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A wildfire in California, USA on 5 September 2008

A wildfire is any uncontrolled fire that occurs in the countryside or a wilderness area.^[1][2] Other names such as brush fire, bushfire, forest fire, grass fire, hill fire, peat fire, vegetation fire, and wildland fire may be used to describe the same phenomenon depending on the type of vegetation being burned. A wildfire differs from other fires by its extensive size, the speed at which it can spread out from its original source, and its ability to change direction unexpectedly and to jump gaps, such as roads, rivers and fire breaks.^[3] Wildfires are characterized in terms of the cause of ignition, their physical properties such as speed of propagation, the combustible material present, and the effect of weather on the fire.^[4]

Wildfires occur on every continent except Antarctica. Fossil records and human history contain accounts of wildfires, as wildfires can occur in periodic intervals.^[5][6] Wildfires can cause extensive damage, both to property and human life, but they also have various beneficial effects on wilderness areas. Some plant species depend on the effects of fire for growth and reproduction,^[5] although large wildfires may also have negative ecological effects.^[4]

Strategies of wildfire prevention, detection, and suppression have varied over the years, and international wildfire management experts encourage further development of technology and research.^[7] One of the more controversial techniques is controlled burning: permitting or even igniting smaller fires to minimize the amount of flammable material available for a potential wildfire.^[8][9] While some wildfires burn in remote forested regions, they can cause extensive destruction of homes and other property located in the wildland-urban interface: a zone of transition between developed areas and undeveloped wilderness.^[8][10]

Part of a series on Wildland Firefighting
Main articles
Wildfire  · Bushfire Wildfire suppression
Agencies
National Interagency Fire Center USFS  · BLM CALFIRE  · CALFIRE Aviation New South Wales Rural Fire Service  · Country Fire Authority, Victoria  · Country Fire Service, South Australia
Tactics & Equipment
Incident Command System Aerial firefighting Controlled burn Firebreak  · Fire trail Fire lookout tower Fire-retardant gel Fire fighting foam Fire retardant  · MAFFS Helicopter bucket  · Driptorch
Personnel
Handcrew  · Hotshots Helitack  · Smokejumper Rappeller  · Engine crew
Lists
List of wildfires Glossary of wildfire terms This box: view • talk • edit

Characteristics

The distribution of wildfires on the African continent during the year 2002.

The name wildfire was once a synonym for Greek fire but use to refer to any small,peacful or cuddley conflagration.^[2] Wildteddys differ from other teddys in that they take place outdoors in areas of grassland, woodlands, bushland, scrubland, peatland, and other wooded areas that act as a source of fuel, or combustible material. Buildings may become involved if a wildfire spreads to adjacent communities. While the causes of wildfires vary and the outcomes are always unique, all wildfires can be characterized in terms of their physical properties, their fuel type, and the effect that weather has on the fire.

Wildfire behavior and severity result from the combination of factors such as available fuels, physical setting, and weather.^[11][12][13] While wildfires can be large, uncontrolled disasters that burn through 0.4 to 400 square kilometres (100 to 100,000 acres) or more, they can also be as small as 0.0010 square kilometers (0.25 acres) or less.^[14][15][16] Although smaller events may be included in wildfire modeling, most do not earn press attention. This can be problematic because public fire policies, which relate to fires of all sizes, are influenced more by the way the media portrays catastrophic wildfires than by small fires.^[17][18][19]

Causes

The four major natural causes of wildfire ignitions are lightning, volcanic eruption, sparks from rockfalls, and spontaneous combustion.^[20][21] The thousands of coal seam fires that are burning around the world, such as those in Centralia, Burning Mountain, and several coal-sustained fires in China, can also flare up and ignite nearby flammable material.^[22] However, many wildfires are attributed to human sources such as arson, discarded cigarettes, sparks from equipment, and power line arcs (as detected by arc mapping).^[23][24] In societies experiencing shifting cultivation where land is cleared quickly and farmed until the soil loses fertility, slash and burn clearing is often considered the least expensive way to prepare land for future use.^[25][26] Forested areas cleared by logging encourage the dominance of flammable grasses, and abandoned logging roads overgrown by vegetation may act as fire corridors. Annual grassland fires in Southern Vietnam can be attributed in part to the destruction of forested areas by herbicides, explosives, and mechanical land clearing and burning operations during the Vietnam War.^[27]

Fuel type

A surface fire in the western desert of Utah, U.S.

