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A wildfire, forest fire, or a bushfire is an unplanned, uncontrolled and unpredictable fire in an area of combustible vegetation. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identified as a bushfire ( in Australia ), desert fire, grass fire, hill fire, peat fire, prairie fire, vegetation fire, or ...
Fires will often break out during a dry season, but in some areas wildfires also commonly occur during times of year when lightning is prevalent. The frequency over a span of years at which fire will occur at a particular location is a measure of how common wildfires are in a given ecosystem.
Because fire can reveal dormant seedlings, it is a land management tool. Fire was a part of the landscapes of Ontario until early colonial rule restricted indigenous culture in across Canada. [59] During colonization, large scale forest fires were caused by sparks from railroads and fire was used to clear land for agriculture use.
Here are some things to know about the latest fires and why they are so savage: ... Forests may have trouble recovering. The fires that are burning today are sometimes so severe and hot that they ...
Nearly 85% of U.S. wildfires are caused by humans, according to the U.S. Forest Service. Natural causes include lightning and volcanic activity. The Hawaiian Islands have six active volcanoes ...
The western areas of the nation are experiencing an expansion of human development into and beyond what is called the wildland-urban interface (WUI). When wildfires inevitably occur in these fire-prone areas, often communities are threatened due to their proximity to fire-prone forest. [14]
Before the middle of the 20th century, most forest managers believed that fires should be suppressed at all times. [15] By 1935, the U.S. Forest Service's fire management policy stipulated that all wildfires were to be suppressed by 10 am the morning after they were first spotted.
The Forest Service manages 193 million acres of forests and grasslands across the country, burning an average of about 1.4 million acres, roughly the size of Delaware, each year with prescribed burns.