Wildfires Flashcards
What are wildfires?
Uncontrolled fires that destroy forests, grassland and other areas of vegetation.
What are the three types of wildfires?
Ground Fire
Surface Fire
Canopy Fire
What is a Ground Fire?
A ground fire is where the ground itself burns. It is slow, smouldering fire with no flame and little smoke.
What is a Surface Fire?
A surface fire is where leaf litter and low lying vegetation burn. Fire can be low or high intensity.
What is a Canopy Fire?
A canopy fire is where fire moves rapidly through the canopy. Fires are likely to be intense and fast moving.
What vegetation type is needed that favour intense wild fires?
Thick undergrowth or closely spaced trees allow fire to travel easily. Some trees such as eucalyptus and pine, contain a lot of oil and so burn very easily. Eucalyptus trees shed strips of their bark which helps the fire to spread quickly.
What fuel is needed that favour intense wild fires?
Fine, dry material catch fire and burn easily.
What climate and weather is needed that favour intense wild fires?
Rainfall must be sufficient for vegetation to grow, so there’s plenty of fuel. Warm dry weather causes water in vegetation to dry up, so its more flammable. Strong winds provide more oxygen to help the fire burn and spread burning embers.
What three things are needed for a fire?
Fuel, oxygen and a heat source to ignite the fire.
Give a natural heat source?
Lightening is likely to start a fire if it occurs without much rain
Volcanic eruptions can produce very hot lava, ash or gas which can start a fire.
Give a heat source caused by a human?
Most fires are started by people. This can be accidental, dropping cigarettes, allowing campfires and barbecues to get out of control, or if fireworks or sparks from machinery land in vulnerable areas.
Give three social impacts caused by wildfires?
People may be killed or injured if they don’t evacuate.
Homes are destroyed, so people may be left homeless.
Wildfires can cause health problems and can cause long term breathing problems.
Give two political impacts caused by wildfires?
Governments face criticism when wildfires have severe impacts.
Governments may have to change their forest management practices to reduce the risk of wildfires by clearing vegetation to limit fuel.
Name two economic impacts caused by a wildfire?
Wildfires destroy businesses, leading to a loss of jobs and income.
Insurance premiums increase dramatically after a wildfire.
Name two environmental impacts of a wildfire ?
Habitats are destroyed. Some species may not return to the area after a fire, changing the ecosystem.
Soils are damaged as the fire removes organic matter.
What are short term responses to wildfires?
Trying to put the fire out, diverting it away from settlements, evacuating people from areas at risk and spraying water onto the roofs of houses.
How can countries adapt to prevent wildfires?
Individuals can change the way they live to help them cope with wildfires by using non flammable building materials and creating fire breaks (gaps in trees) around settlements.
Which area of Australia was affected by a wildfire?
South east Australia in the state of Victoria.
How long did the wildfire last?
It burned for a month in February 2009.
What conditions meant that the wildfire was intense?
Environmental conditions added to the intensity of the fires, they followed ten years of drought, recent temperatures had been over 40 degrees and there were strong winds.
What were several of the fires caused by?
Faulty power lines.
How many people were killed and injured?
173 people were killed and around 400 injured.
How many houses were destroyed?
2000 houses were destroyed.
What was the total estimated cost of the fire?
It was more then AUS $4 billion.