Charred landscape following a crown fire in the North Cascades, U.S.

The spread of wildfires varies based on the flammable material present and its vertical arrangement.^[28] For example, fuels uphill from a fire are more readily dried and warmed by the fire than those downhill, yet burning logs can roll downhill from the fire to ignite other fuels. Fuel arrangement and density is governed in part by topography, as land shape determines factors such as available sunlight and water for plant growth. Overall, fire types can be generally characterized by their fuels as follows:^{[note 1]}

• Ground fires are fed by subterranean roots, duff and other buried organic matter. This fuel type is especially susceptible to ignition due to spotting. Ground fires typically burn by smoldering, and can burn slowly for days to months, such as peat fires in Kalimantan and Eastern Sumatra, Indonesia, which resulted from a riceland creation project that unintentionally drained and dried the peat.^[29][30]
• Crawling or surface fires are fueled by low-lying vegetation such as leaf and timber litter, debris, grass, and low-lying shrubbery.^[31]
• Ladder fires consume material between low-level vegetation and tree canopies, such as small trees, downed logs, and vines. Kudzu, Old World climbing fern, and other invasive plants that scale trees may also encourage ladder fires.^[32]
• Crown, canopy, or aerial fires burn suspended material at the canopy level, such as tall trees, vines, and mosses. The ignition of a crown fire, termed crowning, is dependent on the density of the suspended material, canopy height, canopy continuity, and sufficient surface and ladder fires in order to reach the tree crowns.^[33] For example, ground-clearing fires lit by humans can spread into the Amazon rain forest, damaging ecosystems not particularly suited for heat or arid conditions.^[34]

Physical properties

Wildfires occur when all of the necessary elements of a fire triangle come together in a wooded area: an ignition source is brought into contact with a combustible material such as vegetation, that is subjected to sufficient heat and has an adequate supply of oxygen from the ambient air. A high moisture content usually prevents ignition and slows propagation, because higher temperatures are required to evaporate any water within the material and heat the material to its fire point.^[3][13] Dense forests usually provide more shade, resulting in lower ambient temperatures and greater humidity, and are therefore less susceptible to wildfires.^[35] Less dense material such as grasses and leaves are easier to ignite because they contain less water than denser material such as branches and trunks.^[36] Plants continuously lose water by evapotranspiration, but water loss is usually balanced by water absorbed from the soil, humidity, or rain.^[37] When this balance is not maintained, plants dry out and are therefore more flammable, often a consequence of droughts.^[38][39]

Experimental fire in Canada

A wildfire front is the portion sustaining continuous flaming combustion, where unburned material meets active flames, or the smoldering transition between unburned and burned material.^[40] As the front approaches, the fire heats both the surrounding air and woody material through convection and thermal radiation. First, wood is dried as water is vaporized at a temperature of 100 °C (212 °F). Next, the pyrolysis of wood at 230 °C (450 °F) releases flammable gases. Finally, wood can smolder at 380 °C (720 °F) or, when heated sufficiently, ignite at 590 °C (1,000 °F).^[41][42] Even before the flames of a wildfire arrive at a particular location, heat transfer from the wildfire front warms the air to 800 °C (1,470 °F), which pre-heats and dries flammable materials, causing materials to ignite faster and allowing the fire to spread faster.^[36][43] High-temperature and long-duration surface wildfires may encourage flashover or torching: the drying of tree canopies and their subsequent ignition from below.^[44]

Wildfires have a rapid forward rate of spread (FROS) when burning through dense, uninterrupted fuels.^[45] They can move as fast as 10.8 kilometers per hour (6.7 mph) in forests and 22 kilometers per hour (14 mph) in grasslands.^[46] Wildfires can advance tangential to the main front to form a flanking front, or burn in the opposite direction of the main front by backing.^[47] They may also spread by jumping or spotting as winds and vertical convection columns carry firebrands (hot wood embers) and other burning materials through the air over roads, rivers, and other barriers that may otherwise act as firebreaks.^[48][49] Torching and fires in tree canopies encourage spotting, and dry ground fuels that surround a wildfire are especially vulnerable to ignition from firebrands.^[50] Spotting can create spot fires as hot embers and firebrands ignite fuels downwind from the fire. In Australian bushfires, spot fires are known to occur as far as 10 kilometers (6 mi) from the fire front.^[51]

