Related Research Articles
The Great Fire of 1910 was a wildfire in the Inland Northwest region of the United States that in the summer of 1910 burned three million acres in North Idaho and Western Montana, with extensions into Eastern Washington and Southeast British Columbia. The area burned included large parts of the Bitterroot, Cabinet, Clearwater, Coeur d'Alene, Flathead, Kaniksu, Kootenai, Lewis and Clark, Lolo, and St. Joe national forests. The fire burned over two days on the weekend of August 20–21, after strong winds caused numerous smaller fires to combine into a firestorm of unprecedented size. It killed 87 people, mostly firefighters, destroyed numerous manmade structures, including several entire towns, and burned more than three million acres of forest with an estimated billion dollars' worth of timber lost. While the exact cause of the fire is often debated, according to various U.S. Forest Service sources, the primary cause of the Big Burn was a combination of severe drought and a series of lightning storms that ignited hundreds of small fires across the Northern Rockies. However, the ignition sources also include human activity such as railroads, homesteaders, and loggers. It is believed to be the largest, although not the deadliest, forest fire in U.S. history.
The 2008 California wildfire season was one of the most devastating in the state of the 21st century. While 6,255 fires occurred, about two-thirds as many as in 2007, the total area burned— 1,593,690 acres —far exceeded that of previous years.
Bushfires in Australia are a widespread and regular occurrence that have contributed significantly to shaping the nature of the continent over millions of years. Eastern Australia is one of the most fire-prone regions of the world, and its predominant eucalyptus forests have evolved to thrive on the phenomenon of bushfire. However, the fires can cause significant property damage and loss of both human and animal life. Bushfires have killed approximately 800 people in Australia since 1851, and billions of animals.
The 2009 Mediterranean wildfires were a series of wildfires that broke out across France, Greece, Italy, Spain, and Turkey in July 2009. Strong winds spread the fire during a hot, dry period of weather killing at least eight people, six of whom were in Spain. Some of the wildfires were caused by lightning, along with arson and military training.
The 2010 Bolivia forest fires led the country's government to declare a state of emergency, as wildfires spread across the country. More than 25,000 fires are burning across 15,000 square kilometres. These raging fires have destroyed nearly sixty homes. Bolivia is unable to combat the fires properly as it does not have enough water bombing aircraft.
The Bastrop County Complex fire was a conflagration that engulfed parts of Bastrop County, Texas, in September and October 2011. The wildfire was the costliest and most destructive wildfire in Texas history and among the costliest in U.S. history, destroying 1,696 structures and causing an estimated $350 million in insured property damage. An exceptional drought, accompanied by record-high temperatures, affected Texas for much of 2011. Vegetation consequently became severely parched throughout the state, and over the year an unprecedented amount of land in the state was burned by numerous wildfires. In early September 2011, the presence of Tropical Storm Lee to the east produced strong northerly winds over the state, exacerbating the preexisting dry weather to produce critical fire conditions. On the afternoon of September 4, 2011, three separate fires ignited in the wildland–urban interface east of Bastrop, Texas, after strong winds caused by the nearby tropical storm snapped trees onto power lines. Within 48 hours, the fires merged into one blaze that quickly consumed parts of Bastrop State Park and parts of the Lost Pines Forest, as well as homes in nearby subdivisions. Most of the conflagration's spread and destruction occurred within a week of ignition, as the forward advance of the wildfire mostly stopped after September 7. The wildfire was largely contained in September, though the firebreak was briefly breached in early October. On October 10, the Bastrop County Complex was declared controlled, and the fire was declared extinguished on October 29 after 55 days of burning within the fire perimeter.
The Shirley Fire was a wildfire that started on June 13, 2014 at 5:00 PM PDT, 3 miles (4.8 km) south of Shirley Meadows, Kern County, California, in the southern part of the Sequoia National Forest. The fire rapidly spread, due to dry weather and drought conditions.
The 2016 Southeastern United States wildfires were a series of wildfires in the Southeastern United States in October and November 2016. The U.S. Forest Service reported tracking 33 wildfires that had burned about 90,000 acres (36,000 ha).
The 2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires season saw a year-to-year surge in fires occurring in the Amazon rainforest and Amazon biome within Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Peru during that year's Amazonian tropical dry season. Fires normally occur around the dry season as slash-and-burn methods are used to clear the forest to make way for agriculture, livestock, logging, and mining, leading to deforestation of the Amazon rainforest. Such activity is generally illegal within these nations, but enforcement of environmental protection can be lax. The increased rates of fire counts in 2019 led to international concern about the fate of the Amazon rainforest, which is the world's largest terrestrial carbon dioxide sink and plays a significant role in mitigating global warming.
A megafire is an exceptional fire that devastates a large area. They are characterised by their intensity, size, duration and uncontrollable scale. There is no precise scientific definition.
