The powerful winds that hit around 4: 00 p. m. blew the fire up the drainage at the hottest time of day. and turpines, having baked for hours, could conceivably have lit the whole hillside practically at once. fire behavior is determined by an incredibly complicated interaction of fuel, terrain, and wind, and there are mathematical models describing the interaction. s]ometimes a combination of wind, fuel, and terrain conspires to produce a blowup in which the fire explodes out of control. gusts of 35 mph ⦠produce sixty-four-foot flames racing up the mountain at up to fifteen feet per second. in the superdry gambel oak, the rate of spread would have been almost twice that.
