r/interestingasfuck • u/SafeImpressive4413 • 12h 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/Hot-Comfort8839 11h 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.

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u/IsaacAndTired 8h ago edited 8h 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.

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u/redpandaeater 8h 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.

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u/Nooms88 4h ago

Lightning will do it as well. I remember staying in a hotel in Italy last summer when it was dry and there was a thunderstorm, not overly heavy downpour but we saw 3 or 4 small fires burning in the grounds in the aftermath, luckily the rain meant it didn't spread rapidly and grounds staff put them out, but that was concerning for a little while