12
Apr

Wildfires can start when there are three ingredients: oxygen, fuel, and heat. As soon as one of them is no longer present, the wildfire will end. Those three elements are also known as the fire triangle.
Let us look at every ingredient of this triangle. Oxygen is always present. The fuel in the forest can be dead trees, branches, dry grass, scrub oak as well as trash, paper, fence and outbuildings. The third ingredient, heat, can come from natural and unnatural sources. Lightning strike to the ground or a tree can start a fire. Power lines torn down by high winds can provide heat to start a wildfire.
Although a wildfire can start from a natural cause, human activity is by far the main cause of wildfires. Four out every five wildfires are caused by a human activity: a burning cigarette tossed out of the window of a car, a campfire that was not completely put out, Fourth of July fireworks, and of course arsons.
While all the wildfires have the same terrifying look, they differ, depending on where the blaze is occurring.

Types of wildfires:

Ground fire: this type of wildfire occurs on the forest floor among dry leaves and rotten wood. This fire does not have access to a lot of oxygen. So, it is slow moving and produces a lot of smoke.
The surface fire burns forest grass, trees, and bushes. It is a quick fire and produces a lot flames.
Crown fires are the most dangerous type of wildfires. The flames go from one treetop to another pushed by wind. Crown fires use ladder fuels to reach treetops. Ladder fuels is any vegetation beneath the trees: shrubs, scrub oak, down trees and branches.
Although we may not be able to stop a lightning from starting a fire but we can control spreading a wildfire on our property. We can take steps in removing fuel ladders to prevent crown fires.
If you would like an estimate on creating defensible space around your home, contact Colorado Mastication for more information.