Our world has evolved into ways that makes it challenging for mankind to keep up with to maintain our civilization going. Throughout our world we face many catastrophe, some that we can control and some that we can home that will leave minimal damage. These catastrophes can range from earthquakes that cause a little shake for a couple seconds to a hurricane that wipes out an entire state. One form that is a controversial topic whether it benefits our planet or causes damage to it is wildfires. A wildfire is a fire in an area with combustible vegetation that occurs in the countryside or a rural area. Many people look at wildfires at only a bad thing but in fact when wildfires are allowed to burn in areas that do not impact human development, …show more content…
The most common natural cause of a wildfire is from lighting strikes. Throughout 2007 to 2011 the United States local fire department has responded to an average of 22,500 fires per year that were a cause of lighting strikes. Out of those fires there were a total of nine deaths and fifty-three individuals injured. 63 percent of the lightning fires were fueled by outdoor vegetation. The summer months are the lighting peak, which are also the months that are the hottest and driest months of the year. Throughout the world in places such as Canada and northwest China lightning is the major cause of wildfires. Other natural forms of wildfires include things such as volcanic eruptions, a spontaneous combustion from the sun and a dry piece of vegetation, or something such as sparks from rock falls. In the United States humans cause nine out of ten wildfires. Human carelessness is the most common cause of wildfires, which makes it questionable if it should be labeled as a natural disaster. One of the common ways humans cause wildfires is from arson. Arson is the intentional, deliberately and maliciously setting fire to buildings, wild lands, homes, vehicles, or other property to cause damage. Another careless way that humans can be an ignition of a wild fire is the discarding of cigarettes, which cause castaways. An estimate of about five percent of all wildfires is cause from smoking alone, which shows the carelessness of individuals. With people switching from smoking to vaping there is a decline in the amount of fires that are cause from smoking. Equipment is another huge cause of wildfires due to the high temperature that heavy machinery produces. Many construction projects that are done in the woods have their equipment left at the sight overnight which doesn’t get observed until the project continues. Heavy machinery causes sparks that can drift for yards, which can eventually land
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.
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.
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.
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...
Power lines, Lighting, machinery and Arsonist are confirmed causes of the Black Saturday Bushfires. The drought, the hot temperatures, strong winds and the other factors are said to be the cause of the black Saturday bushfires
Forest fires have ravaged Northern California, AKA wine country. The fires have wiped out 220,000 acres of land and the destruction can cost around 3-6 billion dollars. The issue, however, is not only in the money to repair but in the money lost due to loss of land and businesses. There are fewer producers of wine so therefore the prices for wine brands will increase due to a lack of supply and cause cost-pull inflation, when prices increase and supply drops so costs, such as wages and raw materials and decreased aggregate supply. Currently, short-run aggregate supply, the total production of goods and services available in an economy at different price levels while some resources to produce are fixed, is shifting to the left as prices rise
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.
This Last year (2016) wildfire began southwest of Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada. It causes environmental damage at $8.9B. The Fort McMurray the wildfire destroyed approximately 2,400 homes and buildings. Similarly in India, forest fires have spotted in various places in uttarakhand. These fires, produces clouds of smoke, and set mainly in pine forests in the sub-Himalayan region. They estimated that 3,500 hectares (8,600 acres) of forest had been destroyed.
Forest fires kill many animals and usually destroy a large amount of land. Prescribed burns seem like they would be the best idea, but are they? Their claim to fame is to clear out land in order to decrease the burning space for when an actual forest fire occurs. Yet this may seem like a brilliant idea, but one must look at the negative aspects of controlled burnings. People might have a change of heart when they realize the damages and effects of such an interesting act. Keep in mind that not only is your health involved but even such things as the inconvenience of dealing with a smoky town. It is important to understand that prescribed burns cause severe health problems especially to firefighters; these are concerning carbon monoxide poisoning, visibility issues and health risks that will affect the future.
Wildfires, "Controlled' wildfires specifically, they are said to help the environment and reduce chances for more extreme fires by eliminating hazardous fuels, but in reality they can cause more problems than they stop them. Fires are unpredictable and cannot be "Controlled," they can cause nearby homes to go up in flames and send smoke and ash into the air affecting residents near the area. Some may say they actually promote growth for trees and plants, but what science says is that fire actually does the exact opposite to plants and trees causing destruction to habitats and food for animals. Clearly controlled fires are a bad idea for the environment and people around us.
October 8th, 1871 has been commonly referred to as “The Night America Burned.” This was really the first time that the dangers of fire were displayed on a national scale. The lack of effort for construction regulations, as well as no rain for three weeks, put Chicago at a great risk for a major fire. A delayed response time as well as many other factors caused the Great Chicago Fire to burn through the city for three days. By the time it was finally brought under control, more than $2 million in damage was caused. It also left 300 people without their lives, as well as 90 thousand others homeless. As this fire started in a barn on the west side of the city, another major fire was raising just 262 miles north of Chicago in Peshtigo, Wisconsin. Although this fire was not quite as critically acclaimed as the Great Chicago Fire, it is well known as the most deadly fire in American history. As the summer progressed, the woods of Wisconsin had experienced a major drought and logging operations left pine branches covering the forest floor. A flash forest fire started and began to cover 2,400 square miles of forest land. This fire left 2,200 plus people without their lives, and illustrated just how dangerous a wild land fire can become. The combination of these two fires left many communities in a state of desolation. As these communities began to rebuild, they enacted more strict building and fire codes. Soon after, the development of water pumping systems, advances in firefighting equipment, and improvement in communications as well as alarm systems were flourishing to try to help prevent fires of this magnitude from
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.
The Forest fire is occurring very frequently nowadays, reasons for it are a heavy increase in global warming and an increase in temperature.