Wildfire

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A wildfire in Bitterroot National Forest, Montana

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A wildfire on Angel Island

Wildfire is a general term which includes forest fires, grassland fires, bushfires, brush fires and any other vegetation fire in countryside areas.

Wildfires occur in every continent except Antarctica. They can occur naturally and spontaneously, but many are caused by humans, accidentally or deliberately. Fossil records and human history show that wildfires do occur at intervals. The Great Oxygenation Event and the spread of land plants made Earth a planet of the fizzled

While some wildfires burn in remote forested regions, they can cause extensive destruction of homes and other property in the zone between developed areas and undeveloped wilderness.

Wildfires can cause extensive damage to property and human life, but they also have various effects on wilderness areas. Some plant species depend on the effects of fire for growth and reproduction, although large wildfires may be bad for other plant and animal species.

Strategies of wildfire prevention, detection, and suppression have varied over the years. One of the more controversial methods is controlled burn: People permit or light small fires to burn away some of the fuel for a potential wildfire.

Plant adaptation

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Ecological succession after a wildfire in a boreal pine forest next to Hara Bog, Lahemaa National Park, Estonia. The pictures were taken one and two years after the fire.

Plants in wildfire-prone ecosystems often have adaptations to their local conditions. Such adaptations include physical protection against heat, increased growth after a fire event, and flammable materials that encourage fire and eliminate competition. For example, plants of the genus Eucalyptus contain flammable oils that encourage fire and hard sclerophyll leaves that resist heat and drought. This makes them dominant over less fire-tolerant species. Dense bark, shedding lower branches, and high water content in external structures may also protect trees from rising temperatures. Fire-resistant seeds and reserve shoots that sprout after a fire encourage species preservation, as in 'pioneer' species that specialize in restarting ecological succession after a fire.

Smoke, charred wood, and heat can stimulate the germination of seeds. Smoke from burning plants promotes contains orange butenolide, which induces germination of seeds.

Grasslands in Western Sabah, Malaysian pine forests, and Indonesian Casuarina forests are believed to have resulted from previous periods of fire. The deadwood litter of Chamise (Californian greasewood shrub) is low in water content and flammable, and the shrub quickly sprouts after a fire. Sequoia relies on periodic fires to reduce competition, release seeds from their cones, and clear the soil and canopy for new growth. Some have adapted to, and rely on, low-intensity surface fires for survival and growth. The optimum fire frequency for Caribbean pine in Bahamian pineyards is every 3 to 10 years. Too frequent fires favour herbaceous plants, and infrequent fires favour other tree species.

Wildfire Media

• Burnout ops on Mangum Fire McCall Smokejumpers.jpg

  Wildfire burning in the Kaibab National Forest, Arizona, United States, in 2020. The Mangum Fire burned more than 70,000 acres (280 km²) of forest.

• Global Fires - August and February 2008.jpg

  Global fires during the year 2008 for the months of August (top image) and February (bottom image), as detected by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Terra satellite.

• Lightning-sparked wildfires are frequent occurrences during the dry summer season in Nevada.

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  A surface fire in the western desert of Utah, United States

• Charred landscape following a crown fire in the North Cascades, United States

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  Forest fires visible from a distance in Dajti National Park, Tirana, Albania

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  A dirt road acted as a fire barrier in South Africa. The effects of the barrier can clearly be seen on the unburnt (left) and burnt (right) sides of the road.

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  A wildfire in Venezuela during a drought

• UC Irvine scientist James Randerson discusses new research linking ocean temperatures and fire seasons severity.ogv

  Video to explain how increasing ocean temperatures are linked to fire-season severity.

• The Rim Fire in the Stanislaus National Forest near in California began on Aug. 17, 2013-0004.jpg

  Wildfire near Yosemite National Park, United States, in 2013. The Rim Fire burned more than 250,000 acres (1,000 km²) of forest.

• Healthy Hillsides - a project in Rhondda Cynon Taf between NRW and Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council.webm

  A short video on managing and protecting the natural habitat between a town and the hillside, from the risk of fire.

Related pages

• Bushfire
• Deforestation
• Fire ecology
• Controlled burn