909496
Geography Hazards: Wildfires
- Causes
- Human: matches, campfires,
cigarettes, broken bottles
(magnify sun's heat energy,
slash and burn, arson, sparks
(from barbacues, train tracks)
- Physical/Natural:
lightening, volcanic
eruptions (hot material
lands on dry vegetation),
spontaneous heating
(when things are so hot
they just catch fire)
- Spreading: dry hot weather,
combustable material, strong winds
can fan flames, drought (not much
moisture), dry vegetation)
- Human: matches, campfires,
cigarettes, broken bottles
(magnify sun's heat energy,
slash and burn, arson, sparks
(from barbacues, train tracks)
- Case Study: California (October 2007)
- CAUSES: 34'C, 10 yr old boy playing with
matches, dry conditions, "santana winds"
swept across California (hot and dry winds)
- SOCIAL: 750,000 evacuated, 1000 homes
destroyed, 2 deaths, at least 10 injured,
evacuees not allowed to return home
- ECONOMIC: buildings and businesses destroyed, 160
buildings destroyed, 100 homes gutted by wind,
government need money to help, power cable ingnition
- ENVIRONMENTAL: 400 square
miles overun by 16 wildfires,
240,000 acres scorched, ground
tinder dry, power cable ignition
- CAUSES: 34'C, 10 yr old boy playing with
matches, dry conditions, "santana winds"
swept across California (hot and dry winds)
- Response to Wildfires
- Evacuation
- spraying
water and
foam
- releasing
fire-resistant
chemicals
- Fire lines built by
digging drenches to
remove dry vegetation to
stop the fire advancing
- Evacuation
- Reducing chances of wildfire
- Education (smokey bear advert)
- Removal of
dead, dry
vegetation
- Education (smokey bear advert)
- Wildfires in the future
- Wildfire intensity
(how severe the
burning is)
- Wildfire
frequency (how
often the fire
occurs)
- Wildfire Season (period
of the year which the
wildfire is most frequent)
- Wildland-urban interference
(area which houses and
buildings are built on the
fringes of wildfire areas)
- Wildfire numbers may increase due to a
warmer climate leading to dryer vegetation
and more chances of wildfires starting
- Wildfire intensity
(how severe the
burning is)
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