“On October 8, 1871, the most devastating forest fire in American history swept through (Estep)northeast Wisconsin, claiming 1,200 lives.” Forest fires affect various states in the U.S. every year. If a forest fire occurs, it’s usually in dry and hot places. Forest fires are very rapid, like tornados, but the Peshtigo fire was very deadly and severe…
On August 5, 1949, a wildfire overran 16 smokejumpers and firefighters in Mann Gulch on the Helena National Forest in Montana. The fire was most likely started by lightning from a thunderstorm. It was noticed promptly by rangers, who dispatched 16 smokejumpers, under the command of Wagner Dodge. Thought to be much smaller than it actually was, the fire quickly grew large and out of control, covering 3000 acres in 10 minutes during its blow up stage. Upon approaching Mann Gulch, the crew noticed the fire had already crossed onto their side of the gulch. Seeing the extreme danger in this, the order to retreat back up the slope was given and the men moved up the hill. Dodge later gave the order for the men to drop their pack…
In Little Fires everywhere, Celeste Ng deftly explores the topic of making difficult decisions as a mother, specifically at a young age. After giving birth to May Ling, Bebe Chow is abandoned by her partner. Bebe is an immigrant whose income was unable to support a child at the time. Bebe felt she had no other choice and ended up dropping May Ling off at a fire station. The McCullough couple attempted to adopt May Ling since they were unable to get pregnant.…
Can you think of something more dangerous than fire? It seems that all other kinds of disasters are no less hazardous, but fire… Fire is merciless; it takes away everything standing in its way, including people’s lives. Let us take a look at one of the most devastating wildfires in California’s History, The Yosemite Rim Fire. This massive fire started on August 17, 2013, Took nearly a full 9 weeks of fire fighters fighting to get the fire fully contained. Nearly costing $127.35 million just in the fight against this devastating wildfire.The size of the Yosemite Rim Fire was nearly 257,314 acres. A total of eleven homes, three commercial structures, and 98 outbuildings were destroyed in the fire. Just Think about it, a Wild fire about the size of Chicago had burned for nearly 9 weeks.…
This paper is about the Coatesville fires in Pennsylvania in 2008. The fires were being randomly started with no reason. The fires were set by a group of people. The five suspects that were arrested were Robert Tracy Jr who was an assistant fire chief, (6 ABC Action News 2009), a 19 year old teenager named Roger Leon Barlow, McWilliams who suffered from mental illness, George Donkewicz, and Mark Gilliam a friend of Barlow’s. (MICHAEL P. RELLAHAN 2010) In the next four paragraphs I will explain the four functions of probation/parole and how they can be applied to the Coatesville Fire Cases. (Who is setting the Coatesville Fires?)…
The Eagle Creek Fire is a wildfire in the Columbia river gorge, across Oregon and Washington and has burned hundreds of thousands of acres and has risked people's lives and pets. Millions of your taxpayer dollars have been spent to try and stop this fire, along with many people risking their lives to stop it.…
The heterogeneous topography of the region, working in unison with inland high and coastal low pressure cells, generate winds that can measure up to 100 km/h. Winds of this speed alter humidity in a way that increases susceptibility of vegetation to fire ignition. Furthermore, the winds are strong enough to cause power lines to arc, ejecting molten material that easily ignite dry plant fuels. Thus, the source of ignition and the increased amount of ignition events, both directly and indirectly caused by humans, are a significant change to the historic regime aside from a gradually warming…
Majority of the fires ignited and spread on a day of some of the worst bushfire conditions ever recorded. Temperatures in the mid to high 40s with wind speeds in excess of 100 km/h, which fanned the fires over large distances and areas which created several large firestorms and pyrocumulus systems.…
The alarming Black Saturday bushfires commenced on February 7th 2009, igniting in Victoria, Australia. The fires affected more than 78 communities resulting 173 deaths, over 400 injuries, 2,100 homes destroyed and over 7,500 people displaced. The fire was an event due to extreme hot weather conditions. Wildfires are natural events that occur frequently in Australia, but the ongoing drought and warm winds resulted temperatures to each 46 Celsius degrees with winds in excess of more than 100km per hour, that caused burning embers to initiate the main fire.…
