Wild fires in the Highlands of Scotland

[chrisupyonder]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotlan...lands-13253420

http://www.stevecarter.com/latest/fire.htm

Chris.

[Chirs]

That is terrible. I do hope all are able to get through this with minimal loss to property, and no loss of life.

I am so much more accustomed to seeing this type of picture coming from California.

[Tobus]

Wow, that is heartbreaking. I would never have thought that wildfires would be a problem there. It must be a pretty bad dry spell.

With the number of wildfires we've had in Texas lately (1.65 million acres burned so far this year... and counting...), I can certainly relate to what they're going through. Nothing makes you feel more helpless than watching a fire spread across your beloved countryside and destroy everything you hold dear.

[Chas]

Chris, I can only sympathise. Here in the middle of Thetford Forest, we are on 24 hour forest watch for the same reason. It has been such a dry winter and spring so far. Hopefully the heather will rejuvenate quickly, but of course trees will have to be replanted.

Regards

Chas

[piperdbh]

Are these fires near Chris and Jock and our other Highland members?

[Jock Scot]

Are these fires near Chris and Jock and our other Highland members?

All is well just here---------- at the moment. At certain times of the year(not now!) the heather is deliberately set on fire to encourage new growth for the grouse, so the heather will recover very quickly. Those of you that have driven up the A9 from Perth to Inverness may have noticed the patchwork effect in the heather, that is controlled heather burning for the grouse.

I well remember the Commandos(WW2) who trained around here, always with live ammunition, accidentally setting fire to the moor and it burnt for weeks and it burned all the way to Mallaig some thirty miles away. The real problem is if the peat catches fire and then it can burn underground for months.

[cessna152towser]

I shouldn't worry, rain is forecast for most of Scotland from Thursday onwards and as Jock says the heather will recover very quickly.

[piperdbh]

I well remember the Commandos(WW2) who trained around here, always with live ammunition, accidentally setting fire to the moor and it burnt for weeks and it burned all the way to Mallaig some thirty miles away. The real problem is if the peat catches fire and then it can burn underground for months.

Coming from a non-moor, non-peat-bearing part of the world, it's hard for me to picture that kind of fire. Thanks for the update.

[Mike_Oettle]

This is most unfortunate news, and I hope the fires can be halted soon.
The smoke rising from the mountainside called to mind the regular fires that burn across the Cape mountains.
In this instance, the fire (if it is not too frequent) is a necessary part of the ecology, since it clears old growth and sets the seed for young plants to grow.
I refer here to the fynbos ecology. Fynbos should be burnt at intervals of between four and nine years, depending on the type of plants that predominate.
Sad to say, many tracts of fynbos are burnt too often, and the seed store is lost. Where alien vegetation, like Australian acacia species and pine trees, occur, these trees burn much more fiercely than fynbos, and the fynbos seeds are destroyed while space is made for new alien growth.
Peat does not occur in South Africa, but there is a coal mining area east of Pretoria (ironically named Witbank [white reef]) where underground fires have burnt for many years.
Regards,
Mike

[EagleJCS]

piperdbh,

Just so you know, there are fires like that here in the States. They're just not big news anymore, unless there's an immediate environmental danger. A massive underground coal fire - started in 1962 - is still burning in western Pennsylvania (Centralia). There are also underground coal fires in Colorado, Kentucky, Utah and West Virginia, just to name the states with the largest numbers. There is speculation that there are many 100's that go unreported every year. Some in the know think there may be as many as 21 states that have underground coal fires going at any given time.

I can also imagine there are several landfills that have trash smouldering under the soil covering them. (That's what started the fire in Centralia).


I hope the fires in Scotland can be stopped before too much damage is done, and replanting can be effected quickly. If there's too much burned, erosion could become a problem as well. (No tree and other plant roots to stabilize the soil.)