An interesting morning walk. With burning tree content
Discussion
Saw a very strange sight this morning on my walk in the countryside.
Came round the corner on the lane and saw a faint diagonal orange line in the distance, some way above the road surface. As I got nearer, realised it was a tree on fire
Fire was about 10 feet up the trunk, and there looked to be a chunk of the trunk missing, almost like it had been chopped out. As the tree is next to the lane, decided to call the Fire and Rescue Service - girl on the phone sounded a little disbelieving of my story, but said she d send a crew, and I continued on my way. As I was returning home they appeared on scene and were very bemused with what they found. We d had no lightning overnight, there are no electrical cables overhead and the tree was healthy, so not hollow.
Their torches are better than mine!
Their best guess was a meteorite hit, and I m of the same opinion. Very strange thing to see.
Came round the corner on the lane and saw a faint diagonal orange line in the distance, some way above the road surface. As I got nearer, realised it was a tree on fire
Fire was about 10 feet up the trunk, and there looked to be a chunk of the trunk missing, almost like it had been chopped out. As the tree is next to the lane, decided to call the Fire and Rescue Service - girl on the phone sounded a little disbelieving of my story, but said she d send a crew, and I continued on my way. As I was returning home they appeared on scene and were very bemused with what they found. We d had no lightning overnight, there are no electrical cables overhead and the tree was healthy, so not hollow.
Their torches are better than mine!
Their best guess was a meteorite hit, and I m of the same opinion. Very strange thing to see.
Might be worth notifying the "meteorite people" might be some interesting space rock!
very weird.
looks like something slow burning, surely a firework would just left charred mark and would've fizzled out after a minute or two ? latent heat of a meteorite however ?
very weird.
looks like something slow burning, surely a firework would just left charred mark and would've fizzled out after a minute or two ? latent heat of a meteorite however ?
Edited by Arkose on Monday 20th October 10:52
Wills2 said:
Whatever hit it would have to be very hot to start a fire in a trunk and I don't think a meteor is a quick google says that most are not hot when they hit the ground.
‘Tis a real mystery! You’d definitely need a ladder to reach the affected area and would need to be very persistent to get it to light, so I don’t think it was a deliberate actCan’t believe there are any fireworks in the Uk that could do that to a tree - how bizarre! From the first pic it does look like an angled strike - I’d be tempted to try and workout where that angle ended at ground level and have a root about
While meteorites aren’t necessarily hot when they hit the ground they are usually going at the sort of speed which does interesting stuff on contact….so if it’s bigger than usual it could be that maybe?
Done deliberately seems even weirder and also really hard - I mean how would you?
While meteorites aren’t necessarily hot when they hit the ground they are usually going at the sort of speed which does interesting stuff on contact….so if it’s bigger than usual it could be that maybe?
Done deliberately seems even weirder and also really hard - I mean how would you?
Wills2 said:
Whatever hit it would have to be very hot to start a fire in a trunk and I don't think a meteor is a quick google says that most are not hot when they hit the ground.
They might not be hot to the touch or a blazing fireball, but google suggests they're travelling around 200-400mph when they hit the ground. I would well imagine that would be enough to start a slow burning fire through friction.Alternatively, cocaine woodpecker? So to be made into a sequel to cocaine bear.
Snubs said:
They might not be hot to the touch or a blazing fireball, but google suggests they're travelling around 200-400mph when they hit the ground. I would well imagine that would be enough to start a slow burning fire through friction.
Alternatively, cocaine woodpecker? So to be made into a sequel to cocaine bear.
Occam’s razor Alternatively, cocaine woodpecker? So to be made into a sequel to cocaine bear.
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