stan_the_man
Member
Registered: 14th Feb 07
Location: Perth, Western Australia
User status: Offline
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About 2 kms down my road theres currently a huge out of control bushfire.
A few mates have already been evacuated from their homes. This could be an interesting couple of days!
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-02-03/fire-emergency-forrestdale/5235122
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[Edited on 03-02-2014 by stan_the_man]
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Balling
Premium Member
Registered: 7th Apr 04
Location: Denmark
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Might be a stupid question, but how do these start?
Seems to happen all the time in Australia.
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stan_the_man
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Registered: 14th Feb 07
Location: Perth, Western Australia
User status: Offline
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Im not too sure.
Im assuming its gotta be either intentional or just plain carelessness. Theres a total fire ban here through summer meaning you need a permit to even use a grinder/welder outdoors etc. Its all pretty well policed, but if you think about 1 stray fag end, and how dry the place is, its easy to start a fire.
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JordyCarter
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Registered: 14th Mar 10
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i always thought it was like smashed bottles etc reflecting light and starting fire
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Root
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Registered: 28th Dec 08
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Some plants have evolved to intentionally spontaneously combust once their leaves reach a certain temperature. It's their final act of life and in killing itself, it destroys any nearby competitor plants and releases it's own seeds so that it's young, if you like, have a good start, although not sure if they exist in aus, only watched it on a david attenborough documentary.
I always thought it was just plants and woodlands becoming too hot and catching fire.
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Balling
Premium Member
Registered: 7th Apr 04
Location: Denmark
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quote: Originally posted by Root
Some plants have evolved to intentionally spontaneously combust once their leaves reach a certain temperature.
Read this and was sure you were taking the piss. 
Then continued to read and now I'm not sure... 
But no, it doesn't look like any plants have ever been confirmed to spontaneously combust, from what I could dig up in a quick search.
[Edited on 03-02-2014 by Balling]
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ed
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Registered: 10th Sep 03
User status: Offline
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But bush fires and forest fires are an entirely natural process. The problem is that people have decided to live in the middle of prone areas.
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Tiger
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Registered: 12th Jun 01
Location: Leicestershire Drives:Astra VXR
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Did you get the air raid /bush fire siren going off? My mates local fire station near Adelaide had one and every wednesday morning they tested it and it scared the shit out of me!
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