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A wildfire, also known as a wildland fire, forest fire, brush fire, vegetation fire, grass fire, peat fire, bushfire (in Australasia), or hill fire, is an uncontrolled fire often occurring in wildland areas, but which can also consume houses or agricultural resources. Peat is an accumulation of partially Decayed Vegetation matter. Ladysmith-RFSJPG|right|thumb| Ladysmith NSW RFS fire fighting tanker]]A Bushfire is a Fire that occurs in the bush (collective term for Australasia is a Region of Oceania: New Zealand, Australia, Papua New Guinea, and neighbouring Islands in the Pacific Fire is the heat and light energy released during a Chemical reaction, in particular a combustion reaction. Wildlands are areas of land where plants and animals exist free of human interference Common causes include lightning, human carelessness, arson, volcano eruption, pyroclastic cloud from active volcano, and underground coal fire. Lightning is an atmospheric discharge of Electricity, which typically occurs during Thunderstorms and sometimes during volcanic eruptions or Plate tectonics and hotspots Divergent plate boundaries At the Pyroclastic rocks or pyroclastics (derived from the Greek πῦρ, meaning fire and κλαστός, meaning broken are Clastic rocks A coal seam fire or mine fire is the underground Smouldering of a Coal deposit often a Coal mine. Heat waves, droughts, and cyclical climate changes such as El Niño can also dramatically increase the risk of wildfires. A heat wave is a prolonged period of excessively hot Weather, which may be accompanied by high Humidity. A drought is an extended period of months or years when a region notes a deficiency in its water supply Climate change is any long-term significant change in the “average weather” that a given region experiences El Niño-Southern Oscillation ( ENSO; commonly referred to as simply El Niño) is a global coupled ocean-atmosphere phenomenon
The word "wildfire" was once a synonym for Greek fire as well as a word for any furious or destructive conflagration. Greek fire was a burning-liquid weapon used by the Byzantine Empire. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the earliest known usages are specifically for lightning-caused conflagrations. The Oxford English Dictionary ( OED) published by the Oxford University Press (OUP is a comprehensive Dictionary of the English The modern usage may have arisen in part from people misunderstanding the expression "spread like wildfire".
Contents |
Background
Wildfires are very common in many places around the world, including much of the vegetated areas of Australia as well as the veld in the interior and the fynbos in the Western Cape of South Africa, and of course, California. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Australia topics. The term Veld, or Veldt, refers primarily (but not exclusively to the wide open rural spaces of South Africa or southern Africa and in particular to certain Fynbos (ˈfəinbɒs or anglicised as /ˈfeɪnbɒs/ meaning "fine bush" in Afrikaans) is the natural Shrubland or heathland vegetation occurring The Republic of South Africa (also known by other official names) is a country located at the southern tip of the continent of Africa The forested areas of the United States and Canada are also susceptible to wildfires. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page The climates are sufficiently moist to allow the growth of trees, but feature extended dry, hot periods. Fires are particularly prevalent in the summer and fall, and during droughts when fallen branches, leaves, and other material can dry out and become highly flammable. Autumn (also known as fall in North American English) is one of the four Temperate Seasons Autumn marks the transition from Summer A drought is an extended period of months or years when a region notes a deficiency in its water supply Some suggest that global warming has been increasing the intensity and frequency of droughts in many areas, creating more intense and frequent wildfires. Global warming is the increase in the average measured temperature of the Wildfires are also common in grasslands and scrublands.
Wildfires tend to be most common and severe during years of drought and occur on days of strong winds. With extensive urbanization of wildlands, these fires often involve destruction of suburban homes located in the wildland urban interface, a zone of transition between developed areas and undeveloped wildland.
Today it is generally accepted that wildfires are a natural part of the ecosystem of numerous wildlands, where some plants have evolved to survive fires by a variety of strategies (from possessing reserve shoots that sprout after a fire, to fire-resistant seeds), or even encourage fire (for example eucalypts contain flammable oils in their leaves) as a way to eliminate competition from less fire-tolerant species. An ecosystem is a natural unit consisting of all plants animals and micro-organisms( Biotic factors in an area functioning together with all of the non-living physical ( A seed (in some plants referred to as a kernel) is a small embryonic Plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat usually with some stored Eucalypts are woody plants belonging to three closely related genera Eucalyptus, Corymbia and Angophora. Smoke, charred wood, and head are common fire cues that stimulate the germination of seeds (Keeley and Fotheringham 1997). In 2004, researchers discovered that exposure to smoke from burning plants actually promotes germination in other types of plants by inducing the production of the orange butenolide. Smoke is the collection of airborne solid and liquid Particulates and Gases ref> ''Smoke Production and Properties'' - SFPE Handbook of Fire Protection Engineering Germination is the process whereby growth emerges from a period of dormancy Butenolides are a class of Lactones with a four- Carbon heterocyclic ring structure
However, many ecosystems are suffering from too much fire such as the chaparral in southern California and lower elevation deserts in the American Southwest. Chaparral is a Shrubland or heathland Plant community found primarily in the U The increased fire frequency in these areas has caused the elimination of native plant communities and have replaced them with non-native weeds (Keeley 1995, Zedler 1995). These weeds create a positive feedback loop, increasing fire frequency even more (Brooks, et al. 2004).
On occasions, wildfires have caused large-scale damage to private or public property, destroying many homes and causing deaths, particularly when they have reached urban-fringe communities. Wildfires are extremely dangerous, but some are purposely caused.
