8 Things You Need to Know About Bushfires
“A small spark can start a great fire” — Emmet Fox.
1. A Large Bushfire Can Cause Enormous Damage
Bushfire…A terrifying, almost impossible to control, disaster that scorches hundreds of thousands of square kilometres of wild vegetation like woodland, grassland or savannahs. They are most common in countries with dry weather seasons such as Australia, California, and Africa.
Why should you care about it, especially if you do not live in those hot regions? Because it is getting warmer and warmer everywhere, not just in the South (South is not just getting warmer, by the way, it’s becoming boiling hot). That might eventually put your livelihood at risk. And if you are not experiencing an annual “fire panic” with people evacuating from their homes, your neighbouring country just might.
It should come as no surprise that a large bushfire can result in devastating effects not only on the vegetation burnt but also fauna, air quality, communities around and local economies. And, of course, if they are sparked by a person on accident or intentionally, there is a massive environmental impact.
In a 2003 fire disaster in Canberra the destruction and loss of property, both replaceable and not, was around $257 million. And that does not include all the trauma, loss of life, resources, community life and business destroyed or put on hold. Together it would be way over a billion dollars.
2. Burn More, Burn Longer
The Camp Fire in California, the US in 2018 lasted for 17 full days: it has destroyed a town in Butte County which lost 90% of its population killing 85 people, burning through 153,000 acres of land and 14,000 homes. And that was just one fire. The dry season can last up to 6 months in the southern hemisphere. Imagine the impact it would have if fires burned throughout the entire season…
More than common, there are far more than a singular wildfire raging at once. In October 2017 alone, California has suffered 250 simultaneous fires of different sizes turning up to 250,000 acres of land to ash and costing $12 billion dollars in damages.
3. It’s a Naturally Occurring Phenomenon Though… Right?
Yes and no. Essentially, bushfires and wildfires have been occurring for hundreds of millions of years as a part of a natural life cycle. Numerous harmful diseases and insects that destroy the trees are killed in the process of burning, while low intensity fires clear out dry wood and debris on the ground which returns many much-needed nutrients back to the soil and boosts the growth of new shoots. Some tree species even adapted to the fires, using them to thrive.
For example, bottlebrush plants that grow in Australia produce a hard, woody fruit containing hundreds of tiny seeds. Some plants won’t release these seeds unless there is a fire.
But nowadays, more than often, a fire is started by humans whether it is intentional like forest clearing in Amazon by local farmers or unintentional like a passing-by driver tossing a freshly finished cigarette butt that starts a disaster. And the biggest factor in play is the climate change that keeps the warm weather longer and hotter fueling the fires.
In the last 100 years in the US alone, fires have been artificially suppressed by humans in order to protect commercial timber and communities. The more fires suppressed, the more dry debris, leaves, dead trees build-up, and when an accidental campfire spark or lightning hits, the result is an uncontrollable mega-fire. All of this is accelerated by climate change.
4. Introducing: Mega-fires
They are very big and extremely scary. Modern large scale wildfires, or what we call them mega-fires, are so unpredictable and aggressive that firefighters and legions of volunteers can’t manage to control them. Usually, the only limit such fires have is the extent of vegetation that can be scourged. They burn so big that a specific weather ecosystem is created within it making the winds more erratic and dangerous.
According to UNEP, the megafires are defines as fires burning more than 400,00 acres. And they have been frequently spotted in every part of the world from Amazon forests to Alaska and Russian Siberia. The last decade has been by far the most destructive for the planet’s plant life. And that is with a slight increase in 1.1°C. What will happen when it reaches 1.5°C? (That is the tipping point temperature, after which the climate change will have consequences beyond recovery).
For example, in Australia in 2019, the average daily temperature in a month recorded 40°C with the longest period of 11 days compared to the previous year’s record of 7 days. Before that, there were only four days where the average temperature was above 40°C — twice in 1972 and twice in 2013.
