Wildfires Flashcards
What is a wildfire?
An uncontrolled rural fire
What forms do wildfires come in?
- Crown fire
- Ladder fire
- Ground fire
- Surface fire
What is a crown fire?
- Fire spreads to canopies and affects forested areas
What is a ladder fire?
- Process of fires from the forest floor spreading to the tree canopy
What is a ground fire?
- Burns beneath the ground in layers of organic peat
What is surface fire?
- Burns across surface vegetation
What conditions favour wildfires
- Lightening, earthquakes, human activities
- Living and dead vegetation, peat. coal or buildings are all very flammable
- Even if the material is moist, the hot fire may convert it to water vapour
What does wood release that helps fuel fires?
- Releases flammable hydrocarbon vapours when on fire
- Vapours mix with water to produce more water
What temperature does wood have to be to ignite?
- 300 degrees celsius
What are some environmental impacts of wildfires?
- Destruction of habitats and environments
- Death and injury of animals
- Short term surge of carbon dioxide
- Atmospheric pollution
What are some social impacts of wildfires?
- Loss of life and injury
What are the primary impacts of wildfires?
- Loss of crops, timber and livestock
- Loss of life
- Loss of property
- Release of toxic gases
- Loss of wildlife
- Damage to soil structure and nutrient content
What are the secondary impacts of wildfires?
- Evacuation
- Increased flood risk (heavy vegetation can be removed, decreasing interception of flood water)
How can a wildfire be prevented?
- Managing vegetation: Controlled burning to remove litter and creating firebreaks before the big fire
- Managing built environment: Increasing gaps between houses and vegetation by incorporating fire resistant methods
How can a wildfire be prepared for?
- Education: Important to make people aware with regards to home safety and avoiding starting fire
- Warning systems
What were the main causes of the Alberta wildfire?
- Lack of winter snowfall + early snowfall melt
- Warmer than average temperatures and dried ground
- First few days of the fire exceeded 30 degrees
- Caused its own weather patterns e.g. lightening which led to more fires
- Happened in forested area
- Initially under control, but shift in wind direction caused out of control blaze.
What were some short term responses to the Alberta wildfires?
- Mass evacuation plan implemented which resulted in 0 deaths
- Declared state of emergency, receiving help from armed forces from other countries as well as Canada’s (helicopters, water bombs, firefighters)
What were some long term responses to the Alberta wildfires?
- Gave all effected CAN$1250 for living expenses and 500 more for dependants
- Residence allowed to return in June to begin to clear up
- Fundraising activities such as concerts
- Online register system for accommodation and landlords give discounts for survivors.
What were some economic impacts of the Alberta wildfire?
- Roughly CAN$9BN of damage
- 1/3 of 25,000 workers in oil sands industry had to be evacuated from work camps
- Shell Canada temporarily shut
- Transport affected international airport
What were some social impacts of the Alberta wildfire?
- Caused 90,000 people to evacuate
- 2,400 homes destroyed
- Jobs and livelihoods affected + movement restricted
- Increased anxiety over future fires
What were some environmental impacts of the Alberta wildfire?
- Severely effected boreal forest ecosystem
- Dry and scorched peat soils could reignite until rainfall
- Fires released several millions of tones of carbon into the atmosphere
- Ash washed into water after heavy rainfall resulting in pollution and contamination of aquatic wildlife