Although I do not think that the smoke is good for the air, I do however think that the controlled burns are good for the environment in many ways. Fire is a natural resource and forest fires do occur at times simply by nature. When this happens the fire disposes of accumulated debris, it enriches the soil by speeding the nutrient recycle or retard the growth of shrubs or grasses that would otherwise crowd out recently planted seedlings (Yang, 2012). Even though the fire appears to be disastrous, by the following spring, the forest begins new growth. The role that fire plays in shaping ecosystem composition, structure and function includes several ecosystem processes like nutrient cycling, vegetation dynamics, belowground process and soil processes, and water relations. The shaping begins by selecting fire adapted species, and “removing other susceptible species, releasing nutrients from the biomass and improving nutrient cycling, affecting soil properties through changing soil microbial activities and water relations, and creating heterogeneous mosaics, which in turn, can further influence fire behavior and ecological processes” (Chen, 2006, p. 1-2). Despite some of the negatives about fire we must also consider its unique ecological roles within our ecosystem. It is these very reasons why I think…
bushfire education is to be truly effective it must be able to reach not only those that are…
On August 19, 1910 the Big Burn in the Rocky Moutains began, recorded as the largest and most destrustive fire, in North America. At the time the United States fire service was only five years old, with very little experience and preparation to handle such a large forest fire. It destroys an area the size of Connecticut within a matter of 36 hours, equaling more than three-million acres of forest, and $1 billion worth lost in timber. There were atleast 78 firefighter fatalities, however it is unknown how many more died soon afterwards, due to the effects of smoke inhalation and other long term side effects. During that summer the weather was extremely dry, and without any rain for 3 months many small sparatic fires began to appear, quickly growing with all the available dried fuel.…
what about the mudslides in Guatemala, or the wild fires in California. These are just…
water, the golf courses do not exist. Another economic impact is the fact that water shortage is causing environmental problems. One area of huge concern is the wildfire problem. It is not cheap to fight a wildfire, not to mention all the damage that it does to the environment. It costs millions of dollars to fight the wildfire. You can’t really put a price on the damage that it does to the environment. It takes a toll on the environment. Another economic impact of the water shortage is there are more poor communities. The people who usually work in the fields have little to no money. Some of these people are even homeless. They are being forced to build homes out of cardboard. Even when there is work in the fields, some these small communities in the American Southwest have some of the lowest average incomes. An example would be in the city of Mendota, California. The unemployment rate in Mendota is around 40%. Jobs in and around Mendota are some of the lowest paying the United States. A police officer in the city of Mendota only gets paid $17 an hour. These officers are putting their lives on the line every day and they get paid $17 an hour. That is crazy to think about. On…
Some individuals are known as arsonists. Arsonists are adrenaline junkies and find a thrill in setting fires. Other people are delinquents only looking for the satisfaction of destruction. Pyromaniacs are individuals who have psychological issues that play a factor in their fire setting hobby. Arson is split up into stages of brutality. In certain circumstances, and in certain states, arson may only amount to a misdemeanor. Although felony charges are a possibility. Arson charges may lead to a lengthy prison sentence, fines that range from a few thousand dollars to $50,000 dollars, there may also be restitution to be paid back to the people that lost their property’s, and probation is also a likely outcome depending on the harshness of the damage. For example, A California man was arrested on arson charges for sparking a wildfire that exploded. It destroyed more than 175 homes, businesses, and other structures in the town. Lake County Sheriff, Brian Martin said Damin Anthony Pashilk, age 40, was arrested on seventeen counts of arson and is in jail. California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection director Ken Pimlott said the blaze in the town of lower lakes has caused $10 million in damages and left dozens of families homeless. Mr. Pashilk will seek prosecution to the fullest…