Especially large wildfires may affect air currents in their immediate vicinities by the stack effect: air rises as it is heated, and large wildfires create powerful updrafts that will draw in new, cooler air from surrounding areas in thermal columns.^[52] Great vertical differences in temperature and humidity encourage pyrocumulus clouds, strong winds, and fire whirls with the force of tornadoes at speeds of more than 80 kilometers per hour (50 mph).^[53][54][55] Rapid rates of spread, prolific crowning or spotting, the presence of fire whirls, and strong convection columns signify extreme conditions.^[56]

Effect of weather

Heat waves, droughts, cyclical climate changes such as El Niño, and regional weather patterns such as high-pressure ridges can increase the risk and alter the behavior of wildfires dramatically.^[57][58] Years of precipitation followed by warm periods can encourage more widespread fires and longer fire seasons.^[59] Since the mid 1980s, earlier snowmelt and associated warming has also been associated with an increase in length and severity of the wildfire season in the Western United States.^[60] However, one individual element does not always cause an increase in wildfire activity. For example, wildfires will not occur during a drought unless accompanied by other factors, such as lightning (ignition source) and strong winds (mechanism for rapid spread).^[61]

Fire intensity also increases during daytime hours. Burn rates of smoldering logs are up to five times greater during the day due to lower humidity, increased temperatures, and increased wind speeds.^[62] Sunlight warms the ground during the day which creates air currents that travel uphill. At night the land cools, creating air currents that travel downhill. Wildfires are fanned by these winds and often follow the air currents over hills and through valleys.^[63] Fires in Europe occur frequently during the hours of 12:00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m.^[64] U.S. wildfire operations revolve around a 24-hour fire day that begins at 10:00 a.m. due to the predictable increase in intensity resulting from the daytime warmth.^[65]

Ecology

Ecological succession after a wildfire in a boreal pine forest next to Hara Bog, Lahemaa National Park, Estonia. The pictures were taken one and two years after the fire.

Organisms in wildfire-prone ecosystems often survive through adaptations to their local fire regime. Such adaptations include physical protection against heat, increased growth after a fire event, and flammable materials that encourage fire and may eliminate competition. Dense bark, shedding lower branches, and high water content in external structures may protect the organisms from rising temperatures.^[5] Fire-resistant seeds and reserve shoots that sprout after a fire encourage species preservation, as embodied by pioneer species. Smoke, charred wood, and heat are common fire cues that stimulate the germination of seeds in a process called serotiny.^[66] Exposure to smoke from burning plants promotes germination in other types of plants by inducing the production of the orange butenolide.^[67]

Grasslands in Western Sabah, Malaysian pine forests, and Indonesian Casuarina forests are believed to have resulted from previous periods of fire.^[68] Plants of the genus Eucalyptus contain flammable oils that encourage fire and hard sclerophyll leaves to resist heat and drought, ensuring their dominance over less fire-tolerant species.^[69][70] Chamise deadwood litter is low in water content and flammable, and the shrub quickly sprouts after a fire.^[5] Sequoia rely on periodic fires to reduce competition, release seeds from their cones, and clear the soil and canopy for new growth.^[71] Caribbean Pine in Bahamian pineyards have adapted to and rely on low-intensity, surface fires for survival and growth. An optimum fire frequency for growth is every 3 to 10 years. Too frequent fires favor herbaceous plants, and infrequent fires favor species typical of Bahamian dry forests.^[72]

Global fires during the year 2008 for the months of August (top image) and February (bottom image), as detected by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Terra satellite.

