User blog comment:Zaffie/Bushfire Season/@comment-4751506-20130107124448/@comment-1839575-20130107203418

Thanks Red. <3

As for when the fires catch, dangerous days like today usually follow a few days after a thunderstorm for several reasons. 1) everything gets very hot three or four days after a thunderstorm and 2) when lightning strikes trees or wooden power poles it can leave a single ember burning within the wood. Days later, when the conditions are right, the embers spark up and that's how some of the fires start. Unfortunately with the 2003 fires it was also believed several of them were started deliberately, so let's hope that's something we can avoid this year.