Myrtle Beach Fire

[ianguerin]

In case you haven't heard, 15,000+ acres have already burned in in North Myrtle Beach.
While it's not as windy here as it was yesterday, it's dry as hell. One of the news conferences just said that part of the fire are spreading underground, which I didn't even know was possible. The fire itself appears to be going back and forth, and the smoke is getting worse and worse.
They've evacuated several neighborhoods and closed schools, businesses, etc.
No fatalities, and that probably has to do with people here being pretty conscious of it.

 

[JackReacher]

That sucks. One of my favorite vacation spots. Used to go every summer as a kid.

 

[Moderator1]

Any of the 3,094 golf courses burning?

 

[Fenian_Bastard]

In case you haven't heard, 15,000+ acres have already burned in in North Myrtle Beach.
While it's not as windy here as it was yesterday, it's dry as hell. One of the news conferences just said that part of the fire are spreading underground, which I didn't even know was possible. The fire itself appears to be going back and forth, and the smoke is getting worse and worse.
They've evacuated several neighborhoods and closed schools, businesses, etc.
No fatalities, and that probably has to do with people here being pretty conscious of it.

In my three summers as a forest ranger, I was in four (relatively small) forest fires, and I can tell you that the underground fire is one scary mofo. It can burn for miles and then erupt like a tiny volcano. It can make a fire seem to be extinguished when it's not.

 

[I Digress]

Any of the 3,094 golf courses burning?

2 courses and seven random holes ;D

 

[Angola!]

In case you haven't heard, 15,000+ acres have already burned in in North Myrtle Beach.
While it's not as windy here as it was yesterday, it's dry as hell. One of the news conferences just said that part of the fire are spreading underground, which I didn't even know was possible. The fire itself appears to be going back and forth, and the smoke is getting worse and worse.
They've evacuated several neighborhoods and closed schools, businesses, etc.
No fatalities, and that probably has to do with people here being pretty conscious of it.

In my three summers as a forest ranger, I was in four (relatively small) forest fires, and I can tell you that the underground fire is one scary mofo. It can burn for miles and then erupt like a tiny volcano. It can make a fire seem to be extinguished when it's not.

What is it burning in? Tunnels? Cable pipes?

 

[Fenian_Bastard]

Anything flammable that's underground -- root systems, buried leaves, organic matter in the soil. Most forests are eight-layer cakes of flammable material.

 

[Angola!]

Anything flammable that's underground -- root systems, buried leaves, organic matter in the soil. Most forests are eight-layer cakes of flammable material.

Oh, that makes sense.

I wonder if it could turn into a electrical fire if it was near civilization.

 

[Armchair_QB]

Anything flammable that's underground -- root systems, buried leaves, organic matter in the soil. Most forests are eight-layer cakes of flammable material.

Never thought about it that way. Yikes.

Did you get to keep the hat?

 

[OnTheRiver]

Any of the 3,094 miniature golf courses burning?

Fixed.

(And here's hoping this gets solved soon. Love that part of the country.)

 

[Scouter]

In case you haven't heard, 15,000+ acres have already burned in in North Myrtle Beach.
While it's not as windy here as it was yesterday, it's dry as hell. One of the news conferences just said that part of the fire are spreading underground, which I didn't even know was possible. The fire itself appears to be going back and forth, and the smoke is getting worse and worse.
They've evacuated several neighborhoods and closed schools, businesses, etc.
No fatalities, and that probably has to do with people here being pretty conscious of it.

In my three summers as a forest ranger, I was in four (relatively small) forest fires, and I can tell you that the underground fire is one scary mofo. It can burn for miles and then erupt like a tiny volcano. It can make a fire seem to be extinguished when it's not.

What is it burning in? Tunnels? Cable pipes?

Underground railroad?

 

[Fenian_Bastard]

The worst forest fire in American history -- the Peshtigo Fire in Wisconsin -- had an element of ground-burn and underground fire that was truly apocalyptic. All the byproducts of decades of lumbering, buried and on the surface, went up.

 

[Bob Cook]

The epitome of an underground fire: Centralia, Pa. A fire started in a garbage dump in 1962, and has been burning in the mines underground ever since. The town was cleared out after a boy in 1981 nearly fell into a pit caused the fire collapsed the ground underneath him.

http://www.offroaders.com/album/centralia/centralia.htm

 

[Angola!]

The epitome of an underground fire: Centralia, Pa. A fire started in a garbage dump in 1962, and has been burning in the mines underground ever since. The town was cleared out after a boy in 1981 nearly fell into a pit caused the fire collapsed the ground underneath him.

http://www.offroaders.com/album/centralia/centralia.htm

That is one of the weirdest things I have ever read about. I wonder if something like this could happen in West Texas because of the oil?

 

[ianguerin]

The undergound burn in this case is a product of the peat (sp?) layer of soil that's several feet down. The forestry commission said that in several cases, its burning so low that it's moving underneath the thenches they're digging to try to contain it.
Moddy: Two of the main courses that have been affected -- Grande Dunes and Barefoot -- are both listed among the top 100 coures in the country.
From my house, I can see three separate burns at any given time. National guard is dropping lots of water from helicopters. They're now talking of evacuating a neighborhood 3 miles away from mine.
If anyone's interested, I've thrown a bunch of pics I took today from around the area up on my personal blog (BLOG!), listed below.