Designations and terminology
In the U. S. , there are a number of specific terms that are applicable to such fires. A Wildland fire is "any non-structure fire, that occurs in the wildland", and there are three distinct types of wildland fire which are defined:[1]
- Wildfire is "an unplanned, unwanted wildland fire, including unauthorized human-caused fires, escaped wildland fire use events, escaped prescribed fire projects and all other wildland fires where the objective is to put the fire out. "
- Wildland fire use is "the application of the appropriate management response to naturally ignited wildland fires to accomplish specific resource management objectives in predefined designated areas outlined in Fire Management Plans. "
- Prescribed fire is "any fire ignited by management actions to meet specific objectives. "
Behavior
The evaporation of water in plants is balanced by water absorbed from the soil. Below this threshold, the plants dry out and under stress release the flammable gas ethylene. Structure This Hydrocarbon has four Hydrogen Atoms bound to a pair of Carbon atoms that are connected by a Double bond. A consequence of a long hot and dry period is therefore that the air contains flammable essences and plants are drier and highly flammable.
The propagation of the fire has three mechanisms:
- "crawling" fire: the fire spreads via low level vegetation (e. g. , bushes)
- "crown" fire: a fire that "crowns" (spreads to the top branches of trees) can spread at an incredible pace through the top of a forest. Crown fires can be extremely dangerous to all inhabitants underneath, as they may spread faster than they can be outrun, particularly on windy days. (see Firestorm)
- "jumping" or "spotting" fire: burning branches and leaves are carried by the wind and start distant fires; the fire can thus "jump" over a road, river, or even a firebreak. A firestorm is a Conflagration which attains such intensity that it creates and sustains its own wind system A firebreak (also called a fireroad, fire line or fuel break) is a gap in Vegetation or other combustible material that acts as a barrier to In Australian bushfires, spot fires have been documented "up to 10 km [aprox. 6 miles] ahead of the fire front" (Billing 1983).
The Nevada Bureau of Land Management identifies several different wildfire behaviors. For example, extreme fire behavior includes wide rates of spread, prolific crowning and/or spotting, the presence of fire whirls, or a strong convection column. A fire whirl, colloquially fire devil or fire tornado, is a phenomenon in which a Fire, under certain conditions (depending on air Temperature Convection in the most general terms refers to the movement of molecules within Fluids (i Extreme wildfires behave erratically and unpredictably.
In southern California, under the influence of Santa Ana winds, wildfires can move at incredible speeds, up to 40 miles (60 km) in a single day, consuming up to 1,000 acres (4 km²) per hour. California ( is a US state on the West Coast of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. The Santa Ana winds are strong extremely dry offshore Winds that characteristically sweep through in Southern California and northern Baja California in Dense clouds of burning embers push relentlessly ahead of the flames crossing firebreaks without pause.
The powerful updraft caused by a large wildfire will draw in air from surrounding areas. These self-generated winds can lead to a phenomenon known as a firestorm.
French models of wildfires dictate that a fire's front line will take on the characteristic shape of a pear; the major axis being aligned with the wind. In the case of the fires in southeastern France, the speed of the fire is estimated to be 3% to 8% of the speed of the wind, depending on the conditions (density and type of vegetation, slope). This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. Wind is the flow of Air or other Gases that compose an Atmosphere (including but not limited to the Earth's) Other models predict an elliptical shape when the ground is flat and the vegetation is homogeneous. In Mathematics, an ellipse (from the Greek ἔλλειψις literally absence) is a Conic section, the locus of points in a
Another type of wildfire is the smouldering fire. Smouldering (or smoldering in American spelling is a Flameless form of Combustion, deriving its heat from oxidations occurring on the surface of a It involves the slow combustion of surface fuels without generating flame, spreading slowly and steadily. A flame is often defined as the visible (light-emitting part of a Fire. It can linger for days or weeks after flaming has ceased, resulting in potential large quantities of fuel consumed and becoming a global source of emissions to the atmosphere. Air pollution is the human introduction into the atmosphere of Chemicals Particulate matter, or Biological materials that cause harm or discomfort It heats the duff and mineral layers, affecting the roots, seeds and plant stems at the ground. A soil horizon is a specific layer in the Soil which measures parallel to the soil surface and possesses physical characteristics which differ from the layers above and ROOT is an object-oriented program and library developed by CERN. A seed (in some plants referred to as a kernel) is a small embryonic Plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat usually with some stored A stem is one of two main structural axes of a Vascular plant.
Since 1997, in Kalimantan and East Sumatra, Indonesia, there is a type of continuous smouldering fire on the peat bogs that burns underground for years without any supply of oxygen. The underground fire ignited new forest fires each year during dry season.
Prevention
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For many decades the policy of the United States Forest Service was to suppress all fires. This policy was epitomized by the mascot Smokey Bear and was also the basis of parts of the movie Bambi. Smokey Bear (often wrongly referred to as Smokey The Bear is a character in the longest running public service campaign in United States history BMP and Activin membrane bound inhibitor (BAMBI has a similar extracellular domain as type I receptors in the TGF beta signaling pathway. The policy began to be questioned in the 1960s, when it was realized that no new Giant Sequoia had been grown in the forests of California, because fire is an essential part of their life cycle. Sequoiadendron giganteum ( Giant Sequoia, Sierra Redwood, or Wellingtonia) is the sole species in the genus Sequoiadendron This produced the policy of controlled burns to reduce underbrush. This clears much of the undergrowth through forest and woodland areas, making travel and hunting much easier while reducing the risk of dangerous high-intensity fires caused by many years of fuel buildup. Hunting is the practice of pursuing Animals for Food, Recreation, or Trade.