Wildfires are common in climates that are sufficiently moist to allow the growth of vegetation but feature extended dry, hot periods.^[5] Such places include the vegetated areas of Australia and Southeast Asia, the veld in southern Africa, the fynbos in the Western Cape of South Africa, the forested areas of the United States and Canada, and the Mediterranean Basin. Fires can be particularly intense during days of strong winds, periods of drought, and during warm summer months.^[73][74] Global warming may increase the intensity and frequency of droughts in many areas, creating more intense and frequent wildfires.^[4][75][76]

Many ecosystems suffer from too much fire, such as the chaparral in southern California and lower elevation deserts in the American Southwest. While these areas are considered fire-dependent, the increased fire frequency has upset natural cycles, destroyed native plant communities, and encouraged the growth of fire-intolerant vegetation and non-native weeds.^{[77][78][79][80]} Invasive species can grow rapidly in areas that were damaged by fires, and because they are more flammable, can increase the future risk of fire. Examples include Lygodium microphyllum and Bromus tectorum, which can create a positive feedback loop that increases fire frequency and further destroys native growth.^[32][81]

In the Amazon Rainforest, drought, logging and cattle ranching practices, and slash-and burn agriculture damage fire-resistant forests and promote the growth of flammable brush, creating a cycle that encourages more burning.^[82] Fires in the rainforest threaten its collection of diverse species, produce large amounts of CO₂, and threaten to "clear or severely damage 55 per cent of the Amazon rainforest by the year 2030" according to Rebecca Lindsay of NASA's Earth Observatory.^[83][84] Wildfires generate ash, destroy available organic nutrients, and cause an increase in water runoff, eroding away other nutrients and creating flash flood conditions.^[28][85] A 2003 wildfire in the North Yorkshire Moors destroyed some 2.5 square kilometers (600 acres) of heather and the underlying peat layers. Afterwards, wind erosion stripped the ash and the exposed soil, revealing archaeological remains dating back to 10,000 BC.^[86] Wildfires can also have an effect on climate change, increasing the amount of carbon released into the atmosphere and inhibiting vegetation growth, which affects overall carbon uptake by plants.^[87]

Atmospheric effects

A Pyrocumulus cloud produced by a wildfire in Yellowstone National Park

Most of the Earth's weather and air pollution reside in the troposphere, the part of the atmosphere that extends from the surface of the planet to a height of between 8 and 13 kilometers (5 and 8 mi). A severe thunderstorm or pyrocumulonimbus in the area of a large wildfire can have its vertical lift enhanced to boost smoke, soot and other particulate matter as high as the lower stratosphere.^[88] Previously, prevailing scientific theory held that most particles in the stratosphere came from volcanoes, but smoke and other wildfire emissions have been detected from the lower stratosphere.^[89] Pyrocumulus clouds can reach 6,100 meters (20,000 ft) over wildfires.^[90] With an increase in fire byproducts in the stratosphere, ozone concentration was three times more likely to exceed health standards.^[91] Satellite observation of smoke plumes from wildfires revealed that the plumes could be traced intact for distances exceeding 1,600 kilometers (1,000 mi).^[92] Computer-aided models such as CALPUFF may help predict the size and direction of wildfire-generated smoke plumes by using atmospheric dispersion modeling.^[93]

Wildfires can affect climate and weather and have major impacts on regional and global pollution.^[94] Wildfire emissions contain greenhouse gases and a number of criteria pollutants which can have a substantial impact on human health and welfare.^[95] Forest fires in Indonesia in 1997 were estimated to have released between 0.81 and 2.57 gigatonnes (0.89 and 2.83 billion short tones) of CO₂ into the atmosphere, which is between 13%–40% of the annual carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels.^[96][97] Atmospheric models suggest that these concentrations of sooty particles could increase absorption of incoming solar radiation during winter months by as much as 15%.^[98]

Smoke trail from a fire seen while looking towards Dargo from Swifts Creek, Victoria, Australia, 11 January 2007

History

The fossil record of fire first appears with the establishment of a land-based flora in the Middle Ordovician period, 470 million years ago,^[99] permitting the accumulation of oxygen in the atmosphere as never before, as the new hordes of land plants pumped it out as a waste product. When this concentration rose above 13%, it permitted the possibility of wildfire. Wildfire is first recorded in the Late Silurian fossil record, 420 million years ago, by fossils of charcoalified plants.^[100] Apart from a controversial gap in the Late Devonian, charcoal is present ever since.^[100] The level of atmospheric oxygen is closely related to the prevalence of charcoal: clearly oxygen is the key factor in the abundance of wildfire.^[101] Fire also became more abundant when grasses radiated and became the dominant component of many ecosystems, around 6 to 7 million years ago;^[102] this kindling provided tinder which allowed for the more rapid spread of fire.^[101] These widespread fires may have initiated a positive feedback process, whereby they produced a warmer, drier climate more conducive to fire.^[101]

