Wildfires and Their Causes
In recent years , there doesn’t seem to be a year that go by without a wildfire devastating a different area of the world including Colorado. 2018 was a particularly cruel time regarding wildfires worldwide, with the devastation of the wildfire in Greece to the biggest and deadliest wildfires that California has ever experienced.
Global warming seems to be playing its part in the size and longevity of these wildfires, but how are they actually starting in the first place?
People starting fires
A lot of fires are caused by some sort of human interference. Whether it be on purpose or accidental, people have a huge impact on how a wildfire occurs. It could be a spark from a piece of machinery or from a locomotive running on metal railway tracks, the reasons are varied and many.
Some of the main instances are of people out camping, not putting out their campfires well enough, or a rogue match being discarded inappropriately amongst the dried flora in that region. It is extremely important in the dry summer months that people are aware of the dangers of camping in these areas and how they should act and react while there.
Lightning Strikes
Lightning can be seen as one of the greatest causes of wildfires which might surprise many people. Two-thirds of wildfires in the United States (Western States) were caused by lightning strikes, and it makes it even more daunting as it is completely out of our control.
Thunderstorms are becoming more prevalent due to the increased temperatures. So, global warming is not only drying out the landscapes and making them much more prone to catching fire, these temperatures increase the lightning that is also starting the fires in the first place.
Can We Do Anything To Stop Wildfires?
Wildfires can be started in so many ways that it is hard to stop them from happening and once they have started they are even harder to stop.
Of course, the human elements we have control over, so not lighting fires in vulnerable areas. Don’t smoke and discard your cigarettes in wildfire prone areas in particular, watch where you are using certain machinery etc these are all things that we should be doing and the local authorities should be educating people on these subjects as much as possible.
Lightning on the other hand is not something we can control unfortunately. Maybe in the future there will be some way of identifying a wildfire in its early stages after lightning has struck to make the damage as minimal as possible? But until then, we have to rely on the brave firefighters getting to an unpredictable wildfire and putting it out as quickly as possible.