Towards the end, Angelina Jolie and the kid run away from a forest fire, and then dive into a creek and occasionally come up for air as the fire passes over them.
Wouldn’t the fire suck up almost all the oxygen available when they came up for air?
Would the temperatures generated by the forest fire make the creek water so hot it would be impossible to hide in it?
Do forest fires move so fast that they can’t be outrun like in this movie?
Another question is in the middle of the movie the same two try to run across the field while being all but assaulted by a battery of lightning bolts, one after another. Is it possible for lightning to be so intense?
Reading some past news stories about the few people who survived forest fires by going into creeks or rivers the biggest problem was that the surrounding fires created “super heated” air that would burn your lungs if you breathed it.
That and avoiding the tremendous amount of flaming debris raining down on the water.
My second-hand knowledge (2HK) comes from previous conversations with current/former firefighters that have experience on/contacts with Wildland Fire crews, especially after our local Cerro Grande and Las Conchas fires.
Couple that with my disclaimer that I have not seen the movie.
Fires can move fast, due to available dry fuel, and winds pushing the flames–both are situationally dependent. While it’s not just the flames’ front that moves, but also embers, or other airborne ‘sparks’ pushed by the wind, that create the possibility of spot fires starting outside of the main fire. This causes a very dangerous scenario that wildland crews can be surrounded by the fire, trapping them. IIRC, this was one of the contributing factors in the Yarnell Hill Fire near Prescott, AZ.
The Granite Mountain Hotshots were discovered after being overrun, some of them in fire shelters, which do help protect against heat, and provide a trap for breathable air, however. . .
Talking with one of the firefighters I know, it’s SOP that before you deploy the shelter, you dig/scrape/scratch out as deep a hole as you can to help ‘pocket’ more breathable air low, before you deploy the shelter–and you keep your face down in it as you’re sheltering. The point being, that whataever cool(er), fresh(er) breathable air you trapped is gonna sink lower while hot(ter) toxic gases are rising above and away. It’s also a way of maximizing breathable air volume within the shelter’s bubble.
It’s fascinating to me that wildfires create their own environmental system, complete with convection and wind patterns within the fire itself.
So, to answer your questions with my 2HK,
Yes, the fire sucks up oxygen, but also creates vast amounts of hot, toxic gasses.
I think there’s an element of truth to the movie’s scene. Yes, fire is at the surface of moving water, but the water sits in a natural-ground trough that would help cool it. Water also takes time to heat up, so the temperature of the water would be dependent on how long it flows through an engulfed area.
Haven’t seen the movie, but it’s highly plausible.
Tripler
We’re in another wildfire-season-cycle here, and if told to evacuate, I’m not gonna f*ck around.
As long as we’re asking questions, why didn’t his dad just email his narrative to about 200 newspapers? I know he said the conspiracy reached high places, but give this incredibly important piece of paper to the first person you trust might not be a good fallback plan.
Also, did the piece of paper stay dry when he was underwater?
Those two bad guys didn’t look much like brothers.
Why would he even need to? As I understand it, his dad was a forensic accountant working for the District Attorney (who was previously murdered). I would assume that at this point, whatever evidence they have is thoroughly documented within the chain of custody of the DA’s office and any other law enforcement agencies involved in whatever this investigation is. It’s not like it would just sit in the head of one accountant and his boss.