Whether natural or man-made, three conditions must be met for a forest fire to burn: fuel, oxygen and a heat source. Firefighters call these three elements the fire triangle.
Fuel is any flammable material surrounding a fire, including trees, grass, brush, and even houses. The greater the fuel load in an area, the more intense the fire is likely to be. The most wildfire-prone state is California, which lost 259,148 acres of land in 8,194 wildfires in 2019.
Air provides the oxygen a fire needs to burn. California wildfires are often aggravated by hot, dry Santa Ana winds, which can carry a spark for miles.
Heat sources help ignite the forest fire and bring the fuel to temperatures high enough for it to ignite. Lightning, campfires or cigarettes, and even the sun can all provide enough heat to start a wildfire.
Violent blazes are more common in western states, where heat, drought and frequent thunderstorms create favorable conditions. Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Washington, Colorado, Oregon and California are experiencing some of the worst conflagrations. Wildfires are also happening around the world and in most of the 50 states.
HOW TO STOP THEM?
Firefighters fight fires by depriving them of one or more of the fundamental elements of the fire triangle. A traditional method is to extinguish existing fires with water and spray fire retardants. Firefighters also sometimes work in teams, often called “hotshots”, to clear the ground of vegetation around a fire in order to contain it and possibly starve it of fuel. The resulting tracts of land are called firebreaks.
Firefighters can also use controlled burning, by creating backfires, to put out a forest fire. This method consists of fighting fire with fire. These directed and controlled fires remove underbrush, brush, and trash from a forest, starving a raging wildfire of fuel.
WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS OF FOREST FIRES?
Although they can be dangerous to humans, natural wildfires play a vital role in nature. By burning dead or decaying matter, they can return nutrients to the soil that would otherwise be trapped there. They also act as a disinfectant, removing disease-infested plants and insect pests from an ecosystem.
–
