Summary:
Describes the many practices and recommended ways for dealing with forest fires. Discusses the history of fighting forest fires. Explores the environmental factors contributing to forest fires.
Forest fires are as much of natural disasters as flooding. The idea is still relatively new to us. In 1910 a three-million-acre firestorm in the northern Rockies called "The Big Burn" engulfed entire towns and killed 87 civilians. These are one of the most devastating natural disasters out there needing hundreds of people to help put them out. There are many practices that lead to forest fires, and specialists recommend numerous ways for dealing with them.
Many different types of practices lead to forest fires. Fire suppression happens to be a major part of the problem rather than the solution. Since fires have been routinely suppressed this inhibited the natural cycle of burning and gave way for fire-prone trees to grow.
As stated by the author "most forests have a natural cycle, in which a purging burn comes through every 10, 20, 50 or 100 years." "The cycle may be suppressed, but only at the cost of more powerful fires when it re-emerges." Fire suppression is not the only practice; Logging has removed the biggest most fire-resistant trees and leaves behind debris which acts as firewood for these wildfires. The growth of cattle resulted in reduced grasslands which were fuel for the natural forest fires and had kept the fires low to the grounds.
On top of the practices leading to forest fires there are also recommended ways in dealing with them. People need to understand the danger they set for themselves by building homes in fire prone areas. Most people prefer which only seems natural to build homes out of wood in forests. The danger is obvious; homes need to be built out of stone, brick, or metal. Building a home on a hillside is best for the views, but "the slopes create a natural chimney for advancing flames." People also tend to store fuel tanks on their property because of the distance between home and the gas station. They store these fuel tanks under their elevated decks which strengthen flames as they pass through, making this a particularly dangerous area to store fuel.
By understanding the dangers and knowing how to prevent these disasters it can help greatly in controlling these flames even before the need of hundreds of people. It's the simple precautions that help in the long run such as when building a home in the forest, or campers keeping control of their flame, to the problems with fire suppression and logging.
This is the complete article, containing 403 words
(approx. 1 page at 300 words per page).
