Wood ignites at temperatures in the hundreds of degrees. How are some wildfires supposedly started by sunlight without human action or lightning?
In: 1508
That’s the combustion temperature for wood, not leaf litter. A pile of compost can spontaneously combustion on even moderate days days. It absorbs the heat and due to its size and desntiy (and relatively little surface area) it can insulate quite well and continues to accumulate heat beyond the point of combustion. Couple this with bacteria breaking down the litter adding more heat and its pretty easy to see how it can happen. It’s part of why some fire management plans include management of leaf litter
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