The previous policy of absolute fire suppression in the United States has resulted in the buildup of fuel in some ecosystems such as dry ponderosa pine forests. Ponderosa Pine ( Pinus ponderosa) sometimes called Bull Pine or Western Yellow Pine is a widespread and variable Pine native to western North However, this concept has been misapplied in a "one-size-fits-all" application to other ecosystems such as California chaparral. Fire suppression in southern California has had very little impact over the past century. The amount of land burned in 6 southern California counties has been relatively unchanged. In fact, fire frequency has been increasing dramatically over the past century in lock step with population growth. Urbanization can also result in fuel buildup and devastating fires, such as those in Los Alamos, New Mexico, East Bay Hills, within the California cities of Oakland and Berkeley between October 19 and 22, 1991, all over Colorado in 2002, and throughout southern California in October 2003. Urbanizationn (also spelled urbanisation) is the physical growth of Urban areas into rural or natural land as a result of population in-migration to an existing Los Alamos (Los Álamos meaning "The Cottonwoods quot is a Townsite and Census-designated place (CDP in Los Alamos County, The Oakland Firestorm of 1991 was a large urban fire that occurred on the hillsides of northern Oakland California and southeastern Berkeley on Sunday October Oakland (ˈoʊklənd founded in 1852 is the eighth-largest city in the U Berkeley is a city on the east shore of San Francisco Bay in Northern California, in the United States. Events 202 BCE - The Battle of Zama results in the defeat of Carthage and Hannibal. Homes designed without considering the fire prone environment in which they are built have been the primary reason for the catastrophic losses experienced in wildfires.
On average, wildfires burn 4. 3 million acres (17,000 km²) in the United States annually. In recent years the federal government has spent $1 billion a year on fire suppression. 2002 was a record year for fires with major fires in Arizona, California, Colorado, and Oregon. The State of Arizona ( is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. California ( is a US state on the West Coast of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. The State of Colorado ( or chiefly by nonresidents) is a state located in the Rocky Mountain region of the United States of America. Oregon ( is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States.
The risk of major wildfires can be reduced partly by a reduction or alteration of fuel present. In wild land, reduction can be accomplished by either conducting controlled burns, deliberately setting areas ablaze under less dangerous weather when conditions are less volatile or physical fuel removal by removing some trees as is conducted in many American forests. Alteration of fuels, which involves reducing the structure of fuel ladders, can be accomplished by hand crews with chain saws or by large mastication equipment that shreds trees and vegetation to a mulch. Such techniques are best used within the wild land/urban interface where communities connect with wild open space. Prescribed burns in the back country, away from human habitations, are not particularly effective in preventing large fires. All the large catastrophic fires in the United States have been wind driven events where the amount of fuel (trees, shrubs, etc. ) has not been the most important factor in fire spread.
People living in fire-prone areas typically take a variety of precautions, including building their homes out of flame-resistant materials, reducing the amount of fuel near the home or property (including firebreaks, their own miniature control lines, in effect), and investing in their own firefighting equipment.
Rural farming communities are rarely threatened directly by wildfire. Agriculture refers to the production of goods through the growing of plants and fungi and the raising of domesticated Animals The study of agriculture These types of communities are usually located in large areas of cleared, usually grazed, land, and in the drought conditions present in wildfire years there is often very little grass left on such grazed areas. Grazing generally describes a type of Predation in which an Herbivore feeds on Plants (such as Grasses, or more broadly on a multicellular Hence the risk is minimized. However, urban fringes have spread into forested areas, for example in Sydney and Melbourne, and communities have literally built themselves in the middle of highly flammable forests. Sydney (ˈsɪdniː is the most populous city in Australia, with a Metropolitan area population of approximately 4 Melbourne ( is the second most populous city in Australia, with a Metropolitan area population of approximately 3 In Cape Town, the city lies on the fringe of the Table Mountain National Park. Cape Town (Kaapstad Xhosa: Ikapa) is the second most populous city in South Africa, forming part of the metropolitan municipality of the These communities are at high risk of destruction in bush fires, and should take extra precautions.
There are quite a few US states, Canadian provinces and many countries around the world that still use Fire lookouts as a means of early detection of forest fires. A fire lookout is a person assigned the duty to look for fire from atop a building known as a Fire lookout tower. Some nations still using this system besides the US and Canada include: Australia, Israel, Latvia, Poland, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Brazil, Uruguay.
Wildfire detection
Fast and effective detection is a key factor in wildfire fighting. Recently, there have been significant efforts to create automatic solutions for early wildfire detection. An integrated approach is best, based on a practical combination of different detection systems depending on wildfire risk and the size of the area.
| SOLUTIONS | SIZE AREA | RISK LEVEL | DETECTION WITHIN |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aero/satellite | Very large (>250,000 acres) | Low | 30 acres (12 ha) |
| Infrared/smoke scanners | Medium (10,000-250,000 acres) | Medium | 3 acres (2. 4 ha) |
| Local sensor network | Small (<10,000 acres) | High | 150 sq feet (15 sq m) |
A careful GIS data analysis will suggest how to divide the area in sub-categories based on different risk level and human presence (which imply a higher wildfire risk and a need for earlier intervention).
- A small high risk area (thick vegetation, strong human presence or close to critical urban area) could be monitored using a local sensor network.
Although it is a relatively new approach, it seems to be the only solution able to penetrate thick vegetation and guarantee early detection without false alarms, as well as detecting crawling wildfires. The main limitation of this technology is its high cost which at this time limit its application to small areas.
- A larger medium risk area could be monitored by infrared scanning towers.
These have a disadvantage in that they are "blind" to obstacles like thick vegetation, therefore they can miss crawling wildfires for a long time and have still frequent false alarms, but are the best approach to wider areas. Smoke and hot-air-column scanners have the advantage of "looking higher", making them able to locate a wildfire of any size, but do not perform well during strong wind (which is, ironically, the riskiest situation).
- Satellite and aero monitoring can provide a wider view and may be sufficient to monitor very large and low risk areas.
Many studies have been done in this field, some producing interesting results. Limitations include the long distance to satellites in geostationary orbits and the short window of observation time for satellites in polar orbits.