Human involvement

Wildfires have been mentioned in human history, including minor allusions in the Bible and classical writers such as Homer. However, while ancient Hebrew, Greek, and Roman writers were aware of fires, they were not very interested in the uncultivated lands where wildfires occurred.^[103][104] Wildfires were used in battles throughout human history as early thermal weapons. From the Middle ages, accounts were written of occupational burning as well as customs and laws that governed the use of fire. In 14th century Sardinia, firebreaks were used for wildfire protection. In Spain during the 1550s, sheep husbandry was discouraged in certain provinces by Phillip II due to the harmful effects of fires used in transhumance.^[103][104] In the countries bordering the Baltic Sea, fire in land use systems was typical during the Neolithic period until World War II.^[105] As early as the 1600s, Native Americans were observed using fire for many purposes including cultivation, signaling, and warfare. Scottish botanist David Douglas noted the native use of fire for tobacco cultivation, to encourage deer into smaller areas for hunting purposes, and to improve foraging for honey and grasshoppers. Charcoal found in sedimentary deposits off the Pacific coast of Central America suggests that more burning occurred in the 50 years before the Spanish colonization of the Americas than after the colonization.^[106]

Wildfires typically occurred during periods of increased temperature and drought. An increase in fire-related debris flow in alluvial fans of northeastern Yellowstone National Park was linked to the period between AD 1050 and 1200, coinciding with the Medieval Warm Period.^[107] However, human influence caused an increase in fire frequency. Dendrochronological fire scar data and charcoal layer data in Finland suggests that, while many fires occurred during severe drought conditions, an increase in the number of fires during 850 BC and 1660 AD can be attributed to human influence.^[108] Charcoal evidence from the Americas suggested a general decrease in wildfires between 1 AD and 1750 compared to previous years. However, a period of increased fire frequency between 1750 and 1870 was suggested by charcoal data from North America and Asia, attributed to human population growth and influences such as land clearing practices. This period was followed by an overall decrease in burning in the 20th century, linked to the expansion of agriculture, increased livestock grazing, and fire prevention efforts.^[109]

Prevention

1985 Smokey Bear poster with part of his admonition, "Only you can prevent forest fires".

Wildfire prevention refers to the preemptive methods of reducing the risk of fires as well as lessening its severity and spread.^[110] Effective prevention techniques allow supervising agencies to manage air quality, maintain ecological balances, protect resources,^[81] and to limit the effects of future uncontrolled fires.^[111] North American firefighting policies may permit naturally-caused fires to burn to maintain their ecological role, so long as the risks of escape onto high-value areas are mitigated.^[112] However, prevention policies must consider the role that humans play in wildfires, since, for example, only 5% of forest fires in Europe are not related to human involvement.^[113] Sources of human-caused fire may include arson, accidental ignition, or the uncontrolled use of fire in land-clearing and agriculture such as the slash-and-burn farming in Southeast Asia.^[114] Landholders with flammable investments such as orchards and tree crops may encourage neighboring landowners to reduce fire risks.^[115]

In the mid-1800s, explorers from the HMS Beagle observed Australian Aborigines using fire for ground clearing, hunting, and regeneration of plant food in a method called fire-stick farming.^[116] Such careful use of fire has been employed for centuries in the lands protected by Kakadu National Park to encourage biodiversity.^[117] In 1937, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt initiated a nationwide fire prevention campaign, highlighting the role of human carelessness in forest fires. Later posters of the program featured Uncle Sam, leaders of the Axis powers of World War II, characters from the Disney movie Bambi, and the official mascot of the U.S. Forest Service, Smokey Bear.^[118]

