My family’s home (and many others) is almost surrounded by bushfires in NSW. How do the brave fire fighters control huge flames and fire storms? Can they control them? Or do they just have to run their course till there is nothing left to burn? I’d just like to understand it a little better. And if there are any fireys (fire fighters in Australia) reading this… thank you for all you do. You are incredibly brave.
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Once you realize it’s going to be too large to control with hoselays, one option is to do a burning operation. You pick a favorable place (usually a ridge with a good road on it) and set a fire at a time of the day when the wind is favorable, and let it burn toward the wildfire. When the main fire reaches the area that was burned, it has no fuel and there should be a pretty big break to where the embers can’t reach the unburied fuel to star spot fires.
Many wild fires you just have to let it burn. One reason is because it’ll take an exorbitant amount of resources to put it out, resources that may not be available. Another reason is because wild fires burn due to the amount of fuel available. You could spend tons of resources putting the fire out, but then fuel is still there and could easily start up again. Much better to let it burn and get rid of the fuel.
The main strategy is just to protect what needs protecting and let the rest take its course. They do this by creating a separation between the fire and available fuel, either by digging ditches or by back burning, which is when you get in front of the fires path and you create controlled fire that moves away from the houses and towards the approaching fire. When the two meet all available fuel is used up and the fire goes out.
It depends on the fire and how quickly it is moving. There are some offensive and defensive methods to fighting fires.
Offensively, they can attack the fire directly. They do this by spraying/dropping water and other things to put the fire out at its source.
Defensively, they can do a few things to try and prevent the fire from spreading. One way to do this is to cut fire lines. You basically clear a wide path that the fire is heading towards. If you cut down the trees, bushes, etc the fire can’t spread over this cleared area. Another way is controlled burns. If you set a small fire to burn up the combustible materials before the main force of the fire gets there, the fire won’t be able to continue in that path. Smaller fires are much easier to control than large ones.
Many sides of the fire they let burn on their own. The first objective is saving lives and property. So if they can focus their efforts on a small neighborhood in the fires path, they will devote more resources to that area than a place with nobody living there.
They can do things like dig break ditches.
They basically take a wide enough line of the vegitation out between the fire and the unburnt brush so the fire cant spread further or to slow it down enough so evac is easier.
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