Forest Fires – A forest fire is a type of wildfire. Wildfires are large, uncontrolled fires that destroy large amounts of land. Wildfires that occur in forests are particularly hard to control and put out because the trees provide so much ready fuel.
QUESTIONS: Forest Fires – Eighty percent of forest fires that happen in the United States are caused by human beings. Causes range from carelessness, such as unattended camp fires or dropping a lit cigarette, to arson.
The Benefits of Wildfires – Forest fires help to revitalize the watershed. They renew soil chemistry, provide more food sources for fish, replenish vegetation along stream banks, recycle nutrients, and disperse fire-adapted plants.
QUESTIONS: The Benefits of Wildfires – Some trees have adapted to be able to survive occasional forest fires. Such adaptions include extra-thick bark and a crown base higher up in the canopy.
Types of Wildfires – There are three kinds of wildfires that are distinct from one another. They are the ground fire, the surface fire, and the crown fire. A single wildfire may be composed of any one or any combination of these three types of fires.
QUESTIONS: Types of Wildfires – A surface fire burns on the surface of the ground. A surface fire differs from a ground fire primarily in the fuel that it consumes.
Smokey the Bear – The Smokey Bear Wildfire Prevention campaign was created in 1944. It is the longest-running public service advertising campaign in American History. Because about eighty percent of wildfires are started accidentally by humans, the aim of the campaign was and still is to educate Americans about how they can prevent wildfires.
QUESTIONS: Smokey the Bear – You may be wondering who the real Smokey was. The original Smokey Bear was not a real bear at all, but a fictional bear that the U.S. Forest Service and the Ad Council created as a campaign mascot.
The Deadliest Wildfires – Around 500 people died in the United States in October of 1918 in a forest fire that took place in Minnesota. Known as the Cloquet-Moose Lake fire, it began on the 15th of October at rail lines near the Sturgeon Lake.
QUESTIONS: The Deadliest Wildfires – The second deadliest wildfire occurred in Indonesia in September of 1997. It was the result of a combination of slash and burn farming and arson.
The Rim Fire – The Rim Fire was a huge wildfire that began in the Stanislaus National Forest in California on August 17, 2013. By the time it was put out, it had burned 257,314 acres and at the time was the third biggest wildfire in California's history.
QUESTIONS: The Rim Fire – The fire was difficult to put out because most of where it occurred was not easily accessible to humans. Winds were also heavy and unpredictable.
How Wildfires Are Fought – Wildfires are large, uncontrolled fires that destroy large amounts of land. Wildfires that occur in forests are particularly hard to control and put out because the trees provide so much ready fuel.
QUESTIONS: How Wildfires Are Fought – Hotshots work in 20-person teams. Their job is to create a firebreak around the fire so that the fire will stop spreading. A firebreak is an area of land from which anything that will burn has been removed.
5 Ways Humans Accidentally Start Wildfires – Unwanted fires can also be started by sparks coming from machinery or chimneys. Again, in very hot, dry conditions, things like dry grass, bushes, and trees, are potential fuel for a fire, and very little may be needed to set them ablaze.
QUESTIONS: 5 Ways Humans Accidentally Start Wildfires – Similarly, wildfires are commonly started by a burning cigarette. When tossed into an area containing dry grass, bushes, or trees, a lit cigarette butt can be enough to start a fire.
The Great Chicago Fire – A wildfire is a large, uncontrolled fire that destroys large amounts of land. Wildfires typically take place in rural areas; but wildfires like the Great Chicago Fire in 1871 have been known to destroy towns and cities.
QUESTIONS: The Great Chicago Fire – One thing that historians have been able to agree on was that the fire started in the barn behind the O'Leary’s home, and firefighters were unable to extinguish it.
The Camp Fire: 2018 – The Camp Fire, a wildfire in Northern California, was the deadliest fire to occur in the United States since the Cloquet Fire in Minnesota in 1918, which killed 450 people.
QUESTIONS: The Camp Fire: 2018 – Experts reported that the Camp Fire happened as a result of a combination of climate change and increasing development in areas known to be prone to wildfire.