Lightening strikes

[tow653]

Found place on property, that it appears burned from a lightening strike. It happened on other side of lake near vacant home. Fire did not get very big nor close to home. Are there any measures to take to protect woods from lightening stikes?

 

[M5farms]

controlled burns in the spring to remove tinder is about all you can do.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

Wildfires here are exacerbated by the ubiquitous Red Cedar, and the state and counties here are beginning to undertake programs for its eradication. They burn like gasoline, and are pretty fearsome to watch. I had several on my acreage when we moved in here, and I cut them all down a long time ago; not so my neighbors. I believe, short of a firestorm, My house is far enough away from the creek and surrounding stand of trees.

 

[oosik]

Yes - what M5farms says. Also - because my 80 is very remote - I create a fire break with my disk harrow on the SW perimeter of the property. Prevailing wind is out of the SW about 90% of the time.

However - four years ago there was a wildfire that started about eight miles SW of my property(Watermelon Hill wildfire). My firebreak averages fifty feet wide and is about 900 feet long. The 2014 wildfire was driven by such high winds - sparks and burning tinder were being blown a quarter mile ahead of the fire. My meager fire break would have done diddly.

The ONLY thing that saved my property - at the VERY LAST MOMENT the wind shifted and the firebreak created by the local farmers allow the fire to be extinguished.

Me, my dog and my tractor were under mandatory evacuation. Went out to the county road and north about two miles - to a neighbor and watched from there.

The wildfire burned right up to my property line on the SW corner.

My little Cocker Spaniel thought it was great sport - riding on my lap while I'm motoring down the county road on my tractor.

The wildfire was caused by humans out of sheer stupidity.

 

[TractorNH]

Your post reminded me of pics from a lightning strike that happened in our town last August. The fire department took these pictures and had them on their social media page. They believe the fire was burning the full day before it was discovered. The tree is along a local hiking trail off a lightly traveled road.

 

[oosik]

I've had two lightning strikes, that I know of, on the property in 36 years. One came down one of my big Ponderosa pines - leaving a big spiral scar down the tree - no fire. The other started a fire in the very top of a very tall pine. Didn't notice it until evening, I mentioned to the wife - I'd never seen a light out that direction. Put the field glasses on it and by golly, it was a fire. So I watched it for two days hoping it would go out. No joy - ended up felling it and putting it out.

TractorNH - that's really lucky that it didn't start a big old fire. That is one HOT tree.

 

[Doofy]

Your post reminded me of pics from a lightning strike that happened in our town last August. The fire department took these pictures and had them on their social media page. They believe the fire was burning the full day before it was discovered. The tree is along a local hiking trail off a lightly traveled road.

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Awesome. I have never seen anything like that.

 

[turnkey4099]

Back about 1942 on the old farm we had lightning strike a big cottonwood around 80' from the house. Blew most of the tree into kindling and jumped from there to a grain drill and blew that apart. Came with heavy rain so no fire.

 

[Thomas]

I keep dead brush and trees etc. clean up as much as I can.

 

[bunyip]

Your post reminded me of pics from a lightning strike that happened in our town last August. The fire department took these pictures and had them on their social media page. They believe the fire was burning the full day before it was discovered. The tree is along a local hiking trail off a lightly traveled road.

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We call those dry strikes as a fire is not apparent for up to a week, often in an old dead stump or hollow dead tree, always seems to happen in the most inaccessible areas.

 

[Thall303]

That is really interesting. Never saw that before.

 

[2LaneCruzer]

Back about 1942 on the old farm we had lightning strike a big cottonwood around 80' from the house. Blew most of the tree into kindling and jumped from there to a grain drill and blew that apart. Came with heavy rain so no fire.

I had a HUGE cottonwood within about 20 feet of the house; it was struck by lightening with the result that it survived, but with a huge dead section that ran most of the height of the tree. I learned three lessons here (1) Cottonwoods grow very big, and are a threat to nearby structures, so don't plant them any where near; (2) Lightening is prone to hit the tallest tree, even if it's next to your house; and (3) It costs in excess of $1500 to have a professional remove a tree like that without damaging either your house or your neighbor's house.

 

[buickanddeere]

I would hazard a guess that more wildfires have human origins rather than natural origins .

 

[bunyip]

I would hazard a guess that more wildfires have human origins rather than natural origins .

Unfortunately I think you are right, when we have had fires around us there are always some who light spot fires just to make it interesting, the fire services are taxed at these times and are sent all over the State so the local skeleton crews have trouble coping with the idiots who do this.
Having said that I have witnessed electric storms on clear cloudless nights start spot fires in really remote areas, people associate lightning with thunder and dark clouds and find it hard to accept that there is lightning with clear skies.

 

[PILOON]

LOL, my home is built on a site that lightening burnt the last house down to ash.
They claim that lightening never strikes twice and I'm counting on that.

Old building was simply not grounded correctly but I can assure U mine is. (2 9 ft rods, 6 ft apart and pounded in with a power driver)
The old grounding was simply laid under some peat moss on top of bed rock, dry moss on dry soil is not the best conductor.

 

[Doofy]

Keep your insurance paid and your fingers crossed. We have 6,000 or more lightening strikes per day (statewide) during the summer. Scary stuff.

 

[buickanddeere]

LOL, my home is built on a site that lightening burnt the last house down to ash.
They claim that lightening never strikes twice and I'm counting on that.

Old building was simply not grounded correctly but I can assure U mine is. (2 9 ft rods, 6 ft apart and pounded in with a power driver)
The old grounding was simply laid under some peat moss on top of bed rock, dry moss on dry soil is not the best conductor.

That is a good start however the thousands of amps pushed by millions of bolts in a sudden brief spike . The inductance and back EMF will choke current flow into the earth .
Ground rod to earth reactance of less than 10 ohms is unusual . Those ground rods in the earth for a brief time will have a potential of thousands of volts above another independent ground rod in the earth 100 feet away.

 

[Doofy]

That is a good start however the thousands of amps pushed by millions of bolts in a sudden brief spike . The inductance and back EMF will choke current flow into the earth .
Ground rod to earth reactance of less than 10 ohms is unusual . Those ground rods in the earth for a brief time will have a potential of thousands of volts above another independent ground rod in the earth 100 feet away.

Yes, what he said! I don't have a clue.

 

[oosik]

Grief - those pics of that tree still amaze me. Well - we are back to rain right now. The big storm front passed thru last night. And as per usual - all the booming and lightning went around me here - about five miles to the west - as it went from SW to NE. I don't know why but about 80% of the time we get the noise and see the light show as it skirts around us. And as usual - I sure get the rain.

 

[cqaigy2]

Grief - those pics of that tree still amaze me. Well - we are back to rain right now. The big storm front passed thru last night. And as per usual - all the booming and lightning went around me here - about five miles to the west - as it went from SW to NE. I don't know why but about 80% of the time we get the noise and see the light show as it skirts around us. And as usual - I sure get the rain.

Rain's nice to have during and after lighting strikes. :thumbsup: