If the power grid goes, how long before wildfires? (acres, house, the wild)
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There's food for thought, about someone trying to cook their food in the wild and not appreciating when there it isn't a good time (to say nothing of some jerk arsonist doing it).
I think it would just be a matter of time and about the only thing I could suggest is that if someone had a non flame way to distribute cooked food, it might be risk reducing in one's own interest to do so.
I don't see what the power grid being down has to do with wildfires. Maybe due to people bugging out to the woods? Is that what you were thinking? Because it wasn't very clear.
First, the overwhelming majority of people live in cities, and they are not leaving for the woods. Never will happen. The country, the woods, are too unknown and too frightening for most urbanites. They'll hear a owl and think it's a "wild animal" (it is, but no threat). It gets very dark in the woods at night, and there are no street lights. There are no restrooms, and no fast food joints. Besides, they don't know how to start a fire, esp if it has rained recently.
Secondly, the number who bug out to the woods will be far less than the number of campers who make a vacation trip to camp in the woods. Most campers do not start wildfires. Urbanites bugging out probably can't start a fire, or keep it going.
Thirdly, they'd have to be in an area of the country that is subject to wildfires, or is in a drought situation. Kalifornica and some western states would qualify, but most of the rest of the country? Not so much.
As it is, for Texas, I do see people bugging out to the woods, off the coasts, to the State and otherwise Parks. Anyone with a partial brain out to see that such, as on this map, All Parks
is a decent alternative to the cost of hotels in a bug out situation, power grid down or not. Further, those are just the state parks; there's more in the Federal ones (ie, NPS and Corps of Engineers) and the private ones.
How close are the live oaks (assuming you have gotten rid of the cedar) to your house and out buildings, metal or clay tile roofs?
Metal roof, I have a forest in my back and side yards, perhaps 100 feet. Way too close, fire wise, but on the other hand, the side forest hides me from the road. As far as the back forest, well mental health aside, having the forest on my ranch also means lots of firewood for years. To say nothing of potential food source.
I too am surrounded by woods and encountered a fire about 15 years ago.
The areas that burned really bad had a significant amount of brush, dead-fall and other burnable materials at ground level. A few of my acres burned but I keep the ground clear. The burn in my woods was basically a smoldering of leaves and it never really turned into a fire to set the trees ablaze. A year later, you could barely tell I had a fire on my acreage.
Keep your woods clean... It sucks for deer hunting but it's better for fires and I like the way it looks when I sit out there.
Metal roof, I have a forest in my back and side yards, perhaps 100 feet. Way too close, fire wise, but on the other hand, the side forest hides me from the road. As far as the back forest, well mental health aside, having the forest on my ranch also means lots of firewood for years. To say nothing of potential food source.
So, there are trade offs, right and left.
100 feet is a decently large defensible fire space. The forestry guys have saved homes with much less up here. 30 feet is deemed sufficient in many areas. 100 feet and you have a pretty good chance of keeping your
There are drought-prone regions of the US continent where wildfires are already a big problem. Anything that causes more people to be burning outdoors, would likely result in more wildfires.
Today we have a lot of resources dedicated to fighting wildfires. If our society collapses in any way, those resources will no longer exist. Wildfires will then be left to burnout on their own.
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