The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1908-12-04
A CYCLONE OF FLAME
Fires In Bamboo Forests Are the
FierCest Known.
SWEEP ON A MILE A MINUTE.
Like the Roar, the Roll and the Rattle
Of a Great Battle Is tho Noise Of tho
Exploding Stalks That Sometimes
Shoot High Into the Air.

Shoot High Into the Air.
| When the forests are afire, when
| the smoke makes dusk at noon and
| reddens the harvest moon thousand
miles away, there Is the measure OF q
confiagration. When the prairies burn
as they used TO before farms had crept
I'm upon the endless miles OF grass
there was n fire which ran like mad
and left behind it blackened trail OF
death. If one could combine the speed
Of the prairie fire with the tumult OF
the blazing forest, that would be a
fire indeed.
Such combination Is effected when
the bamboo groves catch fire. The
bamboo Is but n grass, grass with
the height OF tree, swaying stems
reaching 100, even 100, feet I'm air.
In Cambodia. where the bamboo
groves along the rivers cover the space
OF forests, ii Is no unusual thing for
fires to break out and sweep all before
them for many miles. If the summer
has been dry the bamboo turns scar
and innammable as any grass.
All that Is needed Is spark; then
ruin runs red. IL Is not necessary to
rely upon the carelessness OF the
woodsman to start the blaze. The
bamboo can kindle itself.
Let two swayirg stalks OF dry bam-
boo be set I'm motion by the breeze, let
one rub across the other long enough,
and the friction will set the spark, and
the long dry leaves will feed the flame.
It Is known that many fires OF the
bamboo forests thus originate. Per
haps It was from observing such a
sight that primitive man learned the
Promcthcan secret. That theory has
been advanced.
As soon as flame I'm the bamboos
has crept to the level OF the tossing
tips II spreads like wildfre. The wind
carries n sheet OF flame along the grove
Mt tremendous speed. Some observers
say that such fires have been seen to
move forward at the rate Of more than
n mile minute. Seen from below, IL
looks as If she sky had burst into an
instant fash OF flame.
From such burst OF fire there could
be no escape. Fortunately Il passes
high overhead mt the tops OF the BAN
boos. 1t serves as II warning to the
traveller who may be making his way
along some one OF the water courses
by which the forest is intersected. The
bamboo itself Is almost an obstacle to
travel OF any sort 1t Is well nigh i'm
possible to force n way through IL ex-
cept by the slow and toilsome labor OF
hewing out path.
The fire I'm the great trunks moves
more slowly, and If warning be taken
It may be possible to sink ones boat
and throw up wet herbage and clay
against the bank OF the stream TO pro-
vide shelter until the furnace blast
has blown by. Such fire In the bam-
boo has not only the speed of the prai-
ric fire on It's sweep overhead, but It
found In any forest fire. 1t combines
the two types.
Bamboo forest fires have another
quality which Is all their own. They
bang and rattle with thunderous
crashes, rs of artillery fire, without
cessation.
The stalks OF these tree bamboos are
frequently more than foot I'm diane
ter. Near the ground the joints are
close together; in the younger growth
the nodes may be several feet apart.
But, long or short rs they may be. each
Joint OF the sun dried bamboo Is a
tightly sealed chamber filed with mir.
The partitions between the cavities are
singularly tough; the outside rind Of
the stalks Is almost pure flint.
When the blast OF the flame sweeps
onward the air I'm the stalks upon
which X Is driven Is suddenly heated
to a very high temperature. The resid-
uum OF moisture which may be In the
stems is Immediately transformed into
steam and at once subjected to super
heating. thus becoming violent explo-
sive. AS the hot breath of the flame
becomes hotter these joints burst with
loud cannon discharges.
Sometimes the force OF the explosion
near the roots Is SO great as TO shoot
the stalk like javelin high into the
air. where II flashes into torchlike
fame and Is carried by the wind TO
spread wider disaster. The bursting
Of the smaller joints Is like the roll and
rattle OF rifles and machine guns. The
effect Is that of battle hotly contest
ed d.-Washington Post.