Posted on 11/30/2016 8:12:55 AM PST by Mrs. Don-o
The Smokies are very rainy, not tinderbox areas at all. This has been an unusually severe drought. Cutting back the trees and vegetation doesn’t necessarily work here as it does in the west, soil erosion and landslides resulted back when timber was clearcut, and would result again if doing so for fire prevention. But, fire breaks and roads haven’t been maintained, and that was a problem driven by environmentalism, I’ll grant you that.
Houses use kiln-dried lumber. Very dry! Trees and bushes have a much higher moisture content. Maybe that’s why?
When they issued a burning ban here, we knew it was going to be hard to enforce. Between hunters and partiers, people are always building fires. The best the cops could do is patrol the fire roads in the National Forest. Still, you find camp sites all over the forest.
If terrorists lit the fires, I would expect them to claim it. What’s the point of terrorism if people don’t think anyone did it?
Fall leaves, dry and brittle, are still on those trees. The trunks don’t look scorched. If it was a rapidly moving ground fire fed by ground litter, leaves primarily, then wooden structures would be at high risk, true, that makes sense. But, there are condos and such on mountaintops burned out, too, and they appear to be concrete or at least stucco. Trees standing with fall leaves all around them. Doesn’t make sense.
Fire resistant structure construction is a known technique. But, you see very little to none of it east of the Miss.
A ground fire intense enough to cause a house to be rapidly engulfed is intense enough to ignite a tree. They get superheated and explode if the moisture content is high.
National park.
“They get superheated and explode if the moisture content is high.”
I’ve seen that happen! I was watching thunderstorm from my back window when lightning struck a big old Sassafras tree about 20 feet from the window. It exploded! Little pieces of it found in neighbor’s yards!
Israel to the courtesy phone.
People in the rural south hate pines and poplars, they’re softwood, shallow roots, high moisture content. Explode when struck by lightning. Clearcutting back during the Depression or even before meant that most of the trees standing for decades were these fast-growing softwoods. All manner of odd beliefs sprung up, such as poplars “draw” lightning, or even that dogs do, because they died when the poplar or pine they were chained to were struck. I don’t hate pine and poplar, but don’t want them anywhere near the house. I do hate chaining dogs.
Don’t disregard the possibility of muslim terrorism.
No need to smuggle weapons or destructive devices across the border.
No chance of being apprehended with guns or explosives.
Just get a book of free matches and buy a gallon of gas for your non-existent lawn mower or power washer.
There are a lot of those, not necessarily churches but structures that wouldn’t easily burn. That’s why I’m questioning it.
I saw that and wondered the same thing.
OMG!! I had not thought of that!!
I’m inclined to think these fires were set. Gatinlburg has gotten the most attention but there are fires from just south of Bristol to halfway through the eastern part of the state. That’s a lot of area!
Cross reference to the UT Chattanooga enrollments ... blood and fire, two aspects of Islamic lust.
OOPS...sorry for the size.
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