Case in point!

     The terrible fires around L. A. are a case in point  serving to illustrate this book's thesis. Fire Weather: A True Story From A Hotter World, John Vaillant, argues effectively that our hotter world due to climate change intensifies and increases the number of disastrous fires. Just as I concluded the book the news fills with reports and pictures from the fires around L. A. 

   Much of the book's focus is on the fire that devastated Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada, beginning early May 2016 and burning for a year. Fort McMurray is far north in Alberta, sub-artic region that grew to a population to 90,000. Bulldozed into the forest its reason for existence is the extraction of oil from bitumen, think tar sands. The extraction is so difficult that it's only profitable when oil is at least $50.00 a barrel.  

  The book is highly researched regarding the nature and characteristics of fire. For example Underwriter Laboratories studied the combustion of two living rooms. One was traditionally furnished prior to the use of petrochemicals in home furnishings. The other was furnished as one would be today. In both a fire was started via a candle on a couch. The traditionally furnished room very slowly ignited but was safe for occupancy for a considerable time. The modern room? It was a full conflagration in about ten minutes.

   Vaillant gives considerable time in the book to reporting the experiences of Fort McMurray residents before, during and after the fire. Whole houses would be totally consumed by the fire in five minutes. Trying to contain the blaze workers bulldozed many houses to create firebreaks and then soaked the ruins with water. In some cases it stopped the fire's advance.     

   Just read the book. Ever thought about the fact that fire is the only entity that gains energy going up hill?

Takk for alt,

Al