Fire suppression
The vast majority of wildfires are suppressed before they grow out of control. Wildland fire suppression refers to the firefighting tactics used to suppress wildfires The Modular Airborne FireFighting System or MAFFS is a self-contained unit used for Aerial firefighting that can be loaded onto a military cargo transport typically The Air National Guard ( ANG), often referred to as the Air Guard, is the air force militia organized by each of the several states and WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft. Please see WikipediaWikiProject Aircraft/page content for recommended layout A fire retardant is a substance that helps to delay or prevent Combustion. In 2004, firefighters contained more than 99% of all new wildfires during initial action. That record was achieved despite the volatile conditions that prevailed in much of that year's fire season. However, the wildfires that escaped initial actions and grew above 300 acres (1. 2 km²) accounted for the bulk of acres burned, and nearly 75% of all suppression expenditures. [1]
Wildland fire suppression is a unique aspect of firefighting. Wildland fire suppression refers to the firefighting tactics used to suppress wildfires Most fire-prone areas have large firefighter services to help control bushfires. Distinguish from a Firefight, which means a battle with firearms As well as the water-spraying fire apparatus most commonly used in urban firefighting, bushfire services use a variety of alternative techniques. A fire apparatus, fire engine, fire truck, or fire appliance is a vehicle designed to assist in fighting Fires by transporting Firefighters Typically, forest fire fighting organizations will use large crews of 20 or more people who travel in trucks to the fire. These crews use heavier equipment to construct firebreaks, and are the mainstay of most firefighting efforts. Other personnel are organized into fast attack teams typically consisting of 5–8 people. These fast attack teams are helicoptered into smaller fires or hard to reach areas as a preemptive strike force. History Since 400 AD Chinese children have played with bamboo flying toys. They use portable pumps to douse small fires and chainsaws to construct firebreaks or helicopter landing pads if more resources are required. For information on Wikipedia project-related discussions see WikipediaVillage pump. A chainsaw (or chain saw) is a portable mechanical motorized Saw. Hand tools are commonly used to construct firebreaks and remove fuels around the perimeter of the fire to halt its spread, including shovels, rakes, and the pulaski, a tool unique to wildland firefighting. The pulaski is a special hand tool used in wildland firefighting. In the eastern United States, portable leaf blowers are sometimes used. In the western United States, large fires often become extended campaigns, and temporary fire camps are constructed to provide food, showers, and rest to fire crews. These large fires are often handled by 20 person hand crews, sometimes known as hotshot crews, specially organized to travel to large fires. A Hotshot Crew, or Hotshots as they are more sometimes known is a group of wildland firefighters.
Fast attack teams, such as the Boise District BLM Helitack crew, are often considered the elite of firefighting forces, as they sometimes deploy in unusual ways. If the fire is on a particularly steep hill or in a densely wooded area, they may rappel or fast-rope down from helicopters. Abseiling (German abseilen, "to rope down" rappelling in American and British English is the controlled descent down a rope in Rock climbing Fast-roping is a technique for descending a thick Rope. It is useful for deploying troops from a Helicopter in places where the helicopter itself is unable or If the fire is extremely remote, firefighters known as smokejumpers may parachute into site from fixed-wing aircraft. A smokejumper is a Wildland firefighter that Parachutes into a remote area to combat Wildfires Smokejumpers are most often deployed to fires A parachute is a device used to slow the motion of an object through an atmosphere by creating drag. In addition to the aircraft used for deploying ground personnel, firefighting outfits often possess helicopters and water bombers specially equipped for use in aerial firefighting. Aerial firefighting is a method to combat Wildfires using aircraft Aerial firefighting is a method to combat Wildfires using aircraft These aircraft can douse areas that are inaccessible to ground crews and deliver greater quantities of water and/or flame retardant chemicals. Managing all of these various resources over such a large area in often very rugged terrain is extremely challenging, and often the Incident Command System is used. The Incident Command System (ICS is a standardized on-scene all-hazard incident management concept in the United States. As such, each fire will have a designated Incident Commander who oversees and coordinates all the operations on the fire. The Incident Commander is the person responsible for all aspects of an emergency response including quickly developing incident objectives managing all incident operations application This Incident Commander is ultimately responsible for the safety of the firefighters and for the success of firefighting efforts.
Large fires are of such a size that no conceivable firefighting service could attempt to douse the whole fire directly, and so alternative techniques are used. In alternative approaches, firefighters attempt to control the fire by controlling the area that it can spread to, by creating "control lines", which are areas that contain no combustible material. These control lines can be produced by physically removing fuel (for instance, with a bulldozer), or by "backfiring", in which small, low-intensity fires are started, using a device such as the driptorch, or pyrotechnic flares known as "fusees", to burn the flammable material in a (hopefully) controlled way. ----A bulldozer is a crawler ( Caterpillar tracked Tractor) equipped with a substantial metal plate (known as a blade) used to push large quantities A driptorch is a tool used in wildland firefighting, controlled burning, and other Forestry applications to intentionally ignite fires A flare, also sometimes called a fusee, is a type of Pyrotechnic that produces a brilliant light or intense heat without an Explosion. These may then be extinguished by firefighters or, ideally, directed in such a way that they meet the main fire front, at which point both fires run out of flammable material and are thus extinguished.
Unfortunately, such methods can fail in the face of wind shifts causing fires to miss control lines or to jump straight over them (for instance, because a burning tree falls across a line, burning embers are carried by the wind over the line, or burning tumbleweeds cross the line). The San Bernardino Mountains ( Huwaaly Kwasakyav in Mojave) are a short transverse Mountain range northeast of Los Angeles in Georgetown is the third oldest city in the US state of South Carolina and the County seat of Georgetown County.
