Wildfires can happen by man-made or natural causes. Lightning striking an area with dry fuel such as leaves can cause a spark. Wildfires are unplanned and burn in forests, prairies, and grasslands. They are very devastating and can burn down homes, businesses, forests, and vegetation.
Wildfires are hard to put out and can cause habitats to be destroyed, making animals having to find new homes.
Wildfires are known as:
There are many causes of wildfires such as:
Even though there are many different causes for wildfires, most wildfires are caused by people that set fires and they become uncontrollable.
Wildfires can be found in many areas all around the world and are common in both the United States and Canada. Most of the wildfires happen where there are forests.
Places such as Australia and Africa have a lot of areas that are covered in vegetation and these areas have many wildfires.
Wildfires are also very common where there are grasslands because there is so much grass that the fires can spread very quickly.
Most wildfires happen in the summer or in the fall and when there are droughts or when a lot of branches or leaves have fallen. When the branches and leaves fall off the trees, they become very dry.
When a small fire starts, the leaves and the branches are dry and can catch fire very quickly and cause the fire to spread.
There are winds that can cause there to be larger fires in areas that have forests and a lot of brush. These winds are called Santa Ana winds because they are hot and dry and they can increase the chances of a forest fire.
Most of the winds happen in the fall or in the winter and they happen mostly in places such as Southern California and Northern California.
The Santa Ana winds can blow at very high speeds up to 40 miles in one day and can reach up to 1,000 acres in an hour.
When there are small fires or embers that are burning, they can be spread with these winds and they can cause fires to break out.
Surface Fires – happen when a fire breaks out and it burns slowly across the forest. This kind of fire kills whatever vegetation that it comes in contact with.
Ground Fires – happen when lightning hits an area and causes a fire to burn on the floor of the forest. This fire can even burn through the roots of trees, even large ones.
Crown Fires – happen when the fire spreads because of the wind moving on top of the trees.
Conflagration Fires – are fires that are usually very big. These fires spread because of strong winds and they usually will not stop for any barrier around them.
Tornado Fires – happen when there is a tornado that is made only of fire. When the air temperature and the way that the currents blow changes, it can cause tornado fires to happen.
When a tornado fire happens, there is a whirlwind, and flames are in the whirlwind. The flames of this type of wildfire can burn in or outside of the tornado. Fires like these are very dangerous because they can spread very quickly.
A wildfire has to have a fuel source such as trees or dry branches, oxygen and some type of heat source to be able to burn.
The heat source can come from lightning, the sun, a spark, or a campfire.
Wildfires can be very dangerous because they can burn quickly, and they can be very destructive.
Some people need to leave their homes or where they live if a wildfire gets close to them because it can cause them to have trouble breathing because of the smoke and the fire can spread to the stuff in their yard and even to their home or buildings.
Wildfires also can cause:
If there is a wildfire you need to have a plan. If there is a wildfire, follow these steps:
There are many reasons that wildfires affect us or those around us. One thing that happens in the case of wildfires is that the government will spend billions of dollars to try to make sure that wildfires do not happen or that wildfires do not spread.
When wildfires happen, it can cause whole wildlife habitats to be destroyed and can cause animals to have to leave for other areas.
The smoke that comes from wildfires can cause people to have many health problems such as respiratory problems and other problems breathing.
When communities are affected by wildfires, there might not be places to play or places to go and do stuff outside. Sometimes some wildfires are so big that they can destroy community buildings completely.
Even after a wildfire is put out, it can cause there to be things that happen to the area.
The area can have drinking water that is contaminated, there can be erosion and floods and because of the fire, sometimes much of the vegetation that we eat will become less and it will be more expensive to buy.
Even though a wildfire can be super hard to put out and even control, there are two different ways that a firefighter helps to control a wildfire: