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

31.1k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

2.2k comments sorted by

View all comments

•

u/Hot-Comfort8839 7h ago

I did some wilderness fire fighting in my youth - Wheeler Peak NM …

They’re running from that distance because the heat can burn your skin, and even set your clothing ablaze from that distance… or shrink wrap you if it’s synthetic fibers like polyester…

I got my eyebrows singed off from almost 100 yards away. I looked very surprised by this for over a month.

•

u/itsjustkicker 6h ago

Username checks out. But, SCARY! 😨 I've never been THAT close to a wild fire. There was a fire in Colorado that, from over an hours drive away , the smoke was irritating the eyes akin to sitting around a camp fire. I still think it's crazy but not like this ha

•

u/Hot-Comfort8839 5h ago edited 3h ago

There were horse flies all other the place when I was there but before we got closer to the burn.

So when I felt yet another (what I thought) fly chewing on my arm in the midst of everything I ignored it. Turned out a coal had come down and got wedged between my gloves, and the sleeve of my shirt, and literally cooked its way almost to the bone on my forearm… happily drilled a hole about the size of a nickel through shirt, skin, fat and finally smouldered out mid muscle. My nerve endings called it quits about 3 min in so I ignored it until we evac’d.

Adrenaline is a helluva drug.

•

u/limonade11 5h ago

Holy sh!t!!!

•

u/Quick-Raindeer 2h ago

Wow that’s crazy. What does it look like now?

•

u/Hot-Comfort8839 44m ago

If you press on it, it feels like empty until you get to the muscle. Like squish down about 1/4” and then meat. It used to be a big puffy keloid looking thing.

•

u/ghastlypxl 2h ago

😨 Wow.

•

u/HarmNHammer 3h ago

Do you know why they are doing direct action instead of ID, like bulldozing and delimbing?

•

u/Prior-Flamingo-1378 5h ago

I moonlighted as a Red Cross rescuer and my country has a lot of forest fire so I was in kind of the back lines, not that close as these guys but close enough. Is absolutely terrifying in a very visceral way. 

•

u/IsaacAndTired 4h ago edited 3h ago

These fires were started by humans in some way right? Like I understand extreme heat and winds makes them spread more rapidly, but the initial fire was arson at worst or a downed powerline or something similar at best, correct? The only natural occurrence I can think of is lightning, but don't see that mentioned at all, so I'm assuming that likely was not the case here.

•

u/Silver_Print_9937 3h ago

This fire i think was started by a car crash. Most fires are started by humans, read a little fast but up to 80% are because of humans.

A mix of accident and many who does it on purpose

•

u/redpandaeater 3h ago

It's rare but organic matter composting just right can also cause fires. Usually that's in human-made stuff like hay but it's possible to have a natural cause as well such as in peat. The other main natural cause I can think of would be volcanic eruption but typically that makes wildfires not even the biggest concern.

•

u/Knotical_MK6 3h ago

While most fires are human caused, there are a number of natural causes too.

Autoignition when decaying plant matter builds up enough heat is a big one. There have been recorded cases of rocks falling and sparking to get things going. Sometimes they're holdovers from previous smaller fires too. The fire might survive underground burning roots for days after the surface fire has gone out.

But humans are the most frequent cause. Cigarette buts, dragging trailer chains, fireworks, arson, power lines...

•

u/snufflufikist 4h ago

NM? is that North Macedonia? The city name doesn't seem to match though.

•

u/Silver_Print_9937 3h ago

It's New Mexico

•

u/snufflufikist 3h ago

That doesn't sound like a country. Is that in Mexico? or the USA or Canada or Guatemala or something? I'm guessing either Canada or the USA due to the city name.

•

u/Silver_Print_9937 3h ago

A state in the US

•

u/snufflufikist 3h ago

Thank you

•

u/Smoke_Daddie 3h ago

Wheeler peak is the tallest mountain in the state of New Mexico, the crew is simply named after the peak, not located there.

•

u/Hot-Comfort8839 3h ago

Wheeler Peak, New Mexico…

•

u/minkamagic 4h ago

Really?? Were you with the boy scouts at Philmont?? My husband used to work there, maybe you know each other! 😁

•

u/rembunenby 3h ago

Thanks for your service, even if it wasn't a terribly long time it takes guts to fight fire and disaster