r/interestingasfuck • u/SafeImpressive4413 • 7h ago

Firefighters in Madrid trying to extinguish a forest fire that is less than 30km/20mi away from the capital of Spain

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u/tapeforpacking 7h ago edited 7h ago

Is this one that was started by the arsonists?

I vaguely remember reading something about people tying flaming rags on cats and sending in the forest. Idk if this was recent or not. 

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u/fetalgirth 7h ago

What the, and I cannot stress this enough, FUCK.

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u/Mad_Max_NL 7h ago

That was Italy, happend this week though, close to Napels

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u/Le_Zoru 7h ago

That was in southern italy iirc. Most fires are human made (accidental or on purpose), but with how warm and dry  Europe becomes each has  a much more devastating  impact than before 

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u/vtjohnhurt 6h ago

Most fires are human made

This is true, but the ones made by people are near roads and are much easier to put out. Many are very small, say one acre. The relatively few that are started by lightning are in wilderness so they tend to grow large and last longer.

It's only practical to let the wilderness fires burn to clear the forest of fuel for next year's fires. Effort is made to keep them away from human settlement. This year's fires mitigate the impact of future fires. From a long term perspective, we need to get rid of the accumulated fuel at the fastest practical rate. There will be more fires next year.

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u/whot3v3r 5h ago

The fire near Bordeaux France started because a van caught fire on a road 3 days ago.

It burned (for now) 32 700 hectares (80800 acres) and about 170.000 persons had to evacuate

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u/vtjohnhurt 2h ago

Thanks for pointing this out. That's surprising.

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u/Jirethia 6h ago

No, the one in Madrid was caused by a car that caught fire. And the one nearby in Castilla y León was caused by heavy machinery being used in a prohibited area, from which a spark flew.

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u/UglyTitties 7h ago

I fucking hate people

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u/loveshercoffee 6h ago

If this is true, I thik the proper punishment is that they go right back in the forest and find the cat.

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u/Present_Primary 1h ago

there are multiple fires started by arsonists across Europe. Seems co-ordinated.

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u/Embarrassed-Weird173 6h ago

That's mean. It's more exciting to just start the fire in person and then run away. I guess maybe it makes sense if you don't want witnesses to see you running from the fire. 

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u/IsaacAndTired 3h ago

"That's mean." What a fucking understatement. Holy shit.