Wildfire

Wildfire

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(Event Card) A wildfire is any uncontrolled fire that occurs in the countryside or a wilderness area.[1][2] Other names such as brush fire, bushfire, forest fire, grass fire, hill fire, peat fire, vegetation fire, and wildland fire may be used to describe the same phenomenon depending on the type of vegetation being burned. A wildfire […] read more
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(Event Card)

A wildfire is any uncontrolled fire that occurs in the countryside or a wilderness area.[1][2] Other names such as brush fire, bushfire, forest fire, grass fire, hill fire, peat fire, vegetation fire, and wildland fire may be used to describe the same phenomenon depending on the type of vegetation being burned. A wildfire differs from other fires by its extensive size, the speed at which it can spread out from its original source, its potential to change direction unexpectedly, and its ability to jump gaps such as roads, rivers and fire breaks.[3] Wildfires are characterized in terms of the cause of ignition, their physical properties such as speed of propagation, the combustible material present, and the effect of weather on the fire.[4]

Wildfires occur on every continent except Antarctica. Fossil records and human history contain accounts of wildfires, as wildfires can occur in periodic intervals.[5][6] Wildfires can cause extensive damage, both to property and human life, but they also have various beneficial effects on wilderness areas. Some plant species depend on the effects of fire for growth and reproduction,[5] although large wildfires may also have negative ecological effects.[4]

Causes

The four major natural causes of wildfire ignitions are lightning, volcanic eruption, sparks from rockfalls, and spontaneous combustion.[20][21] The thousands of coal seam fires that are burning around the world, such as those in Centralia, Burning Mountain, and several coal-sustained fires in China, can also flare up and ignite nearby flammable material.[22] However, many wildfires are attributed to human sources such as arson, discarded cigarettes, sparks from equipment, and power line arcs (as detected by arc mapping).[23][24] In societies experiencing shifting cultivation where land is cleared quickly and farmed until the soil loses fertility, slash and burn clearing is often considered the least expensive way to prepare land for future use.[25][26] Forested areas cleared by logging encourage the dominance of flammable grasses, and abandoned logging roads overgrown by vegetation may act as fire corridors. Annual grassland fires in Southern Vietnam can be attributed in part to the destruction of forested areas by herbicides, explosives, and mechanical land clearing and burning operations during the Vietnam War.[27]

The most common cause of wildfires varies throughout the world. In the United States, Canada, and Northwest China, for example, lightning is the major source of ignition. In other parts of the world, human involvement is a major contributor. In Mexico, Central America, South America, Africa, Southeast Asia, Fiji, and New Zealand, wildfires can be attributed to human activities such as animal husbandry, agriculture, and land-conversion burning. Human carelessness is a major cause of wildfires in China and in the Mediterranean Basin. In Australia, the source of wildfires can be traced to both lightning strikes and human activities such as machinery sparks and cast-away cigarette butts.”[6]

(From Wikipedia, May 10th, 2010)