An ember attack is a naturally occurring event. During a bushfire, burning parts of trees such as twigs, branches or leaves become temporarily airborne and can be carried away upwind of the bushfire. An 'ember attack' occurs when many embers are carried by winds in a cluster. The Stringybark species of Eucalypt is particularly notorious for contributing large flaming sections of bark that due to their size, weight and shape, can be carried up to several kilometres away. The movements of embers from a bushfire are the primary cause of spotfires, which contribute to the continued spread of a bushfire.
They mostly occur close to the source of the fire, usually following a heat explosion within vegetation in which material is ejected from the explosion and creates a cluster of embers, or during high winds in which burnt material is carried away from flames before it can be fully combusted. An ember attack can be an erie sight in dark conditions as the glowing embers leave a small light trail in our vision similar to that of a camera set to a long exposure time. Images of ember attacks caught on film are often used by the mass media to aid in the depiction of a bushfire as a dramatic event.
Read more about Ember Attack: Effect On Firefighting, Effect On Property
Famous quotes containing the words ember and/or attack:
“Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December,
And each separate dying ember wrought its ghost upon the floor.
Eagerly I wished the morrow;Mvainly I had sought to borrow
From my books surcease of sorrow—sorrow for the lost Lenore—”
—Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849)
“It is well worth the efforts of a lifetime to have attained knowledge which justifies an attack on the root of all evil—viz. the deadly atheism which asserts that because forms of evil have always existed in society, therefore they must always exist; and that the attainment of a high ideal is a hopeless chimera.”
—Elizabeth Blackwell (1821–1910)