I read of one occasion where some Vikings trying to raid a walled city couldn't find a good way in. But one of them noticed that there were birds that nested in the town but hunted the fields and forest around the town during the day. The Vikings captured many of the birds, then either set them on fire or shomehow rigged them up with a small trailing fireball that they then flew back to their perches in the straw rafters of the town, setting the whole thing ablaze.
Odin must have been displeased. This is the bird's vengeance.
______________________________________________ Endeavoring to master the subtle art of the grapefruit spoon.
I have worked a lot of fires over the years that have been spread by animals.
The smallest was a brush fire that nearly took a subdivision, and was started by a burning bug. And a kid with a magnifying glass. The bug took off into the grass and the kid ran for the hills.
It's not uncommon during a wildfire to see animals racing out of a fire, on fire. Burning rabbits, dear, and other animals will run from the flames, spreading the fire through grass and other fuels.
Originally posted by P220 Smudge: I read of one occasion where some Vikings trying to raid a walled city couldn't find a good way in. But one of them noticed that there were birds that nested in the town but hunted the fields and forest around the town during the day. The Vikings captured many of the birds, then either set them on fire or shomehow rigged them up with a small trailing fireball that they then flew back to their perches in the straw rafters of the town, setting the whole thing ablaze.
Odin must have been displeased. This is the bird's vengeance.
The US Army had a similar program in WWII, except with bats:
Bat bombs were an experimental World War II weapon developed by the United States. The bomb consisted of a bomb-shaped casing with over a thousand compartments, each containing a hibernating Mexican free-tailed bat with a small, timed incendiary bomb attached. Dropped from a bomber at dawn, the casings would deploy a parachute in mid-flight and open to release the bats, which would then roost in eaves and attics in a 20–40 mile radius. The incendiaries would start fires in inaccessible places in the largely wood and paper constructions of the Japanese cities that were the weapon's intended target.
The smallest was a brush fire that nearly took a subdivision, and was started by a burning bug. And a kid with a magnifying glass. The bug took off into the grass and the kid ran for the hills.
My favorite example is of a guy who lit a woodpile on fire in order to eradicate a nest of mice. A burning mouse fled underneath the guy's house, burning it to the ground.
Fear God and Dread Nought Admiral of the Fleet Sir Jacky Fisher
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