Obliterating everything in its path, a bushfire is a natural hazard, which can be defined as wild fires in scrublands and or bushlands, especially one that spreads rapidly and is hard to contain. They can be catastrophic, causing severe damage to properties, the environment and even deaths. And as a result there is an ever-increasing need to prepare for the potential impacts of bushfires.
Due its size, different parts of Australia are prone to bushfires at certain times as a result of widely varied fire seasons. This is due to the different weather patterns.
Each part of Australia has its own unique combination of weather systems that produces severe bushfire conditions, but in all cases these conditions result from hot, dry winds blowing from Australia's central arid region.
The image below clearly shows the fire prone areas during the different fire seasons. As seen the image, the fire season for most southern parts of Australia are during the spring and summer seasons. The north in
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Other factors that contribute to natural bushfires are dry, hot climates with minimal rainfall, the availability of fuel and the presence of oxygen. Disposal of excess fuels in the forms of dried and or dead leaves or vegetation must be encouraged to reduce the chances of ignition by diminishing the medium for fires.
Prior to the occurrence of bushfires, the conditions has to be just right to nurture the flames, unfortunately for Australia most times, is the right time. The humidity has to be relatively low, lower than around 20%, which consequently dries out the fuel and making it extremely flammable. There also has to be a gradient of different air-pressures causing winds and therefore increasing oxygen and as a result intense flames can be cultivated. If a dry spell follows a period of good rain that has encouraged lush vegetation, there is a greater fire risk as a consequence on the excess fuel
It is so sad to see the horror of forest fires and how they corrupt our beautiful land. So much damage comes out of what started so small. At least 603 square miles of land were burned in the early stages of the Arizona fire only a couple of years ago (BBC 2). In a Colorado fire 2.3 million acres had been burned (BBC 3). That land could have been saved if the use of prescribed burns had been in the area.
Fire plays a huge role in natural forests. The let it burn policy allows natural fires to burn unless, they threaten people, property, or endangered species. This policy allows the years and years of kindling that has fallen and piled up on the forest floor to burn up in smaller fires, instead of having huge devastating fire like the ones that burning for months in 1910 and 1988. When the west was first settled, forests were thinned by lumber companies that logged the trees and burned the logging debris, and by ranchers looking to increase pasture land. The last herder coming out of the mountains would set a fire to ensure good forage for the next year.
Plants that grow in the vast arid and semi-arid regions of Australia are prone to fires simply because of the desert climate they grow in. High temperatures, low fuel moisture contents, little humidity and drying winds that sweep across the landscape encourage small patches of plants to burst into flames.
The Blackwater fire of 1937 was a forest fire that occurred when a lightning strike ignited a tree in the Shoshone National Forest. It lasted for 6 days and killed 15 people, injuring a further 38; David P. Godwin (investigator of the fire) said,“not since 1910 have so many lives been lost on a single national forest fire”. The fire consumed a total of 1700 acres of forest woodland1 in this time. The Blackwater fire’s dire effect therefore resulted in the methods of firefighting that were used at this time being reviewed and updated to try to make firefighting safer for those involved in combating fire.
Wildfires started as an annual and seasonal occurrence in the south western region of California since the early 1930’s in part because of the hot dry summers and the hot dry turbulent Santa Ana winds that blow in from the desert during the fall months. Now it has become a yearlong event (Mckay, 2010). These conditions greatly contribute to the “fire season” throughout this area. This set of circumstances in conjunction with downed power lines and humans that ignited fires took place in October of 2007. This led to a series of fires that burned more than 500,000 acres, destroyed 1,500 homes, killed 9, injured 85, and forced the successful evacuation of around 500,000 people out of harm’s way.
The word fire is closely associated with Malibu. Davis believes that, “Malibu, meanwhile, is the wildfire capital of North America and, possibly, the world” (Davis 97). Throughout the recorded history, Malibu has been burning over and over again. This might be the sole reason for Malibu’s reputation as the wildfire capital of the world. There is very little human- induced reason for this fire in Malibu; virtually all the fire reported is caused by natural reasons. As David said in his book, “The rugged 22-mile-long coastline is scourged, on average, by a large fire (1000 acres plus) every two-and-one-half years, and the entire surface area of the western Santa Monica Mountains has been burnt three-times-over this century” (Davis 98). So it is relatively safe to say that Fire is a very common naturally occurring disaster in Malibu. Apparently fire was not strong enough reason to stop the human settlement in Malibu, which has...