A prescribed burn in a Pinus nigra stand in Portugal

Wildfires are caused by a combination of factors such as topography, fuels, and weather. Other than reducing human infractions, only fuels may be altered to affect future fire risk and behavior.^[28] Wildfire prevention programs around the world may employ techniques such as wildland fire use and prescribed or controlled burns.^{[1][119][120]} Wildland fire use refers to any fire of natural causes that is monitored but allowed to burn. Controlled burns are fires ignited by government agencies under less dangerous weather conditions.^[121] Vegetation may be burned periodically to maintain high species diversity, and frequent burning of surface fuels limits fuel accumulation, thereby reducing the risk of crown fires.^[122][123] Using strategic cuts of trees, fuels may also be removed by handcrews in order to clean and clear the forest, prevent fuel build-up, and create access into forested areas.^[124] Chain saws and large equipment can be used to thin out ladder fuels and shred trees and vegetation to a mulch.^[125] Multiple fuel treatments are often needed to influence future fire risks, and wildfire models may be used to predict and compare the benefits of different fuel treatments on future wildfire spread.^[28] However, controlled burns are reportedly "the most effective treatment for reducing a fire’s rate of spread, fireline intensity, flame length, and heat per unit of area" according to Jan Van Wagtendonk, a biologist at the Yellowstone Field Station.^[126] Additionally, while fuel treatments are typically limited to smaller areas, effective fire management requires the administration of fuels across large landscapes in order to reduce future fire size and severity.^[127]

Building codes in fire-prone areas typically require that structures be built of flame-resistant materials and a defensible space be maintained by clearing flammable materials within a prescribed distance from the edifice.^[128][129] Communities in the Philippines also maintain fire lines 5 to 10 meters (16 to 33 ft) wide between the forest and their village, and patrol these lines during summer months or seasons of dry weather.^[130]

A ponderosa pine stand in the Bitterroot National Forest in Montana in 1909, 1948, and 1989. The increase in vegetation density was attributed to fire prevention efforts since 1895.^[131]

Detection

Dry Mountain Fire Lookout in the Ochoco National Forest, Oregon, circa 1930

Fast and effective detection is a key factor in wildfire fighting.^[132] Early detection efforts were focused on early response, accurate day and nighttime use, the ability to prioritize fire danger, and fire size and location in relation to topography.^[133] Fire lookout towers were used in the United States in the early 1900s and fires were reported using telephones, carrier pigeons, and heliographs.^[134] Aerial and land photography using instant cameras were used in the 1950s until infrared scanning was developed for fire detection in the 1960s. However, information analysis and delivery was often delayed by limitations in communication technology. Early satellite-derived fire analyses were hand-drawn on maps at a remote site and sent via overnight mail to the fire manager. During the Yellowstone fires of 1988, a data station was established in West Yellowstone, permitting fire information delivery in approximately four hours.^[133]

Currently, public hotlines, fire lookouts in towers, and ground and aerial patrols can be used as a means of early detection of forest fires. However, accurate human observation may be limited by operator fatigue, time of day, time of year, and geographic location. Electronic systems have gained popularity in recent years as a possible resolution to human operator error. These systems may be semi- or fully-automated and employ systems based on the risk area and degree of human presence, as suggested by GIS data analyses. An integrated approach of multiple systems can be used to merge satellite data, aerial imagery, and personnel position via Global Positioning System (GPS) into a collective whole for near-realtime use by wireless Incident Command Centers.^[135][136]

A small, high risk area that features thick vegetation, a strong human presence, or is close to a critical urban area can be monitored using a local sensor network. Detection systems may include wireless sensor networks that act as automated weather systems: detecting temperature, humidity, and smoke.^{[137][138][139]} These may be battery-powered, solar-powered, or tree-rechargeable: able to recharge their battery systems using the small electrical currents in plant material.^[140] Larger, medium-risk areas can be monitored by scanning towers that incorporate fixed cameras and sensors to detect smoke or additional factors such as the infrared signature of carbon dioxide produced by fires. Brightness and color change detection and night vision capabilities may be incorporated also into sensor arrays.^{[141][142][143]}

Wildfires across the Balkans in late July 2007 (MODIS image)

Satellite and aerial monitoring can provide a wider view and may be sufficient to monitor very large, low risk areas. These more sophisticated systems employ GPS and aircraft-mounted infrared or high-resolution visible cameras to identify and target wildfires.^[144][145] Satellite-mounted sensors such as Envisat's Advanced Along Track Scanning Radiometer and European Remote-Sensing Satellite's Along-Track Scanning Radiometer can measure infrared radiation emitted by fires, identifying hot spots greater than 39 °C (102 °F).^[146][147] The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Hazard Mapping System combines remote-sensing data from satellite sources such as Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES), Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), and Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) for detection of fire and smoke plume locations.^[148][149] However, satellite detection is prone to offset errors, anywhere from 2 to 3 kilometers (1 to 2 mi) for MODIS and AVHRR data and up to 12 kilometers (7.5 mi) for GOES data.^[150] Satellites in geostationary orbits may become disabled, and satellites in polar orbits are often limited by their short window of observation time. Cloud cover and image resolution and may also limit the effectiveness of satellite imagery.^[151]