The actual goals of firefighters vary. Protection of life (those of both the firefighters and "civilians") is given top priority, then private property according to economic and social value and also to its "defendibility" (for example, more effort will be expended on saving a house with a tile roof than one with a wooden-shake roof). In very severe, large fires, this is sometimes the only possible action. Protecting houses is regarded as more important than, say, farming machinery sheds, although firefighters, if possible, try to keep fires off farmland to protect stock and fences (steel fences are destroyed by the passage of fire, as the wire is irreversibly stretched and weakened by it). Preventing the burning of publicly owned forested areas is generally of least priority, and, indeed, it is quite common (in Australia, at least) for firefighters to simply observe a fire burn towards control lines through forest rather than attempt to put it out more quickly; it is, after all, a natural process. On any incident, ensuring the safety of firefighters takes priority over fire suppression. When arriving on a scene a fire crew will establish a safety zone(s), escape routes, and designate lookouts (known by the acronym LCES, for lookouts, communications, escape routes, safety zones). This allows the firefighters to engage a fire with options for a retreat should their current situation become unsafe. In addition all fire suppression activities are based from an "anchor point" (such as lake, rock slide or road). From an anchor point firefighters can work to contain a wild land fire without the fire outflanking them. As a last resort, all wild land firefighters carry a fire shelter. A modern fire shelter is a safety device carried by every wildland firefighter that is employed by a state or federal agency In an unescapable burnover situation the shelter will provide limited protection from radiant and convective heat, as well as superheated air. As such a greater emphasis is placed on safety and preventing entrapment, and is reinforced with a list of 10 fire orders and 18 "watch out situations" for firefighters to be aware of, which warn of potentially dangerous conditions.
In North America, the belief that fire suppression has substantially reduced the average annual area burned is widely held by resource managers and is often thought to be self-evident. However, this belief has been the focus of vocal debate in the scientific literature. In North America the belief that fire suppression has substantially reduced the average annual area burned is widely held by resource managers and is often thought to be self-evident
A new material called "gel" (made from super-absorbent polymer) is used in California, USA for fighting forest fire. Water is soaked up by the gel and stored in layers of tiny bubbles. The gel can protect tree/house for longer time than ordinary water, because it gets boiled by the fire one layer at a time.
Atmospheric effects
Most of the Earth's weather and air pollution reside in the troposphere, the part of the atmosphere that extends from the surface of the planet to a height of between 8 and 13 kilometers. The weather is a set of all the phenomena occurring in a given Atmosphere at a given Time. Air pollution is the human introduction into the atmosphere of Chemicals Particulate matter, or Biological materials that cause harm or discomfort The troposphere is the lowest portion of Earth's atmosphere. It contains approximately 75% of the atmosphere's mass and almost all of its Water vapor and A severe thunderstorm or pyrocumulonimbus in the area of a large wildfire can have its vertical lift enhanced to boost smoke, soot and other particles as high as the lower stratosphere (Wang, 2003). The stratosphere is the second major layer of Earth's atmosphere, just above the Troposphere, and below the Mesosphere.
Previously, it was thought that most particles in the stratosphere came from volcanoes or were generated by high-flying aircraft. Plate tectonics and hotspots Divergent plate boundaries At the Collection of air samples from the stratosphere in 2003 led to detection of carbon monoxide and other gases related to combustion at a level 30 times higher than can be accounted for by commercial aircraft. Carbon monoxide, with the chemical formula CO is a colorless odorless tasteless yet highly toxic Gas.
Satellite observation of smoke plumes from wildfires revealed that the plumes could be traced intact for distances exceeding 5,000 kilometers. This observation suggests that the plumes were in the stratosphere above weather conditions that would have brought the plume back to earth.
Atmospheric models suggest that these concentrations of sooty particles could increase absorption of incoming solar radiation during winter months by as much as 15% (Baumgardner, et al. , 2003).
The massive forest fire in Indonesia (1997/1998) released approx. 2. 57 gigatonnes of Carbon Dioxide into the atmosphere (source: Nature magazine, November 2002). During 1997-1998, the total amount of Carbon Dioxide released to the atmosphere was 6 gigatonnes. Most of the Carbon Dioxide gas is released by the continuous underground smouldering fire on the peat bogs.
After the end of a wildfire, houses sometimes experience an ember attack - an onslaught of burning twigs or branches that can ignite a fire in the house. An ember attack is a naturally occurring event. During a Bushfire, burning parts of trees such as twigs branches or leaves become temporarily airborne
Benefits
Fire is sometimes essential for forest regeneration, or provides tangible benefits for local communities. In other cases it destroys forests and has dire social and economic consequences.
Forest fires are a natural part of ecosystems in many, but not all, forest types: in boreal and dry tropical forests for example they are a frequent and expected feature, while in tropical moist forests they would naturally be absent or at least rare enough to play a negligible role in ecology.
Statistics
Every year, the burnt surface represents about:
- France: 211 km², 52,140 acres, 0. This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. Square Kilometre ( US spelling square kilometer) symbol km2, is a decimal multiple of the SI unit of The acre is a unit of Area in a number of different systems including the imperial and U 04% of the territory
- Portugal:
- 1991 : 1,820 km², 449,732 acres, i. Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic (República Portuguesa is a country on the Iberian Peninsula. e. 2% of the territory
- 2003 : 4,249 km², 1. 05 million acres, i. e. 4. 6% of the territory; 20 deaths ;
- 2004 : 1,205 km², 297,836 acres, i. e. 1. 3% of the territory
- 2005 : 2,864 km², 707,668 acres, i. e. 3. 1% of the territory; 17 deaths;
- 2006 : 724 km², 178,904 acres, i. e. 0. 8% of the territory; 10 deaths;
- United States: 17,400 km², 4. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the 3 million acres i. e. 0. 18% of the territory
- Indonesia. Sources: before 1997 from Indonesian Environmental Impact Management Agency (BAPEDAL) and Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) - Collaborative Environmental Project in Indonesia (CEPI). 1997/1998 from Asian Development Bank (ADB). From 1999: Indonesian Ministry of Forestry.
