Wild fires

A wildfire is an unplanned, unwanted wild land fire, including unauthorized human-caused fires.

WildfiresThe main causes of wildfires are:

• Hot temperatures• Farming• Lightning• Arson• Campfires• Volcanic eruptions• Discarding lit cigarettes• Sparks from trains• Drought

Things that can worsen the effects of wildfires:

•Size of fuel•Energy content of fuel•Arrangement of fuel (how compact)•Wind velocity •Recent weather (dry weather = more dry fuel)

Preparation – For the house•Keep your roof, gutters, and yard free of flammable debris such as dried leaves, dead branches, and garbage. •Cover house vents with wire mesh.( Vents can allow embers and flaming debris to enter a home and ignite it )

•Choose safety glass for windows and sliding glass doors.Windows allow radiated heat to pass through and ignite combustible materials inside. Dual- or triple-pane thermal

glass, and fire resistant shutters or drapes, help reduce the wildfire risk. You can also install non-combustible awnings to shield windows and use shatter-resistant glazing.

•Prepare for water storage; develop an external water supply such as a small pond, well or pool•Mow the lawn regularly•Listen to the radio regularly•Creating a 30 foot zone of fire-resistant space around your home will help prevent fires from starting near or spreading to your home.

Primary Effects

•Loss of life and injury to people and animals who are caught in the flames.•Destruction of property and possessions (this is getting more severe as more and more people live in the urban-rural fringe)•Burning of vegetation and crops.•Huge amounts of smoke released.

Secondary Effects

•Health problems for people as a result of the smoke and ash.•Loss of jobs and incomes for agricultural workers whose animals/crops are destroyed.•Decline in the tourist industry, leading to loss of jobs.•Homelessness.•Insurance premiums rise.•Access to recreational areas is restricted.•Soil erosion and landslides because there is less vegetation to bind the soil together.•Loss of habitats for animals may lead to extinction.

Managing the effects

What is meant by wildfire intensity?Fire intensity is a measure of the rate of heat released by a fire. It includes both radiant and convectional heat.

What is a wildland urban interface?The wildland urban interface can be found in every part of the country where people live in areas with vegetation near houses and little clearance. In ever-greater numbers, people are moving to these types of areas, sometimes as vacation homes and cabins, but more often as primary residences.

What are the Santa Ana winds?The Santa Ana winds are strong, extremely dry offshore winds that characteristically sweep through Southern California and northern Baja California in late fall and winter. They can range from hot to cold, depending on the prevailing temperatures in the source regions, the Great Basin and upper Mojave Desert. The winds are known for the hot dry weather (often the hottest of the year) that they bring in the fall, and are infamous for fanning regional wildfires.

What is a firebreak?Controlled burning/back burning. Starving fire of fuel by using a drip torch (fuel canister which is alight, like a long lasting match). Fires sometimes jump over controls and start again.

Random questions...

What are three man made causes of wildfires?•Arson •Discarding lit cigarettes•Farming

What are three natural causes of wildfires?•Lightning•Drought•Hot temperatures

What does Smokey bear do?Smokey bear is aimed to increase public awareness of wildfires

Mount Carmel wild fireWhat caused the fire?2010 spring and summer months were exceptionally hot, followed by unusually warm autumn and dry conditions formed dry and combustible fuel (timber). This increased and worsened the effects of the wildfire, but was not the cause. The wind also increased the speed of the spread of the fire.It became clear that this fire did not start due to natural causes and police began to investigate, there were 3 possible causes:•On December 3rd Israel Police suggested that the fire was caused by a bonfire lit by local residents that got out of hand, after not being extinguished properly. •December 4th, police arrested two adolescent brothers from the Druze town of Isfiya on suspicion of having caused the fire through carelessness.•I am not 100% sure about this possible cause - ‘Druze Member of Knesset Ayoob Kara, a resident of Isfiya near where the fire broke out, had said on the evening of 2 December that he had received information that the fire was a terror act. MKs Ya'akov Katz and Michael Ben-Ari also cited the possibility that the fire was an act of terrorism and called for an investigation.’However, the investigation was solved, as on 6th December, a 14 year-old resident of Isfiya admitted to starting the fire without intending to. After smoking a hookah, he had thrown a lit coal into an open area and was shocked and worried when a fire broke out, that he returned to school without telling anyone what he had done .

Burned area 12,000

Buildings destroyed 74

Fatalities 43

Injuries Dozens

•Turkey, Greece and America both sent aircrafts filled with chemical retardants to help fight the flames. •The Israel Fire and Rescue Services firefighters attempted to contain the blaze by back burning (controlled burning wood around the fire), and were had support from the Israel Police.• Israel Defense Forces (IDF) sent heavy ground equipment from nearby military bases, including fire trucks, water tanks, cranes and bulldozers. The IDF used an unmanned aerial vehicle to collect information from above (take photos e.t.c)

Wildfire frequency/intensity in the future

• Many experts have argued that global warming will increase the number of wildfires and the areas in which they occur.•Higher temperatures dry out vegetation so it is more likely to catch fire.•Heat waves are associated with a higher number of fires.•We seem to be getting periods of wetter weather followed by periods of drier weather - in wet periods, vegetation grows quickly and in dry periods fires spread very rapidly.•We might be getting more storms - hotter temperatures lead to more intense evaporation, producing more lightning and leading to more lightning strikes.•Wildfires give out lots of carbon dioxide, which itself intensifies the greenhouse effect and leads to global warming.