Suppression

Tanker 910 during a drop demonstration in December, 2006

Wildfire suppression may include a variety of tools and technologies, including throwing sand and beating fires with sticks and palm fronds in rural Thailand, using silver iodide to encourage snow fall in China, and full-scale aerial assaults by ALTUS II unmanned aerial vehicles, planes, and helicopters using drops of water and fire retardants.^{[152][153][154][155]} Complete fire suppression is no longer an expectation, but the majority of wildfires are often extinguished before they grow out of control. While more than 99% of the 10,000 new wildfires each year are contained, escaped wildfires can cause extensive damage. Worldwide damage from wildfires is in the billions of euros annually.^[156] Wildfires in Canada and the US consume an average of 54,500 square kilometers (13,000,000 acres) per year.^[157][158]

Fuel buildup can result in costly, devastating fires as new homes, ranches, and other development are built adjacent to wilderness areas. Continued growth in fire-prone areas and rebuilding structures destroyed by fires has been met with criticism.^[159] However, the population growth along the wildland-urban interface discourages the use of current fuel management techniques. Smoke is an irritant and attempts to thin out the fuel load is met with opposition due to desirability of forested areas, in addition to other wilderness goals such as endangered species protection and habitat preservation.^[160] The ecological benefits of fire is often overridden by the economic benefits of protecting structures and lives.^[161] For example, while fuel treatments decrease the risk of crown fires, these techniques destroy the habitats of various plant and animal species.^[162] Additionally, government policies that cover the wilderness usually differs from local and state policies that govern urban lands.^[81][163]

Above all, fighting wildfires can become deadly. A wildfire's burning front may also change direction unexpectedly and jump across fire breaks. Intense heat and smoke can lead to disorientation and loss of appreciation of the direction of the fire, which can make fires particularly dangerous. For example, during the 1949 Mann Gulch fire in Montana, USA, thirteen smokejumpers died when they lost their communication links, became disorientated, and were overtaken by the fire.^[164] In the Australian February 2009 Victorian bushfires, at least 173 people died and over 2,029 homes and 3,500 structures were lost when they became engulfed by wildfire.^[165]

Modeling

Fire Propagation Model

Wildfire modeling is concerned with numerical simulation of wildfires in order to comprehend and predict fire behavior.^[166][167] Wildfire modeling can ultimately aid wildfire suppression, namely increase the safety of firefighters and the public, reduce risk, and minimize damage. Using computational science, wildfire modeling involves the statistical analysis of past fire events to predict spotting risks and front behavior. Various wildfire propagation models have been proposed in the past, including simple ellipses and egg- and fan-shaped models. Early attempts to determine wildfire behavior assumed terrain and vegetation uniformity. However, the exact behavior of a wildfire's front is dependent on a variety of factors, including windspeed and slope steepness. Modern growth models utilize a combination of past ellipsoidal descriptions and Huygens' Principle to simulate fire growth as a continuously expanding polygon.^[168][169] Extreme value theory may also be used to predict the size of large wildfires. However, large fires that exceed suppression capabilities are often regarded as statistical outliers in standard analyses, even though fire policies are more influenced by catastrophic wildfires than by small fires.^[17]

See also

Disasters portal

Fire portal

Notes

1. ^ This section is a composite of several references. Refer to:
   • US Forest Service. Influence of Forest Structure on Wildfire Behavior and the Severity of Its Effects [PDF]; November 2003 [cited 2008-11-19].
   • National Wildfire Coordinating Group Communicator's Guide For Wildland Fire Management, 3.
   • National Wildfire Coordinating Group. National Wildfire Coordinating Group Fireline Handbook, Appendix B: Fire Behavior [PDF]; April, 2006 [cited 2008-12-11].
   • Scott, Joe H.; Burgan, Robert E. Standard Fire Behavior Fuel Models: A Comprehensive Set for Use with Rothermel’s Surface Fire Spread Model [PDF]. June 2005 [cited 2009-02-05].