- 1982 and 1983: 36,000 km² (8. Year 1982 ( MCMLXXXII) was a Common year starting on Friday (link displays the 1982 Gregorian calendar) Year 1983 ( MCMLXXXIII) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays the 1983 Gregorian calendar) 9 million acres)
- 1987: 492 km² (121,880 acres). Year 1987 ( MCMLXXXVII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link displays 1987 Gregorian calendar)
- 1991: 1,189 km² (293,761 acres). Year 1991 ( MCMXCI) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian Calendar.
- 1994: 1,618 km² (399,812 acres). Year 1994 ( MCMXCIV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display full 1994 Gregorian calendar)
- 1997 and 1998: 97,550 km² (24. Year 1997 ( MCMXCVII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1997 Gregorian calendar Year 1998 ( MCMXCVIII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display full 1998 Gregorian calendar) 1 million acres) - from ADB.
- 1999: 440. Year 1999 ( MCMXCIX) was a Common year starting on Friday (link will display full 1999 Gregorian calendar) 90 km² (108,949 acres).
- 2000: 82. 2000 ( MM) was a Leap year that started on Saturday of the Common Era, in accordance with the Gregorian calendar. 55 km² ( 20,399 acres).
- 2001: 143. Year 2001 ( MMI) was a Common year starting on Monday according to the Gregorian calendar. 51 km² ( 35,462 acres).
- 2002: 366. See also 2002 (disambiguation Year 2002 ( MMII) was a Common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. 91 km² ( 90,665 acres).
- 2003: 37. Year 2003 ( MMIII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. 45 km² ( 9,254 acres).
- 2004: 139. "MMIV" redirects here For the Modest Mouse album see " Baron von Bullshit Rides Again " 91 km² ( 34,573 acres).
- 2005: 133. Year 2005 ( MMV) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. 28 km² ( 32,934 acres).
Notable wildfires
- One of the largest known wild fires, was the Great Fire of 1910, that burned in Montana and Idaho. This is a list of notorious Wildfires: North America In Australia Black Friday Bushfires of 1939 ( South The Great Fire of 1910 (also known as the Big Blowup and the Big Burn) was a Wildfire which burned about three million acres (12000 km² in northeast Montana ( is a state in the Western United States. One-third of the state in the western part contains numerous mountain ranges (approximately 77 named of the northern The State of Idaho ( is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States of America.
- Kursha-2, a wildfire killed 1,200 in the Soviet Union
- Siege of 1987 Refers to a complex of fires in northern California and southern Oregon that burned a total of about 650,000 acres. Kursha-2 (Ку́рша-2 was an industrial community in the Central Meshchyora, Ryazan Oblast. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR was a constitutionally Socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991 These fires were started by a large lightning storm in late August. The storm started roughly 1600 new fires, most caused by dry lightning. Firefighting efforts continued into October, before the majority of the fires were controlled.
- The Yellowstone National Park Fire of 1988 burned well over 793,880 acres (321,271 ha) before the winter snows put out the flames. (See: Yellowstone fires of 1988)
- The Biscuit Fire burned almost 500,000 acres in Oregon and California in 2002. The Yellowstone fires of 1988 together formed the largest Wildfire in the recorded history of the U The Biscuit Fire was a Wildfire that took place in 2002 that burned nearly 500000 acres (2000 km² in the Siskiyou National Forest in the states of Oregon ( is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. California ( is a US state on the West Coast of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean.
- McNally Fire Sequoia NF burned roughly 151,000 acres in 2002, and is the largest wildfire recorded in the forest's history. The McNally Fire was a Wildfire in the Sequoia National Forest which burned in July and August 2002
- The 2003 Okanagan Mountain Park Fire was started by a lightning strike near Rattlesnake Island in Okanagan Mountain Park in British Columbia, Canada, during one of the driest summers in the past decade. On August 16, 2003 a Wildfire was started by a lightning strike near Rattlesnake Island in Okanagan Mountain Provincial Park in British British Columbia (ˌbrɪtɨʃ kəˈlʌmbiə ( BC) ( (la Colombie-Britannique C Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page The final size of the firestorm was over 250 square kilometres (61,776 acres). 60 fire departments, 1,400 armed forces troops and 1,000 forest fire fighters took part in controlling the fire, but were largely helpless in stopping the disaster.
- The January 1939 Black Friday fires. The Black Friday fires of January 13, 1939, in Victoria Australia, are considered one of the worst natural Bushfires (wildfires in the Across the Australian state of Victoria, almost 20,000 km² (4,942,000 acres, 2,000,000 ha) of land were burnt, 71 people died, several towns were entirely destroyed. The Stretton Royal Commission that resulted from it led to major changes in fire and forest management in Australia. The term Royal Commission may also be used in the United Kingdom to describe the group of Lords Commissioners who may act in the stead of the
- The February 1967 Tasmanian fires. The 1967 Tasmanian fires were an Australian Natural disaster which occurred on 7 February 1967, an event which became known as the Black Fuelled by a severe drought, 110 fires burnt out over 617,763 acres in the Australian state of Tasmania in around 5 hours. Tasmania is an Australian island and state of the same name It is located south of the eastern side of the Continent, being separated from it by Bass The fires killed 62 people and destroyed 1,400 homes and other buildings. Seven thousand people were left homeless. The fire encircled the state capital Hobart cutting communications and burnt to within 8 km (4. Hobart is the state capital and most populous city of the Australian island state of Tasmania. The kilometre ( American spelling: kilometer) symbol km is a unit of Length in the Metric system, equal to one thousand 9 mi) of the city centre.
