In fact, 2015 has been the worst year on record for wildfires
in the United States. To date, more than 11 million acres have burned in
wildfires across the country since January 1, 2015, as reported by the National
Interagency Fire Center (NIFC). TO put it in perspective, 11 million acres is
about the size of Massachusetts and Vermont combined.
The scary thing is that it wasn’t just concentrated in the
hot summer months, but 250,000 acres are still burning in wildfires well into
October, including four new fires that have sparked to life since October 1. In
particular, the western United States has been engulfed in flames at a record
rate, with significant fires in California, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Texas, and
Alaska.
Here are some notable
facts about wildfires:
1. With this year’s record 11 million acres burned, 2015 enters
a dubious group. In fact, more than 8 million acres burned only six other years
since the NIFC started tracking data in 1960: 2012, 2011, 2007, 2006, 2005, and
2004.
2. Every year in the U.S., an average of 1.2 million acres burn
in uncontained or wild fires. But the instance and severity of wildfires has
grown exponentially worse in the last decade and a half because of draughts,
and climate change from global warming.
3. Whenever our national wildfire preparedness level is 5, like
it has been most of the summer and fall of 2015, Our Forest Service spends $100
million per week fighting fires. With record blazes in 2015, this will be the
first year that the Forest Service spends more than 50% of its total budget
fighting fires.
4. We know them simply as wildfires, but fire fighters,
scientists, and firefighting professionals also refer to them as wild land
fires, surface fires, forest fires, dependent crown fires, spot fires, running
fires, or ground fires.
5. Wild fires certainly aren’t typically started with wild
conditions in nature. In fact, 90% of all wildfires are started by people.
6. Human beings commonly start fires either intentionally from
arson, or unintentionally through carelessness or a disregard for safety and
precautions. That could mean a still-lit cigarette butt, a campfire that emits
embers, or sparks from train exhaust.
7. The other 10% of wildfires that are not started by humans
are either combusted after lightning strikes, or lava in fewer cases.
8. It’s estimated that Lightning strikes hit the earth an
astounding 100 times each second, or 100,000 times a day.
9. With temperatures up
to 50,000 degrees Fahrenheit – five times hotter than the surface of the sun -
up to 20% of all lightning strikes have the potential to initiate a fire.
10. Weather and wind patterns contribute to many wildfires, but
some fires are so big, they actually change the weather. Huge wildfires produce
their own wind, which in response feed it more oxygen and further strengthen
the blaze. In fact, a large enough wildfire can generate winds up to 120 mph,
as strong as in a hurricane.
11. Of course wind is also the enemy of firefighters because
strong winds not only feed oxygen to fires but push flames toward new fuel
sources as well as spread burning embers and sparks that start new “spot”
fires.
12. Wildfires usually end up with names made popular in
newspapers and on the TV nightly news, but who comes up with the names? Usually
first responders will name a fire, basing it on a nearby feature like a meadow,
creek, city, or type of plant they see.
13. Prolonged draughts, like the one in California, contribute
tremendously to the risk of wildfire because dead matter like leaves, twigs,
fallen trees, brush, etc. become devoid of any moisture and therefore extremely
susceptible to alight. With the right conditions and hot enough temperatures,
fires can even break out by spontaneous combustion.
14. The worst wildfire in U.S. history is referred to as The
Great Fires of 1871. During the week of October 8-14 that year, four of the
worst fires in the history of the nation all blazed at the same time in the
Upper Midwest, including The Great Chicago Fire which destroyed or damaged a
third of the city’s buildings and homes, leaving 100,000 residents homeless.
15. But even worse that week was The Great Peshtigo Fire in
nearby Wisconsin that ended up killing 1,500 people, making it the most fatal
fire in U.S. history.
16. Of course they didn’t have modern technology and
instrumentation to analyze the cause of the fires, but the consensus was that
it was no coincidence that so many terrible fires broke out in the same region
the same week. The prevailing theory was that a shower of meteorites
falling to earth sparked the blazes, while others said it was unusual wind
patterns that year.
17. The greatest fire in our nation’s history by area burned
took place in 1910. Called the “Big Burn” or the Great Fire of 1910, the
inferno burned 3 million acres across Idaho, Montana, and Washington. In
response to that fire, the U.S. Forest Service was formed, with the mission to
fight all wildfires.
18. Wildfires also cause monumental damage not only to forests
and rural areas but encroach upon communities and homes. Here are the largest
wildland fires losses (according to the National Fire Protection Association):
October 1918 - Cloquet, Minnesota: $35 million in 1918
dollars.
June 1990 - Santa Barbara, California: $273 million loss in
1990 dollars.
October 1991 - Oakland, California: $1.5 billion loss in
1991 dollars.
October 1993 - Orange County, California: $528 million loss
tin 1993 dollars.
May-June 1998 - Florida: $395 million loss in 1998 dollars.
May 2000 - Los Alamos, New Mexico: $1 billion loss in 2000
dollars.
October 2003 - Julian, California: $1.1 billion loss in 2003
dollars; and San Bernardino, California: $975 million in 2003 dollars.
October 2007 - San Diego County, California: $1.8 billion in
2007 dollars.
November 2008 - Sacramento, California: $800 million loss in
2008 dollars
19. Each year, brave volunteers, fire fighters, and
professionals from the Forest Service and other agencies fight these fires,
making the ultimate sacrifice to keep us safe.
Firefighter Wildland Fatalities:
(U.S Fire Administration)
2001: 15
2002: 23
2003: 29
2004: 21
2005: 19
2006: 22
2007: 11
2008: 26
2009: 16
2010: 11
2011: 10
2012: 15
2013: 31
20. To combat wildfires, the National Forest Service now uses
modern technology and scientific methods. But all fire fighting or prevention
still focuses on an old premise: The Fire Triangle. In fact, wildfires need
three things to keep burning: heat, fuel, and oxygen. Without one of those, a
fire will cease to burn, and so fire-fighting measures focus on cutting off one
of those elements.
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