McKitten is at it again
As the Front Range of the Rockies set all-time temperature records, horrible wild fires obliterated homes in Colorado Springs and Fort Collins.
A Summer of Extremes Signifies the New Normal by Bill McKibben: Yale Environment 360
Fires happen every year, and we had very few record temperatures in Fort Collins this summer. It was a beautiful summer and I am sad to see it ending so soon .
Here are some massive fires from the days when CO2 was safe.
The greatest forest fire of modern time occurred in Maine and New Brunswick. U.S.A.. in October. 1825. It swept over 3.000.000 acres. Here the flames jumped rivers hundreds of yards in width, and the heat was so terrific that great trees 4ft. in diameter burst into flames like torches and were utter ly consumed in a few minutes.
Nambour Chronicle and North Coast Advertiser Friday 31 May 1946
Black Thursday, Victoria, Australia
The Black Thursday bushfires were a devastating series of fires that swept the state of Victoria. They are considered the largest Australian bushfires in a populous region in recorded history, with approximately 5 million hectares (1.235527E007 acres), or a quarter of Victoria, being burnt. 12 lives were lost, along with one million sheep and thousands of cattle.
“The temperature became torrid, the air which blew down from the north resembled the breath of a furnace. A fierce wind arose, gathering strength and velocity from hour to hour, until about noon it blew with the violence of a tornado. By some inexplicable means it wrapped the whole country in a sheet of flame —fierce, awful, and irresistible”
The year preceding the fires was exceptionally hot and dry and this trend continued into the summer. On Black Thursday, a northerly wind set in early and the temperature in Melbourne was reported to have peaked at 47.2 degrees C (117 degrees F) at 11:00am. This would have been the hottest temperature ever recorded in the city—although it has never been an official record, as there is no evidence the temperature was actually measured in full shade and the Stevenson screen had not yet been used in Australia so it was a non standard measurement. Further to that the measurement is based on anecdotal evidence and therefore may never have been measured at all, i.e. could have been an exaggeration or made up completely. The north wind was so strong that thick black smoke reached northern Tasmania, creating a murky mist, resembling a combination of smoke and fog. A ship 20 miles (32 km) out to sea came under burning ember attack and was covered in cinders and dust.
In the evening, a southerly change brought with it cooler conditions and light rain.
6 February 1851
Source:- Wiki
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Thursday_(1851)
McKidding has no concept of history
All these fires were because of low summer temperatures and no drought of course.
As the arid West becomes rapidly more populated, there are obviously going to be more damaging/deadly fires. But, as the article showed, devastating forest fires can take place far outside the aird zone, in places like New Brunswick and Maine.