5. Our Homes Are In Danger
Let’s face it: we are a tiny bit overpopulated. Supply can’t meet demand. There is not enough food or water for everybody. Around 2.2 billion people all over the world have no access to clean water, according to the World Economic Forum. And that creates a two-sided problem.
On the one hand, more and more people move to areas that are increasingly sensitive to wildfires. On the other hand, climate change and human negligence of nature have pushed an accelerated growth of drought, warmer weather, and overall planet heating up. The two meet exactly where the bushfires or mega-fires are raging and cause massive damage.
An increasing number of people have to be evacuated every time there is a big fire. And they are not just leaving the area for the fire to burn what little trees around. No, they are forced to flee to shelter, so they are not trapped in their own houses which are burnt to the ground.
Just last month, February, there was a massive fire in the Australian city of Perth, the biggest one in the last six years. Result? Nearly 71 homes destroyed and hundreds of people evacuated. On top of that, 6 firefighters were severely injured.
6. Firefighters Need Our Help
And I mean it. Next time you see someone, your friend or a celebrity like Chris Hemsworth, raising money for fire prevention and aid to firefighters, consider donating at least a little sum of money (if you have some to spare, of course). Managing modern fires has become an even more dangerous task than before.
Above, you can see an example of how many professionals were involved in combating the fires at the beginning of 2020 in Australia. They were spread out throughout the country and were fighting the fires back for months. Not days, months! During that period, four firefighters and three staff members from the US lost their lives. In addition, an entire water-bombing aeroplane was lost as a result of a crash into the Snowy Mountain in NSW. Overall, at least 30 people died from both firefighter, volunteer, and civilian sides. And these numbers will keep growing as the fires are more frequent and devastating.
Now, a small piece of information for thought. Have you noticed, how the graphic mentions over 200 firefighting personnel from outside of Australia? Imagine, if climate change truly, and I mean TRULY, goes out of control. All three countries, Canada, the US, and New Zealand could potentially be suffering from similar fires at the same time as Australia. That would stretch out the manpower and resources dangerously thin.
7. Not Just the Winds. Thunderstorms.
If conditions are unstable enough, the extreme heat from the wildfire together with enough moisture in the air makes a disastrous baby called a “fire thunderstorm”, which occurs when pyrocumulus clouds form. Extremely hot air and immense amounts of smoke get pushed up in the air towards the troposphere, a cooler and the lowest layer of the planet’s atmosphere, which causes the air to cool and expand even more. And yeah, you can see those from Earth’s orbit.
It used to be an extremely rare phenomenon, but it seems that the last decade or two has produced quite a few “firsts”. Firestorms also go by the name of pyroCbs. Five pyroCbs erupted in 2017 in the forests of British Columbia and Washington within just five hours — “ The mother of all pyroCb events”, according to David Peterson a meteorologist with the U.S. Naval Defense Lab. Everyone thought it was as big as it could get. Until last year fires in Australia alone generated at least 18 pyroCbs.
8. They Are Everywhere
What comes to your mind when someone says bushfire, wildfire, or forest fire? I would assume you immediately think of either California, Australia, or Amazon. And while those may be the hottest covered headlines in the news, they are not the only ones and most definitely not the only fires worth mentioning.
Congo, Alaska, Portugal, Siberia, China… The list goes on and it will soon include more of the Northern regions like Nordics as the planet is getting warmer. We are not doing a very good job of stopping this from happening.
The list of “firsts” just keeps on growing:
- Record-breaking fires in Portugal in 2003, with nearly 6% of the country burned;
- Siberia, which has broken records for area burned in 2010, 2012, 2015, 2019, and 2020;
- South Korea in 2019 with the fires so intense the military was called in to assist in the containment attempts;
- Hawaii, where many had to evacuate was never considered seriously a decade ago until now.
— Roman Pikalenko
Thanks for reading this article! Leave a comment below if you have any questions.
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Roman Pikalenko is a self-starter in digital marketing and blogging. He is an aspiring individual with ambitions and a passion for sustainable growth and development. As a recent BBA graduate, he is seeking his niche and is open to opportunities life throws at him.