- The February 1983 Ash Wednesday fires. The Ash Wednesday fires were a Natural disaster that occurred in south-east Australia on 16 February 1983 Extreme weather and severe drought conditions combined to create one of Australia’s worst fire days in a century. In 12 hours on February 16 in the states of Victoria and South Australia 75 people died, including 17 firefighters. South Australia is a state of Australia in the southern central part of the country Over 2,545 homes were lost along with heavy loss of farms and livestock. Nearly 1,284,000 acres (5,196 km²) were burnt throughout the 1982/83 fire season. Many of the fatalities were caused by a rapid change in the speed and direction of the firefront and poor evacuation procedures.
- The 2003 Canberra bushfires infringed on the Australian capital itself. The Canberra bushfires of 2003 caused severe damage to the outskirts of Canberra, the Australian capital city A firestorm raced through Canberra suburbs on January 18, 2003 and damaged or destroyed 431 homes. Events 350 - Generallus Magnentius deposes Roman Emperor Constans and proclaims himself Emperor Year 2003 ( MMIII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar.
- In 2004, approximately 6. 5 million acres burned in Alaska, in the state's largest recorded fire season. Alaska ( Аляска Alyaska) is a state in the United States of America, in the northwest of the North American continent Over 500,000 acres burned in the Boundary Fire north of Fairbanks.
- The Milford Flat Fire which burned in 2007 in Utah is statistically the largest fire burning in Utah's history. The Milford Flat Fire was the largest Wildfire in Utah history The State of Utah (ˈjuːtɔː or) is a western state of the United States. At the time, Governor Jon Huntsman, Jr. stated that it is the biggest fire burning in the world. Jon Meade Huntsman Jr (born March 26, 1960 in Palo Alto California) is the Governor of the state of Utah, having won the office This fire burned 363,052 acres before it was fully contained.
- The 2007 Greek fires were some of the deadliest in world history, killing at least 64 people in Peloponnese and Evia. The 2007 Greek forest fires were a series of massive forest fires that broke out in several areas across Greece throughout the summer of 2007 The Peloponnese or Peloponnesus ( Greek: Πελοπόννησος Pelopónnisos; see also List of Greek place names) is a large Peninsula
- The Zaca Fire burned Los Padres NF, CA. The Zaca Fire is a Wildfire which began burning northeast of Buellton California, in Santa Barbara County, California. It burned 240,207 acres. It is the 2nd largest recorded fire in California.
- The 2007 Southern California wildfires, burning an estimated 500,000 acres of land (in the San Diego and Malibu areas), with almost 900,000 people evacuated from the area.
- The Evans Road Wildfire of June 2008 in Eastern North Carolina has so far burned nearly 40,000 acres and is continuing to crawl northward towards Virgina. International holidays and commemorations June 8 - Dragon Boat Festival ( Traditional Chinese) June 9 - Shavuot Eastern North Carolina or Down East I thought Down East was just the eastern Carteret Peninsula The Commonwealth of Virginia ( is an American state
See also
- Aerial firefighting
- Controlled burn
- Defensible space
- Fire ecology
- Fire lookout tower
- Forestry
- Floods after wildfires (i. Aerial firefighting is a method to combat Wildfires using aircraft Defensible space is a concept first proposed by the Architect Oscar Newman and developed further by Alice Coleman. Fire ecology is concerned with the processes linking Fire behavior and ecological effect A fire lookout tower, fire tower or lookout tower, provides housing and protection for a person known as a " Fire lookout " whose duty it Forestry is the Art and Science of managing forests tree Plantations and related Natural resources. A flood is an overflow of an expanse of water that submerges land a deluge e. after Greek 2007 wildfires)
- Glossary of wildland fire terms
- International Association of Wildland Fire
- Keetch-Byram Drought Index
- List of forest fires
- Success of fire suppression in northern forests
- Wildland Firefighter Foundation
References
- Baumgardner, D. The following is a glossary of wildland fire terms. Except where noted terms are taken from a 1998 Fireline Handbook transcribed for a Conflict 21 Counter-terrorism The International Association of Wildland Fire (IAWF is a non-profit professional association created to facilitate communication and provide leadership for the wildland fire community The Keetch-Byram Drought Index ( KBDI) created by John Keetch and George Byram in 1968 for the United States Department of Agriculture 's Forest Service This is a list of notorious Wildfires: North America In Australia Black Friday Bushfires of 1939 ( South In North America the belief that fire suppression has substantially reduced the average annual area burned is widely held by resource managers and is often thought to be self-evident Wildland Firefighter Foundation is a non-profit organization that provides assistance to fallen Firefighters families and to firefighters injured in the line of duty , et al. 2003. Warming of the Arctic lower stratosphere by light absorbing particle. American Geophysical Union fall meeting. Dec. 8-12. San Francisco.
- Billing, P. , 1983. Otways Fire No. 22 - 1982/83 Aspects of fire behaviour, Fire Research Branch Report No. 20. Dept. of Sustainability and Environment, Victoria, Australia. pp. 5-6, (PDF - 1. 8 Mb). [1]
- Bridge, S. R. J, K. Miyanishi and E. A. Johnson. 2005. A Critical Evaluation of Fire Suppression Effects in the Boreal Forest of Ontario. Forest Science 51:41-50.
- Fromm, M. , et al. 2003. Stratospheric smoke down under: Injection from Australian fires/convection in January 2003. American Geophysical Union fall meeting. Dec. 8-12. San Francisco.
- Halsey, R. W. 2008. Fire, Chaparral, and Survival in Southern California. Sunbelt Publications, San Diego, CA. 323 p.
- Johnson, E. A. and Miyanishi K. (Eds. ) 2001. Forest Fires - Behavior and Ecological Effects. Academic Press, San Diego.
- Johnson, E. A. , K. Miyanishi, and S. R. J. Bridge. 2001. Wildfire regime in the boreal forest and the idea of suppression and fuel buildup. Conserv. Biol. 15:1554-1557.