Since the 1940's the number of wildfires in Turkey per year had increased from around 1000 to around 3500. In 2007, the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report said that "Warmer, drier conditions will lead to more frequent and prolonged droughts, as well as to a longer fire season and increased fire risk, particularly in the Mediterranean region."
On December 15, 2021, the Midwestern U.S. state of Kansas was met with strong and damaging winds caused by the December 2021 Midwest derecho and tornado outbreak, which produced dust storms and multiple wildfires. An estimated 163,000 acres (66,000 ha) burned on the first day wildfires spawned due to dry fuel and strong wind gusts reaching up to 100 mph (160 km/h). The western and central portions of Kansas were mostly affected by the fires. Before December 15, forecasters had predicted that dry air, gusty winds, and warm temperatures could be present throughout the following days, creating conditions favorable for wildfires to spread quickly through the area. The largest wildfire, the Four County Fire, burned numerous buildings and killed hundreds of cattle along the way with a scorched area of 121,622 acres (49,219 ha).
The Fairview Fire is a deadly and destructive wildfire that burned during the 2022 California wildfire season southwest of Valle Vista and east of Hemet in Riverside County, California in the United States. The fire ignited on September 5, 2022, during a severe heatwave that had plagued much of the southwest throughout early September and, due to the extreme weather conditions, grew to a deadly and destructive conflagration in the chaparral-filled foothills within just several hours of igniting.
The 49er Fire was a destructive wildfire in 1988 in Northern California's Nevada County and Yuba County. The fire ignited on September 11 when a man accidentally set brush on fire by burning toilet paper near Highway 49. Driven by severe drought conditions and strong, dry winds, firefighting crews were hard-pressed to stop the fire's advance until winds calmed and humidity levels recovered. The fire burned 33,700 acres throughout the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, impinging on the communities of Lake Wildwood, Rough and Ready, and Smartsville before officials declared it fully contained on September 16.
In 2024, 62,131 wildfires detected by the Global Wildfire Information System (GWIS) burned an estimated 46,101,798 hectares of tropical wetland in Brazil's Pantanal in Mato Grosso do Sul, the Amazon rainforest, and the Cerrado. According to satellite data from the Brazilian National Institute for Space Research, the number of fires from 2024's beginning to 10 June showed a 935% increase compared to the same period in 2023 with 1,315 fires being reported compared to 127 fires in 2023.
The 2024 Western Cape wildfires are a series of forest fires in the City of Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa. They led to the loss of 52,501 hectares of land, of which 15,587 hectares were on the CapeNature estate. 129 VIIRS fire alerts were reported between September 11, 2023, and September 16, 2024, with 52 VIIRS fire alerts reported in 2024.
The 2024 Portugal wildfires are a series of more than 1,000 wildfires, at least 128 labeled as devastating, that spread through central and northern Portugal since 15 September 2024, burning more than 135,000 hectares of land, resulting in the deaths of at least nine people - amongst them were four firefighters -, the evacuation of several villages, and a response of over 5,000 firefighters with assistance from the European Union.
The 2024 South American wildfires refer to a colossal series of wildfires that significantly impacted several neighboring South American countries, including Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. Based on Global Wildfire Information System satellite imaging, about 346,112 wildfire hotspots damaged or destroyed 83,947,390 hectares. The massive area burned was primarily caused by anthropogenic climate change and the resulting consequences of the 2023–2024 South American drought on fire conditions. The wildfires caused significant deforestation of the Amazon rainforest, and also impacted several other international biomes including the Pantanal wetlands, becoming the second largest series of wildfires in the 21st century next to the 2023–24 Australian bushfire season, with the 2024 Brazil wildfires alone reaching fourth in area burned.
The 2024 Argentina wildfires refer to significant outbreaks of wildfires primarily across Northern and Central Argentina that devastated large stretches of forests and farming land. The intensity and spread of the wildfires markedly increased in August and September 2024 due to drought conditions and elevated temperatures.
References
- ↑ "Peru Struggles to Fight Deadly Wildfires". Time Magazine . Associated Press. 2024-09-17. Retrieved 2024-09-18.
- 1 2 3 4 "At least 15 dead since July and thousands of hectares scorched as wildfires sweep Peru". Associated Press . 2024-09-17. Retrieved 2024-09-18.
- ↑ Perez, Ricardo (2024-09-11). "Deforestation Declines, but Fires Rage On in the Amazon". Amazon Watch. Retrieved 2024-09-18.
- 1 2 3 4 5 "Peru calls on farmers to halt burns amid deadly fire season". Reuters . 16 September 2024. Retrieved 17 September 2024.
| Asia | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Europe |
| ||||
| North America |
| ||||
| South America | |||||
| Oceania |
| ||||
