“A fire to start and continue needs three things… oxygen, fuel and heat,” said Medford Fire-Rescue Captain Graham Payer. “Heat transfer and fire spread is usually conduction, convection or radiation.”
Captain Payer said these things in combination with a spark create the perfect scenario for a fire. The weather and accessible fuels like dry grass are a huge factor in the damage it can create.
“You could have rain in the morning and think here, it’s July or August and have a little rain shower in the morning and think everything’s okay,” said Oregon Department of Forestry District Forester Dave Larson, “but within one hour and the sun coming out and a little bit a wind blowing on it, it could be ready to burn just as good as the day before.”
Larson said embers can travel miles with the right help from mother nature, helping it jump roads and even rivers.
“They’ll be transferred with the wind and they can spot great distances,” Larson said.
Those embers causing smaller fires to start and even more work for firefighters.
“It comes down to fuels, the weather and the topography,” Larson said.
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