Lightning strike sparks Cambria fire — five days later

[petronius]

A fast response and multiple air drops of retardant and water prevented what could have been a disaster Friday in Cambria when a smoldering tree fire, apparently started by lighting during Sunday night’s intense storm, flared into a full-fledged wildfire near Scott Rock.

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http://www.sanluisobispo.com/2015/07/24/3734479_firefighters-battle-blaze-in-cambria.html

Not a huge fire, luckily, and quickly extinguished. But I found it interesting how long a lightning strike could smolder and then flare up once the rain dries away (assuming that was the cause)...

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. Glad they got it under control quickly!

We'll be in Cambria (to visit Hearst Castle) for a few days the first week of August. I hope there won't be any more lightning strikes then, or anytime!

[petronius]

2. The lightning was pretty unusual for here, this time of year

Have a great visit! (Just don't expect any rolling green hills, even if it did rain a smidgen... )

[CaliforniaPeggy]

3. Glad to hear that it was unusual!

We expect to have a great visit!

I just hope the sun will be out. My photos look much better in sunlight!

[Brother Buzz]

4. George R. Stewart's 1948 novel, Fire, I learned Spitcat smoldered for days from a lightning strike..

before exploding into a roaring inferno when unexpected winds kicked in. Riveting read from my childhood, and remarkably, a lot of the ground fighting techniques haven't change all that much in the last 60 years.

Spitcat, a raging forest fire in the Sierra Nevada of California, had a lifespan of merely eleven days, "yet its effects could be reckoned ahead in centuries." So writes George R. Stewart in this engrossing novel of a fire started by lightning in the dry heat of September, and fanned out of control by unexpected winds. The book begins with the origins of the fire—smoldering quietly at first, unnoticed, then suddenly bursting into a terrifying inferno, devouring trees and animals over acre after acre and leaving nothing but desolation in its wake.

Firefighters and lookouts, forest rangers and smokejumpers—as well as animals in the forest, many of them the bewildered victims of the blaze, and all the varied tress and bushes there—are characters of this realistic story.

[murielm99]

5. So you would recommend this book

as still relevant? I like to read unusual things, if I can find them.

[Brother Buzz]

7. Totally!

Fire and Storm might be considered companion books by Stewart. Both books targeted young readers so they are a fast and interesting read.

For a cool read that is still also relevant today, is Stewart's 1949 post-apocalyptic science fiction novel, Earth Abides. It tells the story of the fall of civilization from deadly disease ... Seems like I read it every seven year and still find stuff in it.

[petronius]

6. Interesting, thanks! I don't recall to have read any George R. Stewart, which

I now realize--having perused his works--is a sad deficiency on my part...

[Brother Buzz]

8. LOL, don't read Ordeal by Hunger during a winter night on an empty stomach

[Le Taz Hot]

9. I was just in Cambria for my birthday

on the 17th. I love that place. And Robin's restaurant is unparalleled.