Wildfire Hazards Flashcards
What is a wildfire?
Any rural fire which is uncontrolled and spreading
What is the nature of wildfires?
They move at up to 14mph, consume everything in its path - trees, homes and land. They generally occur in Australia, America, Canada, south east Asia and South Africa.
What are the conditions that favour wildfires?
Vegetation type - Plants that have little water content in them burn more easily. Succulent plants like cacti are harder to burn.
Climate - cyclical climatic conditions such as El Niño cause warmer than average temperatures, droughts cause less moisture, heatwaves
Wind - strong winds can fan the flames further and cause vegetation to dry faster
Fire behaviour - weather: heat causes lack of moisture, wind spreads embers and sparks. Topography: slopes cause fires to move upwards due to convection. Fuel: can change and remove fuel to control fire
What causes wildfires?
There are three things:
- heat e.g. lighters, cigarettes, thunderstorm, arsenics.
- fuel e.g. trees, leaves, petrol, houses, dry grass
- oxygen
What are the Wildfire prevention strategies?
- you should clear combustible debris from around your home
- replace flammable plants with fire resistant plants e.g. French lavender
- cover house in fire retardant gel
- kids are taught about wildfires e.g smokey bear teaches kids about how to deal with wildfires and warning signs
- Take Action is a campaign that helps young adults
- smokey bear and forest fire prevention campaign have aided in reducing number of acres lost annually from 22 million to 6.5 million
How do emergency services plan and respond to wildfires?
- Firewise communities USA Recognition Programme involves people meeting up with firefighters and state researchers to educate them
- emergency services have a wildfire action plan
How are wildfires mitigated?
- FireALERT MK is a wildfire detection sensor system that detects, analyses and communicates the occurrence and position of wildfire
- Terrestrial ground visual systems monitor smoke and fire presence
- earth orbiting satellite systems, well suited for post fire damage review
