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Primary effects of wildfires
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Wildfires are massive fires that occur suddenly, particularly in rural areas with combustible vegetation, and can have many causes which may be natural or humanrelated.
Both natural and unnatural causes of wildfires have advantages and disadvantages. The rate at which wildfires spread is highly dependent on their environment and other factors. Wildfires may pose a number of threats to human property, life, and health; however, even though they can be a hazard to humans, they are also an important part of the natural processes in some habitats - forests, especially. Wildfires are known to bring about positive effects on the general health of these ecosystems, and are linked to significant evolutionary impacts on plant and animal life.
Causes
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Over the years, more and more causes have chalked up to being human-related.
Currently, as many as 90 percent of wildfires are caused by humans (NPS). According to the Smokey Bear Wildfire Prevention campaign, nearly 60 thousand human-caused wildfires burned over 2 million acres in the year 2015. For the sake of cutting these numbers, the campaign has taken to educating people on the measures they can take to prevent wildfires.
In the same way that natural fires aren’t always good for their environment, unnatural fires aren’t always bad for their environment. Prescribed burns to a forest are actually a very effective form of wildfire control, because they eliminate excess growth that could pose a greater risk to communities if left untouched. These controlled fires also help to restore health to an ecosystem that depends on wildfires to grow and thrive.
Because prescribed fires can still be dangerous if they breach a designated area, they are always painstakingly planned. Certain conditions - weather, topography, equipment, and the type of fuel - must be very specific before any fires are initiated (“Prescribed
Fires”).
The tendency of a wildfire to spread is highly dependent on the
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It is also very important to understand the role of wildfires in an ecosystem, and whether or not they are crucial to the health of such an ecosystem. Of course, in communities where wildfires are likely to be a major threat, the people living in these communities must learn the appropriate precautions to avoid permanent damage, to themselves and to their property.
It is unlikely that wildfires will always be completely avoidable, even when education on proper prevention and risk avoidance is taught to communities exposed to fire hazards. While most fires are caused by humans, they are rarely started intentionally, except in case of cases of prescribed fires or arson. Accidental fires are very common; taking a few extra measures of caution could greatly reduce hazards in the long term. Even though there is no fix-all solution to wildfires, small steps can be taken by every person who lives in or visits fire-prone areas. It is important to realize that, however small, each individual 's contribution to wildfire safety can greatly lower the overall risk of unnecessary
Malibu and Yosemite share similar ecosystem, which encourages wildfires and periodic firestorms. In his book Ecology of Fear, Mike Davis argues that Malibu should burn because wildfires are a part of its history. To illustrate his point, he relates numerous historical events from the first settlement of the region to modern days. Despite the high frequency of wildfires in Malibu, humans have continued to settle there in droves. Those settlers have fought the fires, which has done nothing but augment their intensity. Unlike Malibu, with its populated areas that have been damaged by wildfires, Yosemite benefits greatly from wildfires. Yosemite’s ecosystem has evolved with wildfires; indeed, without wildfires, Yosemite would lose its uniqueness. Also, Yosemite is not as heavily populated as Malibu, so fires in Yosemite would not affect humans to the same degree that they do in Malibu.
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.
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.
Although fire is linked to human life, as it is essential for survival, not only its use for food, security and warmth, particularly in the extreme cold weather
Policies regarding the handling of wildland fires continue to change and evolve as new information is learned each fire season. Attitudes have changed between complete wildland fire suppression to no suppression at all. We now seem to have reached a balance between the two schools of thought and fall somewhere in the middle.
As people of the twenty-first century, we are all too familiar with the frequent occurrence of wildfires in our nation’s forests. Each year millions of acres of woodlands are destroyed in brutal scorches. It has been estimated that 190 million acres of rangelands in the United States are highly susceptible to catastrophic fires (www.doi.gov/initiatives/forest.html.). About a third of these high-risk forests are located in California (www.sfgate.com). These uncontrollable blazes not only consume our beautiful forests but also the wildlife, our homes and often the lives of those who fight the wildfires. The frequency of these devastating fires has been increasing over the years. In fact, in the years 2000 and 2002, it has been reported that the United States has faced its worst two years in fifty years for mass destruction fires (www.doi.gov/initiatives/forest.html.). The increased natural fuels buildup coupled with droughts have been a prevailing factor in contributing to our wildfires and unhealthy forests (www.blm.gov/nhp/news/releases/pages/2004/pr040303_forests.html). Due to the severity of these wildfires, several regulations and guidelines have been implemented to save our forests. In fact, the President himself has devised a plan in order to restore our forests and prevent further destruction of our woodlands.
Thousands upon thousands of acres are lost in forest fires every year. We always hear about the dramatic losses caused by forest fires and are often concerned by them. There are so many horrible effects from fires and most of them affect so many people. Studies have shown that out of all of the different methods to decrease fire damage, prescribed burns are the most affective. Many people would argue that they are not as affective because they cause so many health problems. Although that is a very important view and may seem valid, those health issues are not as extreme as one might think. People should look at the majority of the benefits form prescribed burns and they will see how affective and important they are. Prevention is the key to society these days and is definitely an important factor in saving lives. If more lives can be saved as well as land and wildlife, prescribed burns may be the better way to go about forest fires. Although, prescribed burns are better for the environment in order to prevent drastic forest fires, severe damage to timber and extreme death of wildlife; some people feel it affects the health of a firefighter too much and it causes too many long term effects.
Fire safety education is a crucial aspect of fire prevention. The general public needs to know how big of a threat fire is to them and how they can do things in their everyday lives to improve their safety, as well as preventing the threat of fire to begin with. The commission also realized that it was critically important that people know how to properly act once a fire has started. It is important that people have the knowledge to act quickly, safely, and effectively. When people don’t understand fire they can react in many negative ways such as panicking, not evacuating effectively, or by trying to fight a fire that they are not going to be able to extinguish. All these human reactions can decrease safety and end with tragic results. In the commission’s report they approximate that nearly 70 percent of all building fires were due to people acting carelessly because they did not understand the fire dangers that were present. The commission cited studies like one conducted in southeast Missouri. In the southeast Missouri community, a huge emphasis was put into public fire safety education because the fire death rate of the community was much higher than the national average. After increasing fire safety education in the community it was no surprise that the rate of deaths and injuries decreased
Prescribed fires are a well debated topic. While many people support them because they "help prevent" more wildfires, and they are "controlled," I see from a different point of view. There's a reason most building don't allow smoking within a certain distance of the building. Many people don't like it and it can damage their health. Same thing with prescribed fires. They add more pollution to the air we breathe. I know a lot of people support these kinds of fires because the help control fuels, but there are other ways.
Fire extinguishers are portable fire equipment which plays a vital role in any place since there are under circumstances that fire fighters are not absolutely essential wherein extinguishers are capable to fight the fire.
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.
that can endanger the health of human beings, plants, and animals, or that can damage
Creating the awareness among the students helps them on the various ways to avoid fires. If possible students are advised to ensure that all the fire alarms and extinguishers are in working conditions at all times. They should also be careful and alert when using any appliance that is likely to cause a fire and avoid using anything that is prohibited in the rooms.
waterways. Because water can float and be carried by the wind, it can cause harm
The Forest fire is occurring very frequently nowadays, reasons for it are a heavy increase in global warming and an increase in temperature.