How Does Wildfires Affect Our Environment

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Forest fires or better known as wildfires are one of the most devastating events that could happen to anyone whom reside where they may occur. The imagery of forest fires portrays them as one of the most horrific things that could happen to humanity due to all the materialistic damage that they cause. News outlets show keep us updated on how long the fire burns and how many firefighters lose their lives battling these fires. In the years, 2011, 2012, and 2013 five federal agencies spent 1.73 million,1.9 million, and 1.74 million dollars consecutively on material that would be used to suppress forest fires. (Tecle & Neary, 2015). Some fires are control burned to clear brush for construction or just to promote the growth of fresh vegetation. Other wildfires are produced from extreme drought conditions and prove to be quite an inconvenience for local firefighters. The fires burn for hours, days, and maybe even weeks. The damage is more than the charred land and burned brush that we can see with our naked eye. The effect of these fires has a much costlier tag than what we can associate to a monetary value. Wildfires damage our ecosystem and other factors of our environment. The environment of the water body itself is altered and has no bounds of the types of effects that may …show more content…

Most of the fires have some effect on inland waters. Inland waters are described as “permanent water bodies inland from the coastal zone and areas whose properties and use are dominated by the permanent, seasonal, or intermittent occurrence of flooded conditions” (GreenFacts Scientific Board, 2017). This includes any body of water that we may encounter except the ocean. This is the same water from which we treat for use in our homes for drinking, cooking, bathing and even cleaning. A wildfire burning next to a stream of which we collect water from couldn’t be expected not to have some type of effect from this

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