The History of Wildfires

You know all about wildfires now. Every summer, you will hear something about them and how they’re causing devastation and danger to various parts of the United States and the world. But what about the history of wildfires? How have we got to this point?

The First Wildfires

Wildfires aren’t happening purely due to the ozone layer and human elements. There has been a history of wildfires dating back around 420 million years ago. And that’s just the first evidence found around the Welsh Borders through plant fossils.

The fires have started during the Early Devonian period and have continued throughout the Carboniferous and Late Permian period. In fact, each period has seen some sort of wildfire take place, with the atmospheric oxygen levels continually changing due to them.

As more C-type grasses have increased around the world, so has the fire activity. The grasses are more flammable, leading to a small spark having a big effect.

Human Involvement in Wildfires

The landscapes changed during the Paleolithic and Mesolithic ages, which has had a knock-on effect on the spread of fires. Fires themselves had been used in battle or for personal use for warmth, but there wasn’t originally much interest in other aspects of them.

It wasn’t until about the Middle Ages when customs and laws started to govern the use of fire and document them properly. As the Europeans crossed the globe, they started to learn more about different cultural uses of fires, including signalling and cultivation. One of the big uses was in tobacco cultivation.

During the mid-19th century, explorers learn more about the uses of fire in ground clearing. The fires would help to regenerate plant food and would help to care for farms and improve growth in the future. This was also when more focus on wildfires were noted.

People found that drought and increased temperatures led to wildfire. While there was evidence of them during 1050 and 1200 AD, human influence led to the increased frequency. Charcoal data has shown an increase in fire activity over the decades, especially from 1750, a time when population started growing and more land clearing practices were used.

There was a decrease in the 20th century due to increased livestock grazing and fire prevention efforts. In fact, the number of human-caused fires and natural fires have decreased considerably over the last few decades.

Yet, we hear more about wildfires now. Some of that is due to the focus on growth of the wrong species of trees, such as conifers, that offer fuel to wildfires. Or it’s due to not enough ground clearing and fire prevention techniques happening. Wildfires can be prevented with action before instead of after, and that’s something we need to focus on now.