200 feet per second — for reference, 60 mph is 88 feet per second! So that’s about 130 mph.
I’m guessing that’s because the winds were blowing embers far in front of the flame front and starting fires a mile downwind. That’s why the only way to stop a firestorm like that is to get way ahead of it and do a back-burn - you intentionally burn out the fuel in front of the fire, creating a firebreak.
Thanks for the link. I’ll read that article.
Exactly. But these guys are seasoned firefighters and have said they’d never encountered a fire quite like this, the speed and the setting (large neighborhoods) combined to make havoc. That first night it moved too fast for backburns or breaks. This week is when they’ve been able to set defensive fires, use the bulldozers, etc.
The first night? Try to save lives.