Ventura County Fire Department Picture
So who causes forest fires? Target Shooters? Careless Campers? Careless Hikers? Evil, Careless Smokers? How about NONE OF THE ABOVE? It is the EARTH burning! Go figure!
Anthony Watts covered this on his excellent environmental website:
http://wattsupwiththat.wordpress.com/2008/08/06/earth-warms-to-812f-experts-baffled/
And a complete link to a muddlestream media report:
http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2008/aug/06/a-burning-question-scientists-puzzle-over-source/
Tantalizing Excerpt:
In 2004, a patch of land northwest of Ojai burned so hot, it started a brush fire that scorched three acres in Los Padres National Forest. Firefighters cleared the grass from the newest area of hot earth near Fillmore on Friday so the same thing won’t happen..
Though the outcome of both circumstances is the same — ground hot enough to delaminate boot soles — the reasons they started are likely very different.