- Keeley, J. E. 1995. "Future of California floristics and systematics: wildfire threats to the California flora". Madrono 42: 175-179.
- Keeley, J. E. and C. J. Fotheringham. 1997. "Trace gas emission in smoke-induced germination". Science 276: 1248-1250.
- Li, C. 2000. Fire regimes and their simulation with reference to Ontario. P. 115-140 in Ecology of a managed terrestrial landscape: patterns and processes of forest landscapes in Ontario, Perera, A. H. , D. L. Euler, and I. D. Thompson (eds. ). UBC Press, Vancouver, BC.
- Makarim, Nabiel, et al. BAPEDAL and CIDA-CEPI. 1998. Assessment of 1997 Land and Forest Fires in Indonesia: National Coordination. From "International Forest Fire News", #18, page 4-12, January 1998.
- Martell, D. L. 1994. The impact of fire on timber supply in Ontario. For. Chron. 70:164-173.
- Martell, D. L. 1996. Old-growth, disturbance, and ecosystem management: commentary. Can. J. Bot. 74:509-510.
- Miyanishi, K. , and E. A. Johnson. 2001. A re-examination of the effects of fire suppression in the boreal forest. Can. J. For. Res. 31:1462-1466.
- Miyanishi, K. , S. R. J. Bridge, AND E. A. Johnson. 2002. Wildfire regime in the boreal forest. Conserv. Biol. 16:1177-1178.
- Pyne, S.J. et al. Stephen J Pyne is a professor in the School of Life Sciences at Arizona State University, specializing in the History of Ecology, the history of Exploration 1996. Introduction to Wildland Fire. Wiley, New York.
- Stocks, B. J. 1991. The extent and impact of forest fires in northern circumpolar countries. P. 197-202 in Global biomass burning: atmospheric, climatic and biospheric implications, Levine, J. S. (ed. ). MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.
- Wang, P. K. 2003. The physical mechanism of injecting biomass burning materials into the stratosphere during fire-induced thunderstorms. American Geophysical Union fall meeting. Dec. 8-12. San Francisco.
- Ward, P. C. , and W. Mawdsley. 2000. Fire management in the boreal forests of Canada. P. 274-288 In Fire, climate change, and carbon cycling in the boreal forest, Kasischke, E. S. , and B. J. Stocks (eds. ). Springer, New York, NY.
- Ward, P. C. , and A. G. Tithecott. 1993. The impact of fire management on the boreal landscape of Ontario. Aviation, Flood and Fire Management Branch Publication No. 305. Ont. Min. Nat. Res. , Queens Printer for Ontario, Toronto, ON.
- Ward, P. C. , Tithecott, A. G. , & Wotton, B. M. 2001. Reply—a re-examination of the effects of fire suppression in the boreal forest. Canadian Journal of Forest Research, 31(8), 1467.
- Weber, M. G. , and B. J. Stocks. 1998. Forest fires in the boreal forests of Canada. P. 215-233 in Large forest fires, Moreno, J. M. (ed. ). Backhuys Publishers, Leiden.
- Zedler, P. H. 1995. Fire frequency in southern California shrublands: biological effects and management options, pp. 101-112 in J. E. Keeley and T. Scott (eds. ), Brushfires in California wildlands: ecology and resource management. International Association of Wildland Fire, Fairfield, Wash.
External links
Management
- National Interagency Fire Center
- National Wildfire Coordinating Group
- National Fire and Aviation Executive Board - Policy Directives Task Group
Warning and monitoring
- CalFireNews.com - California / World Wildfire News and Photos
- FireFightingNews.com - Wildfire News and Photos
- Current Wildland Fire Information in the United States
- Weekly Forest Fire Situation Report - Canadian Forest Service
- The British Columbia Ministry of Forests-Protection Branch
- Global Fire Monitoring Center (GFMC)
- European Forest Fire Information System
- GeoMAC Wildfire information and internet map viewer of current wildfires in the United States
- Locations of large fires in the US and Canada based upon MODIS satellite imagery
- The 10 standard fire orders and 18 watch out situations
- Volunteer Wildfire Services, Cape Town, South Africa
- BWCA Fire Restrictions, Fire Danger, and Forest Fire Updates
Wildfire Detection Solution Providers
Research
- Forest Fire Lookout Association
- The International Journal of Wildland Fire
- The International Association of Wildland Fire
- Fire and Environmental Research Applications Team
- FEMA report on the East Bay Hills Fire
- Interesting Forest Fire Policy
- SIADEX: A decision support system for fighting forest fires in Andalusia
- Fire in the East, Fire in the West An overview of conditions and agents of wildfire in different U. S. ecosystems
- French National Centre for Scientific Research - University of Corsica An international platform for the experimental investigations of free wildland fires at field scale
- Peuch, Eric "Firefighting Safety in France", Eighth International Wildland Fire Summit, April 26-26, 2005
- Fire and Haze in Southeast Asia
- CBC Digital Archives - Fighting Forest Fires
- US Forest Service Research Portal
- Canberra Fires
- Australian Bushfire Cooperative Research Centre
- National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health - Fighting Wildfires
- Social & Economic Costs of Wildfires from "NOAA Socioeconomics" website initiative
Educational
- OnEarth Magazine » Our Trial By Fire
- Wildfire photographs
- Fire and Conservation, The Nature Conservancy's Global Fire Initiative
- The California Chaparral Institute
- Wildfire Training and Fatality Investigations
- Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center
- Enhanced Home & Family Wildfire Preparedness
- Wildland Firefighter Foundation
- Wildfire Communications Company
Dictionary
wildfire
-noun
- A rapidly spreading fire, often occurring in wildland areas, that is out of control.
- (historical) Greek fire, Byzantine fire.
- A spreading disease of the skin, particularly erysipelas.
- (figuratively) Something that acts quickly and uncontrollably.
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