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What typically ignites a muck fire?
2: our afternoon and evening thunderstorm lightning strikes. These strikes, usually to a cypress or pine tree, will ignite some of the light vegetation fuels at the base of the tree, even in the accompanying heavy rains. This small ignition point will smolder and commence burning into the dried muck layers.
What is the cause of the muck fires tangerine?
Muck fires are fires that burn underground. They’re usually started when decomposing vegetation catches fire, often as a result of the heat generated by lightning strikes. A lightning strike is responsible for igniting the muck fire near Paul’s house in Tangerine.
What’s a muck fire?
Muck fire—a fire that burns into the organic matter in the soil. Muck fires produce a lot of smoke and are very difficult to extinguish.
How does a muck fire spread?
The heat generated by a muck fire can also transfer underground horizontally to neighboring areas and ignite forest fires yards away from the original subsurface fire. The organic material that feeds a muck fire, also known as peat, is used as fuel for cooking and heating in many places across the world.
What is a muck fire in Florida?
Muck fires are fires that burn underground. They are started (usually in late winter/early spring in Florida) when buried decomposing vegetation spontaneously combusts or is ignited by lightning strikes. This happens during the dry season as the vegetation begins to dry out.
What happens if a tree falls on a muck fire?
The trees can then fall on firefighters or other people in the area. Containing a muck fire can be very difficult for firefighters. Falling trees and destabilized ground can make it nearly impossible to bring firefighting equipment into a forested area where a muck fire is burning.
How do you extinguish a muck fire?
Also, in order to extinguish a muck fire, the ground must be thoroughly soaked. This can require the earth to be turned over so that water can better reach burning areas of muck.