Editing Firestorm (section)

=== Black Saturday firestorm (Wildfire case study) ===
{{see also|Black Saturday bushfires}}

==== Background ====
The [[Black Saturday bushfires]] are some of Australia's most destructive and deadly fires that fall under the category of a "firestorm" due to the extreme fire behavior and relationship with atmospheric responses that occurred during the fires. This major wildfire event led to a number of distinct electrified [[pyrocumulonimbus]] plume clusters ranging roughly 15&nbsp;km high. These plumes were proven susceptible to striking new spot fires ahead of the main fire front. The newly ignited fires by this pyrogenic lightning further highlight the feedback loops of influence between the atmosphere and fire behavior on Black Saturday associated with these pyroconvective processes.<ref name=":1">{{cite journal|last1=Dowdy|first1=Andrew J.|last2=Fromm|first2=Michael D.|last3=McCarthy|first3=Nicholas|date=2017-07-27|title=Pyrocumulonimbus lightning and fire ignition on Black Saturday in southeast Australia|journal=Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres |volume=122|issue=14|pages=2017JD026577|doi=10.1002/2017jd026577|issn=2169-8996| bibcode=2017JGRD..122.7342D| s2cid=134053333 }}</ref>

==== Role that pyroCbs have on fire in case study ====
The examinations presented here for Black Saturday demonstrate that fires ignited by lightning generated within the fire plume can occur at much larger distances ahead of the main fire front''—''of up to 100&nbsp;km. In comparison to fires ignited by burning debris transported by the fire plume, these only go ahead of the fire front up to about 33&nbsp;km, noting that this also has implications in relation to understanding the maximum rate of spread of a wildfire. This finding is important for the understanding and modeling of future firestorms and the large scale areas that can be affected by this phenomenon.<ref name=":1" /> 

As the individual spot fires grow together, they will begin to interact. This interaction will increase the burning rates, heat release rates, and flame height until the distance between them reaches a critical level. At the critical separation distance, the flames will begin to merge and burn with the maximum rate and flame height. As these spot fires continue to grow together, the burning and heat release rates will finally start to decrease but remain at a much elevated level compared to the independent spot fire. The flame height is not expected to change significantly. The more spot fires, the bigger the increase in burning rate and flame height.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Werth|first=Paul |display-authors=et al|date=March 2016|title=Specific Effects of Fire Interaction| url=https://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/pubs/pnw_gtr891.pdf |journal=Synthesis of Knowledge of Extreme Fire Behavior|volume=2|pages=88–97}}</ref>

==== Importance for continued study of these firestorms ====
Black Saturday is just one of many varieties of firestorms with these pyroconvective processes and they are still being widely studied and compared. In addition to indicating this strong coupling on Black Saturday between the atmosphere and the fire activity, the lightning observations also suggest considerable differences in pyroCb characteristics between Black Saturday and the Canberra fire event. Differences between pyroCb events, such as for the Black Saturday and Canberra cases, indicate considerable potential for improved understanding of pyroconvection based on combining different data sets as presented in the research of the Black Saturday pyroCb's (including in relation to lightning, radar, precipitation, and satellite observations).<ref name=":1" />

A greater understanding of pyroCb activity is important, given that fire-atmosphere feedback processes can exacerbate the conditions associated with dangerous fire behavior. Additionally, understanding the combined effects of heat, moisture, and aerosols on cloud microphysics is important for a range of weather and climate processes, including in relation to improved modeling and prediction capabilities. It is essential to fully explore events such as these to properly characterize the fire behavior, pyroCb dynamics, and resultant influence on conditions in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere (UTLS). It is also important to accurately characterize this transport process so that cloud, chemistry, and climate models have a firm basis on which to evaluate the pyrogenic source term, pathway from the boundary layer through cumulus cloud, and exhaust from the convective column.<ref name=":1" />

Since the discovery of smoke in the stratosphere and the pyroCb, only a small number of individual case studies and modeling experiments have been performed. Hence, there is still much to be learned about the pyroCb and its importance. With this work scientists have attempted to reduce the unknowns by revealing several additional occasions when pyroCbs were either a significant or sole cause for the type of stratospheric pollution usually attributed to volcanic injections.<ref name=":0" />