The place: North of Bastrop State Park, Texas. The time: September 5, 2011. The bottom line: wildfires spread so insanely fast that it’s unbelievable. This has not been altered in any way. It’s real time.
Wildfires have been roaring for the past eight days, getting faned by 80km/h winds. As of September 6, the Bastrop fire has destroyed an estimated 600 homes already, advancing through a 26km front. More than 1000 homes and 115,000 acres have been destroyed so far. [Texas Parks & Wildlife, NOAA and Earthsky via This Is Colossal]
Troy
Thursday, September 8, 2011 at 9:36 AMThe black saturday bushfires were moving at 120k’s an hour at one point, though it was so fast that the fire was only burning the bottom of the trees and moving on
Sam
Thursday, September 8, 2011 at 11:59 AMI’m not saying you’re wrong – but can you provide a source? While I’ve heard no shortage of reports saying the speed “was incredible” and similar, and that (as chris said below) the fire did outrun cars – I’ve never once found a report that gave an actual estimate on top or average speed that the fire front travelled at.
Nellie
Thursday, September 8, 2011 at 4:36 PMSam the royal commission report may have what you are looking for, volume 1 is here http://www.royalcommission.vic.gov.au/Commission-Reports/Final-Report/Volume-1/Intro-pages/Introduction
as an example the cfa had maps as evidence of the movement of the fires http://www.royalcommission.vic.gov.au/getdoc/f5e21355-8706-45f2-94bf-93c50eb71e84/CFA.600.006.0005.pdf
the average speed of the fire fronts may seem low but they are averages, and driving speeds are hugely reduced because of the dark and smoke. Also consider the spotting of fires ahead of the main fire front
Ash
Thursday, September 8, 2011 at 5:38 PMHere is a video of a fire moving fairly fast in 2009
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfzN5T8n7AU&feature=player_detailpage#t=239s
chris
Thursday, September 8, 2011 at 10:46 AMExactly Troy, those fires were outrunning cars hence why so many died. That is just a normal fire yet of course because it’s in the US it’s the biggest and best.
Not the first Sam
Thursday, September 8, 2011 at 12:17 PM+1
craeg
Thursday, September 8, 2011 at 11:21 PMas always, if you want to die fast, come to AU, everything here seems infintely more capable of killing you here than anywhere else, from the wildlife to our aspects of mother nature at her worst
Russel in AU
Wednesday, September 14, 2011 at 8:08 AMI was remembering how that the yanks came and helped us with the fires when we lost 200+ homes in Maryborough and Bunyip. Isnt it amazing how we are paying them back? they’ve lost 1500+ homes in texas and we sit around and blog about it