“The Colony Fire specifically is burning in a really bad spot … where these trees are like jackstraws and it’s difficult to put fire personnel into some of these areas because of that,” he said.

Simply leaving trees alone can lead to fires that burn more intensely in beetle-killed stands and spread more rapidly through overcrowded areas with dangerous jackstraw patterns.

In the distance, against billowing white clouds, stood a jackstraw jumble of ships' masts.

It was a little bit like playing jackstraws, where you toss all the straws down in a pile and then try to take one away without disturbing the others.

The chairs and easels were piled up like jackstraws at the beginning of a game.