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Comment by droopyEyelids | Hacker News Reader

Sounds like you're missing the concept of the fuel class of wood in a wildfire. https://www.fs.fed.us/rm/pubs/rmrs_gtr164/rmrs_gtr164_06_fue...

That explains some of it, but different types of fuel take different amounts of time to catch fire, so like a dry prairie can catch on fire about instantly, but live saplings of 1" will not burn unless the fire keeps going for an hour.

A decomposing log on the forest floor won't really burn till it has been in a fire for somewhere around 100 hours.

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Until you have walked through a modern fire nuke zone. It’s like walking on the moon. Nothing under a foot across is left. This picture is very typical of what is being left behind by the large self sustaining fires.

https://images.app.goo.gl/jcLatNG6dAdpoALY8

Source: Spent 10 years as a wildland firefighter on major fires my whole career. And still have friends and family that are deployed on fires today.

I appreciate you defending this position. I bought 50 acres of land burned in a very hot forest fire 9 years ago. While there is some grass and some bushes around, the 50 acres of trees have now all fallen by now and are rotting. Some of them have stayed hard and are super annoying to cut with a chainsaw, but others I can kick apart with my boots. Either way I use them for firewood at my campsite and they ignite instantly with no work on my part. Until you have walked through a real fire zone, you can't fathom what it really looks and feels like.

Also, thanks for being a wildland firefighter, lots of us who live in hills and forests really really appreciate you.

How's your land looking now?

No living trees that I didn't plant myself. The fire was so hot all the seeds died as well. So the idea that a new forest would spring up from the ashes was sort of wishful thinking.

Ouch! I know of someone that put in about 10,000 small trees and had them almost all cleaned out by rabbits.

Do you write/post about your land anywhere? Would be an interesting story to follow.

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