What are wildfires?
These are uncontrolled rural fires
-Bushfires in Australia
-Brushfires in north America
What is crown fire?
This is when fires spread across the canopy, affecting forested areas
What are surface fires?
This is when fires burn across the surface vegetation
What is ground fire?
This is when fires burn beneath the ground in layers of dry organic peat
What ingredients are needed for a fire?
-Ready supply of fuel e.g. vegetation
-Ignition source either natural of human
-Oxygen
-Favorable weather/ climate
Where do wildfires not occur?
Not occur naturally in rainforests as too wet
Not occur in cold or hot deserts
What vegetation conditions favor wildfires?
-Low vegetation moisture content
-Type and amount of fuel e.g. grassland fires are less intense then forest fires
-Pyrophylic vegetation
What is pyrophylic vegetation?
These are plants adapted to fire, either tolerating or requiring it for reproduction, nutrient recycling or removing dead vegetation
What atmospheric conditions favour wildfires?
-Wind to spread fire
-Heatwaves
-Drought
-Lightning storms to ignite
What temperature does wood need to start burning?
-300 degrees Celsius
What are some of the human causes of fires?
-Campfires
-Cigarettes
-Arson
-Barbecues
-Powerlines
-Slash and burn to clear land
What areas are most prone to wildfires?
Urban rural interfaces e.g. woodlands close to cities as these will have increased human presence
What are the natural and physical causes of wildfires?
-Volcanoes
-Lightning
-Earthquakes
-Lava
-Rockfall
-Spontaneous combustion
Why do forest fires move quicker uphill than downhill?
They move faster uphill than downhill as heat rises which causes convection to preheat and dry out fuel above the flames making it ignite quicker
What are firebrands?
These are burning fragments of vegetation and can be carried ahead of the fire front be strong winds
How can we use preparedness to manage wildfires?
-Establishing defense spaces around properties through cleaning roofs and gutters, trim grasses and install sprinklers
-Know when/where/how to evacuate
-Emergency supplies
-Community education programmes where people encouraged to develop fire survival strategies, bottom up approach
-Warning through social media, radios ect
How can we use mitigation to manage wildfires?
-Early fire detection from satellites, infrared cameras and sensors, AI smoke detection and NASA new drone technology
-Controlling spread by burning vegetation before the fire gets there
-Spraying fire with water or retardants
-Disaster aid
-Fire insurance
How can we use prevention to manage wildfires?
Removing fuel through controlled burning in advance but can be dangerous and affect wildlife
Public awareness on fire safety especially campsites
How can we use adaptation to manage wildfires?
-Learning to live with threat of fires
-Planning regulation to restrict areas at high risk
-Building regulations and design to ensure buildings are made with fire retardant materials
How can we use prediction to manage wildfires?
-Involves knowing the most vulnerable/susceptible to an outbreak
-Fire danger maps using current and historical weather events
-Dead fuel moisture from litter
-Greenness map
-Drought map
What are the environmental impacts of wildfires?
-Destruction of ecosystems and habitats
-Death and injury of animals, impacting food chain
-Rise in atmospheric CO2
-Lack of trees causes depletion of nutrient stores
-Greenhouse effect and climate change from CO2
What are the social impacts of wildfires?
-Loss of life and injury
-Displacement
-Damage to communications and power supplies
-Need for new employment and income stream from damaged businesses
-Behavioral adaptations based on wildfire experiences
What are the economic impacts of wildfires?
-Destruction to homes and businesses
-Financial loss
-Loss of crops and livestock
-Cost of rebuilding or relocation
-Cost of future mitigation/preparedness strategies
What are the political impacts of wildfires?
-Pressure on local authorities to co-ordinate and priorities responses in immediate aftermath
-Develop mitigation and preparedness strategies
-Review laws and advice regarding fire prone areas
-
Water and carbon systems and their framework12
-
The water cycle63
-
The Carbon cycle66
-
Water, Carbon, climate and life on earth7
-
Other water and carbon case studiess12
-
Amazon Rainforest Case study32
-
Introduction to coastal Systems and landscape8
-
Systems and processes in coastal environments50
-
Coastal landscape development42
-
coastal management18
-
Coastal Systems case studies33
-
Hazards38
-
Plate Margins37
-
Volcanic Hazards16
-
E15 case study18
-
Seismic hazards62
-
Tropical storms20
-
Wildfires26
-
Tropical storms case study32
-
Wildfires case study14
