rainfall), it will take longer, but it will still happen, because there are always dead branches either in the trees or on the ground.
This is why forest management is absolutely essential, especially controlled burns to reduce fuel loads.
Also, eucalyptus trees sweat (i don't know the correct term) oil into the atmosphere. The Blue Mountains west of Sydney look blue from a distance because of the oil in the air. In the right conditions, you get firestorm situations where the trees will literally explode before the fire even touches them.