[pct-l] ...wild fires

[rellinwood at worldnet.att.net (Robert Ellinwood)]

Jeff, I posed your question to Richard Miles, who was the expert I turned to
for
"Conversation: Hikers and Wildland Fires."  His response was:

"While this may sound good, I would not depend on it. Most of the time 
animals do try to get away from the fire. But you also see them panic and 
even head into it. I would not make it a habit to follow them. This would be

more of a Old Wives tale than anything else."

My own personal  reaction might be that birds, with the ability to get high
enough to see/sense the larger picture, might indeed be headed in the right
direction.  Insects and rodents, so close to the ground, surely couldn't
have a better sense of where to head than humans.  Perhaps my assessment is
influenced by watching a large frog hop into a campfire and die on a cool
autumn night in the Smokies years ago.

Dr Bob



> -----Original Message-----
> From: pct-l-bounces@mailman.backcountry.net [mailto:pct-l-
> bounces@mailman.backcountry.net] On Behalf Of Jeff Moorehead
> Sent: Sunday, February 26, 2006 1:58 PM
> To: pct-l@mailman.backcountry.net
> Subject: Re: [pct-l] ...wild fires
> 
> 
> I've never been in a wildfire or too close to one so I am not sure about
> this, but I hear if you carefully observe the flight paths of birds and
> insects and note rodent movement, they will be vectoring in a direction
away
> from the fire. The closer the fire, the more true the actual vector.
>  Can any firefighters confirm? That would at least give you a small
measure
> of relief from these nightmares...
> 
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