What Causes Forest Fires?
There are many names used for the forest fires. Bush fires, grass fire, peat fire, vegetation fire etc are most well known among them. A forest fire can be defined as an uncontrolled fire that occurs in the wilderness. A forest fire is different from other fires in many ways. Forest fires are huge and they can jump hurdles like roads, and rivers. They can change direction in the blink of an eye and it they are the worst nightmare for fire-fighters.
Forest fires come in their own categories. They are categorized on the basis of what caused them, their speed of propagation, combustible materials present etc.
Forest fires are one of the biggest destroyers of forests and they are more common in the tropics.
What causes forest fires?
A forest fire can be caused either by a human being or they could be natural. Fire needs three things to survive – fuel, oxygen and heat (ignition temperature). In the case of forest fires, the trees and the bushes provide the fuel, oxygen is available in plenty in the atmosphere and once things are ablaze, maintaining the ignition temperature is not a difficult task.
Forest fires occur on all the continents except Antarctica and they are more common and fiercer in the summers. When in the summer, the temperatures exceed 572 °F, the dry wood in the forests release a gas which reacts with the oxygen in the atmosphere and we have a fire. The ignition temperature is the minimum temperature to light up something.
Earthquakes are also found to have caused forest fires. There are other reasons which include drought and volcanoes.
Forest fires can also be caused by us, the humans. It has been found that humans are responsible for 90% of the forest fires. These also fall into two categories:
(a) fires because of negligence and (b) intentional fires.
a) Fires because of negligence:
Smokers may start a forest fire by carelessly disposing of their lighted matches and cigarettes in the forests. Campers and the people, who are on a picnic in a forest, may also end up unintentionally burning up a whole forest because of improper handling of lighted items on the ground. Sometimes, even residues falling from locomotives may start forest fires.
b) Intentional fires:
There are some people, and they are called arsonist. An arsonist is a person who likes to set things on fire. There are some arsonists who have psychological problems and the other do it deliberately for pleasure and as a hobby! In most nations they are put into prisons if their crime is proved.
Is there a way to prevent them?
Certainly, in Europe only 5% of the forest fires are because of natural causes, thus increased surveillance is the most effective weapon. As far as natural fires are concerned, some institutions can be set up which could keep an eye on the humidity levels, temperature etc in and around a forest. This data can then be used to send fire-fighters to an area where a forest fire in likely to occur either in advance or when the forest fire is still in its infancy. There are already institutions like Forschungsstelle für Brandschutztechnik and Alliance for Fire and Smoke Containment and Control which work to collect data about the forests.
Most forest fires are caused by human’s camp fires improperly, throwing lit cigarettes out the window while driving. Some are caused naturally from lightning. Fire Fighter’s risk their lives and sometimes even lose them. So we need to take extra precaution’s to remedy the fire’s that are avoidable.