You are correct.
I am watching it right now.
Trees all around. Leaves still on them all.
And in the middle of the trees smoking rubble.
someone hit someone
This is not uncommon.
Homes can burn when the forest around them doesn't.
One example I recall was the 2000 Los Alamos fire.
What is going on here is that many of the trees next to homes are getting enough moisture from lawns etc that their live fuel moisture is good.
The homes are dry because of roofs and they don't have a root system sucking up moisture.
However, the forests nearby are tinder dry. No one is watering them and they are burning hot and fast. So the trees/brush away from homes is toast.
LOOK AT EACH FUEL and its location.
Full disclosure. I had a forty year wild land fire career.
this is true
lots of evidence from other fires
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link to media2.s-nbcnews.com (secure)]
but what started the fires to begin with?
In 1991 I was on one of about 100 fires in the Spokane area.
Fourteen of those fires took homes.
All fires were started by strong winds. A cold front came through and it was devastating.
I didn't see the burnovers. I was with a team that showed up the next day and established wirelines and containment.
Of course there were trees that survived, (Ponderosa and ornamentals), next to homes. They were well watered and were not downwind of a burning home.
If the live fuel moisture of a plant is high it probably will not be consumed by the fire.
Variables include the type of plant as some are naturally more flammable, spacing between heat sources and has the plant been trimmed and lower limbs removed?
It is common to have high fuel moistures in trees and shrubs around lawns in suburban settings.
Please note that some trees did burn or receive enough heat exposure that they have lost their needles/leaves. Some did not.
THIS IS ABSOLUTELY NORMAL.
The error here is not a magically weapon controlled by a diabolical government.
Its the maintenance of subdivisions designed to burn in wildfires.
This is exactly the same type of mistake we see in flood plains and on hurricane coasts. Humans building where they shouldn't be as developers walk away with bundles of cash.
