Hello and welcome to Wildfire, a research project I worked on in conjunction with Dr. William Rose for GE 404, Natural Hazards Mitigation. The purpose of this page is to create an awareness toward wildfires; their origins and efforts to control or prevent them within the United States, and what agencies are doing to aid homeowners that build in fire prone areas.
My hope is that not only homeowners, but firefighters and agencies alike
will find this page useful and informitive. Each year, wildfires consume
5% of the Earth's surface. It is essential that homeowners and fire agencies
be aware of the latest technologies and improvements in wildfire
suppression and mitigation.
In a chemists sense, a fire is the rapid combination of oxygen, carbon, hydrogen and other organic material to produce flame, heat and light. In effect, a fire is nothing more than the photosynthesis process backwards; the fire equation is identical to photosynthesis except it runs in the opposite direction. The solar energy stored in plants during their growth is returned to the atmosphere during a fire.
However, firefighters describe wildfires as the devil himself; a
snarling, breathing monster capable of destroying anything in its path.
In either case, wildfires are one of natures most costly natural hazards
and can be as unpredictable as tomorrows weather.
Lightning strikes the Earth over 100,000 times a day. Of these, 10-20% cause a fire. It's no wonder that lightning is the biggest cause of naturally occurring wildfires. In the United States, lightning starts a wildfire around 8% of the time. Even though this sounds like a small number, consider the amount of thunderstorms that occur in the U.S. in a single summer. Most fires are concentrated in the Western states, especially during an El-nino year. Fire agencies across the West are already planning for this years anticipated increase in fires. Another cause of wildfires, though very rare, is the buildup of grass, leaves and twigs in a pile. This accumulation of dead matter can create heat, enough in some instances to spontaniously combust and ignite the surrounding area and combined with the right weather situation can cause problems.
The second cause is one that can be prevented in most cases but can never
be predicted. Man-made causes such as arson or plain carelessness by
individuals is the biggest cause of wildfires in the U.S. Just a simple,
peaceful campfire in a campground, not properly tended to, can lead to a
major wildfire especially in fire prone areas. Arson, whether intentional
or accidental, is a major problem in the Western states, especially
California. The fires that broke out on October 27, 1993 in southern
California were, however, started when strong Santa Ana winds downed
powerlines which created sparks and led to an uncontrollable wildfire
that burned for 9 days.
Control burns are not new; they have been used by man for hunting purposes since man discovered fire. The Aboriginal people of Australia have used used control burns to clear brushy areas of the outback for hunting and transportation. Fire agencies in the U.S. started using control burns in the 1960's with little success, mainly because they still hadn't fully understood wildfire patterns and behavior and also many burns were not kept under control and caused more damage than good. These days, control burns have become a useful tool in preventing wildfire in certain areas.
For most of this century, people have been trying to stamp out forest fires. And we've done a pretty god job. The result has been a long buildup of dead and live wood in the forests that, when ignited, burn with a fury. What a control burn essentially does is strip a forest of dead leaves, grass and brush; the fuel of a wildfire. Without these fuels a wildfire has no chance of burning. Unfortunitly, the best time to initiate a control burn is during a hot, dry spell; the same time as peak wildfire conditions, and although control burns do sometimes slip their leashes, fire agencies agree the pros outweigh the cons.
Another method of suppression is the backfire or backburn. Backfires are
a relatively new process where during a wildfire, smaller fires are set
ahead of the main fire to clear the area of all dead matter. The process
is similar to a control burn; get rid of all usable fuel for the wildfire
to feed upon. Backfires were first seen a skeptical method of bringing a
raging wildfire under control. However, the success of backburns at
Yellowstone National Park in 1988, which burned over 1/3 of the
park, proved that this new idea in wildfire suppression is here to stay.
Perhaps the best prevention of losing your house in a wildfire is to not
build in a prone area. Many people when building their dream home or
retirement home never think of the possibly dangerous situation that
could arrise if a fire was to sweep through that area. This was so
evident in the Stephan Bridge Road fire. The residents that lost their
homes never thought it could happen to them. Combine this with the fact
that these same people never cleared the area around their house of dead
grass and brush, which in turn fed the fire. The residents that read
the publicationsput out by local fire agencies and followed them, in most
cases, saved their homes from the fire. One of these publications, Wildfire, are you prepared for its deadly force?,
put out by the Michigan Interagency Wildfire Prevention Group, provides a
checklist for residents to use to answer this all-important
question. Another publication is titled, Wildfire: Are you
prepared?. This publication, put out by the Red Cross, also describes
ways to prevent your home from being destroyed by fire. It also covers
what to do if you are required to evacuate your house and what to include
in a disaster supplies kit.
Buildings can be made to withstand fire, or at least be fire resistant. Older structures can be made safer by clearing vegetation and moving woodpiles away from them. Avoiding wood siding, wood shingles, overhanging decks and balconies made of wood can gretaly reduce the risk of a structure catching fire. Double-pane glass windows and doors as well as spark arresters on chimneys can also help. Of course, the best advice one can have before building a dream home is to check and see if the area your building in is a fire prone area, or has had a history of wildfires. If it has, don't build there!
Fires cannot be prevented, only deffered. We pay a high price for
wildfire suppression; insurance costs, human lives, rebuilding and
firefighters safety all contribute to this high price. Allowing natural
fires to burn helps prevent buildups of extensive debris that can fuel a
firestorm during heavy winds. Even with todays technology and
advancements in wildfire research, large firestorms like the ones that
burnt in Yellowstone and Berkeley
Hills, California are essentially
unstoppable. The choice is up to firefighters, fire agencies and the
public; lots of little fires or a few monstrous firestorms.