Fires kill plants and trees leaving wildlife without homes and food. Large fires cause lots of smoke and air pollution.
Prescribed fires are used to clean up the dead plants that will produce harmful fuels after a wildfire. The problem with these fires are even though these fires are supposed to be controlled, they can get out of hand. May 20, 2016, a prescribed fire in Minnesota escaped and burned more than what was planned and continued unstopped for a few days. Firefighters finally were able to put a stop to it. This has increased in the United States quite a bit this year. The acres burned by escaped fires are forty-six percent above normal. Unlike what many think, prescribed fires are not always watched. Sometimes, they will be left for a couple days with no one checking on them. How do they expect to keep them controlled when no one wants to control them?
In the past week we had some rain and we are supposed to expect rain this week. The main reason why we are allowed to have a controlled fire is because we have reserved some rain and there is more rain coming in the forecast. According to a firefighter in St.Albert, “due to the recent rain, the vegetation has become a lot greener which means the vegetation contains more water. This vegetation is a lot harder to catch on fire because the vegetation is not dry”.
In fact, usually the emergence of the hill fire are in the moderate slope and steep slope side, there are rugged terrain, partial exposed rock. Due to the long-term exposure to the sunlight, there are less moisture, also, affected by dry northwest monsoons in each year, therefore, the soil surface is weak and has low amount of nutrient accumulations (Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department).As restricted by the geographical environmental factor, the tree growth speed of slow than other planting forest.
Fire at any level can be devastating, yet the effects that wildfires have on every worldwide country really has left its mark on the land. As written by world renowned wild fire spokesperson Smokey the Bear, “Every year, wildfires sweeps through parts of the United States setting wilderness and homes ablaze. On average these raging infernos destroy about four to five million acres of land a year. But in 2012, wildfire burned more than 9.3 million acres, an area about the size of Massachusetts and Connecticut combined” (U.S. Wildfires). Destroying homes, crops, towns and of course forests. Yet the effects of these fires can be seen from a negative perspective as well as some positive. Plus there are natural causes as well as manmade that makes these destructive fires erupt and become almost unstoppable in seconds.
Arson is one of the oldest crimes recognized throughout the world. It is defined as the intentional and malicious burning of a structure or building (Montaldo). Arson can cost the lives of individuals and the damages can be costly. In 2010, there were about 260,600 fires (“Arson and Intentional Fires,” n.d.). Many of these fires were intentionally set. These fires have resulted in an estimated 390 deaths, 1,340 injuries, and $1.2 billion in damages (“Arson and Intentional Fires,” n.d.). Most of the fires have occurred outside, but most of the deaths, injuries, and losses occurred in structures, particularly in homes (“Arson and Intentional Fires,” n.d.). Arson is considered to be a property crime to law enforcement agencies, despite that the fires created by the arsonist can injure and kill many people. This paper will discuss the history of arson as well as explaining why arson is difficult to prove, why people commit it, and also provides specific case examples and suggestions on what people can do to reduce the risk of arson.
...ons have the ability to hurt the economy fatally. Victorian bushfires take a total of $4,369,000,000 out of the government’s money.3 With the expenses of property damage, loss of livestock, death of citizens, forest destruction, recovery, carbon release and infrastructure damage.
It is the right time when the temperature drops down. For campfire night is the right time to celebrate with your friends and your loved ones. There are many newly developed adventurers are offer a forest camping and beach camping ideas. Without campfire the adventure camps will not be completed rightly. Popular destinations for camping by the river and the destination surrounded by the hills are the perfect location for campfire night with your friends. For an adventurer campfire night, you want to drive up to nearest hills and tag your friend’s then stay overnight around the fire. Apart from that, the weekend gateway also offers a chance to plunge in many outdoor activities and campfire night by the lake. You can also enjoy the campfire adventurers with best pals and folk dances. High hills and its scenic views define a perfect adventurer for a campfire night with your loved ones. A pleasing sea side location is also one of the best destinations for making campfire nights. For all the heritage lovers a campfire night in a peaceful destination would be a fascinating experience. Some kind of special destinations offers an extensive view of the valley and also a great location for campfire.
Firefighting has been a thankless job since the beginning. It started out as a group of people with one objective; to extinguish a fire. They did not worry about the consequences or repercussions from not having any personal protective equipment. The equipment to help keep all firemen safe has drastically changed from being non-existence to the upmost importance. Without safety equipment, firemen cannot perform their job to the best of their ability. Firemen use turnout gear which has three major parts; helmet, jacket, and SCBA.