Miscellany

Did you know? Forest fires move faster uphill

by: Zach Kirschenmann

Forest fires move faster uphill than downhill. This is because heat rises; if a fire is going uphill the flame from the top of one tree would burn the bottom of the tree above it, causing that tree to burn and continue to the next tree. They also move faster uphill because fires need oxygen, fuel, and heat to burn. If you hold a match and its is burning the correct way it will burn slowly down to your fingers. If you turn that match upside down it burns faster and will burn your fingers. Let’s say that a fire is burning down hill. The flame on each tree would have to burn down to the ground to start the next tree’s top branches on fire. If it burns uphill the flame has to burn halfway until burning the next tree.