Understanding Natural Fires

600 Words2 Pages

Explanation of topic
Natural fires occur in many locations throughout the United States, and can happen every day. These fires mostly take place in the west. A few of my relatives live there and could possibly be in harm’s way near the fires. Even though there is a much smaller chance of a fire starting in Maryland, people would still be affected if only one natural fire were to start. Those effects can be costly to the people, and can even be a long-term effect. For example the fire could increase the risk of flooding, debris flows, and landslides; smoke and other emissions from the fire have pollutants that can cause health problems; destruction of wildlife habitats and our communities (“Wildfire hazards—a national threat,”2006). Nationally the same effects could happen at each forest fire and the government spends billions of dollars to stop the forest fires (“Wildfire hazards—a national threat,”2006). When spending billions of dollars, the government can go in debt which is not the way to go. Globally all of these things are an outcome of the natural fires in all countries. The fires need to be stopped so the people and wildlife habitats are not in danger.
Description
Natural Fires are generally uncontrollable blazes, and can be fueled by the weather, wind, and dry underbrush. In addition they can burn acres upon acres of land at a time. Wild land fires clear 4 million to 5 million acres per year, in the U.S. alone. They can move up to speeds of 14 miles per hour, which would imply the destruction, that they can produce. They can consume everything, such as trees, brush, homes, and sometimes humans (“Wildfires”, n.d.). The grizzly bear is one animal that is affected at the result of a fire, both positively and negativel...

... middle of paper ...

... in the fire. Charcoal is able to counteract some nutrient and water loss because of its absorptive properties. Overall, soils become more basic (higher pH) following fires because of acid combustion. By driving novel chemical reactions at high temperatures, fire can even alter the texture and structure of soils by affecting the clay content and the soil's porosity.

Works Cited

Data releases. (2013). Retrieved from http://www.landfire.gov/datareleases.php
Wildfire hazards—a national threat. (2006, February). Retrieved from http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2006/3015/2006-3015.pdf http://www.coloradofirecamp.com/congressional_research/forest-fire-wildfire-effects.htm http://wildland-fires.findthedata.org/ http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/natural-disasters/wildfires/
http://www.fws.gov/mountain-prairie/species/mammals/grizzly/wildfire&bears.pdf

Open Document