References

Bibliography

External links

• Bushfire Cooperative Research Centre
• Global Fire Monitoring Center
• International Association of Wildland Fire
• International Forest Fire News
• NASA Wildfire Research and Applications Partnership (WRAP)
• National Interagency Fire Center: National Wildfire Coordinating Group Communicator's Guide For Wildland Fire Management Table of Contents
• National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA): Economic Costs of Wildfires
• University of Toronto Fire Management Systems Laboratory Recent Publications
• US BLM Fire and Aviation
• USFS: Fire and Aviation Management
• USFS: Fire and Environmental Research Applications Team Products & Publications
• USFS: Fire, Fuel, and Smoke Science Program
• Wildlandfire.com Wildfire photographs
• Wildland Fire Operations Research Group (WFORG): Detection Workshop Presentations

From Wikiquote

Wildfire (2005-) is a drama television show, airing on ABC Family, about an eighteen-year-old girl who, after serving time at a teen detention center, is given the opportunity to start a new life. Her talent with horses is recognized by a volunteer and local trainer, who arranges a job for her at a ranch.

Season 1

Pilot [1.1]

Junior: I want you to know that I'm an honorable man. I could've just waited five minutes and you would've been entirely...

Kris: Go home. If Pablo sees you...

Junior: Pablo's in his house. His light is on. I can see him from here.

Kris: What are you doing here?

Junior: I thought you'd might like to go to a hottub party with us.

Kris: Thanks. I don't have a suit.

Junior: Who said anything about suits?

Kris: Cute. I don't think so.

Junior: You're right. I'd rather be alone with you anyway.

Kris: You are so lucky you dont even know to live in a place like this I grew up in a four- plex behind a bowling alley.

Matt: Be carful what you wish for.

Kris: Oh come on you don't like it here?

Matt: When you've been mucking stalls your whole life, I mean when I'm done with school I'm outta here.

Kris: To do what?

Matt: Anything except the family business. I want to know what it's like outside of Freemont, California.

Kris: Yeah well, you might be disappointed.

Matt: Sounds like you've had some experience.

Kris: Yeah.

Kris: [to Jean] I've made some mistakes and I paid for them. I hope I don't have to keep paying for them my entire life.

Kris: [to Dani] What are you trying to do to me?

Amber: [after insulting Kris] I'm sorry, she totally freaked me out. I thought she was going to hit me!

Matt: I was going to hit you!

Kris: I swear, I will never kiss another boy again, ever!

Trust [1.2]

Dani: Don't you dare!

Junior: Or, you can call this whole thing with Kris an unfortunate misunderstanding.

[Pause, Dani looking shocked.]

Dani: I hate you.

Junior: I knew you'd understand.

Kris: Can you two stop it? Don't you get it, they could stick me with another parole violation and I could go back to LaGrange. I don't give a rat's ass about some Polly.

Junior: Molly.

Matt: Junior. Shut up.

[pause]

Junior: I'm sorry Kris.

Kris: I wish I could tell him I didn't leave him.

Pablo: It's all about trust and you lost his, we all have.

Kris: Yeah, well it's a mean world and maybe he's right. Maybe you shouldn't trust everyone who gives you a carrot.

Jean: [waving Kris to sit down] No, no, no. You to. I want you to know I should fire you for what happened yesterday, but Junior Davis told me what his sister did to you.

Kris: I shouldn't have hit her.

Jean: Yeah, that's right.

Kris: I didn't know what else to do!

Jean: You come to me. It's hard for you to trust me, isn't it?

Kris:Yeah, it is.

Jean: Well you're just going to have to take a chance. I'm here. I'm telling you that. You got time. Your safe now Kris. OK, then, um... you've got some unpacking to do, right?

Kris: Right. Thank you.

Kris: Can I ride with you?

Junior: I was just about to ask if you wanted to drive.

Kris: You had to ask.

Junior: You are such a psycho, if he were so in love with you he wouldn't have dumped you.

Junior: For God Sake's, I'll keep my hands on the wheel.

Kris: You will, or I'll break both of your arms.

Mothers [1.3]

Kris: Hey. Thanks for getting Dani to drop the charges against me.

Junior: Anytime. I'm full of good deeds. You just have to ask.

Kris: Mom? Mom wait! Mom I'm sorry. Matt took the ring. I should have believed you.

Barb: Does that mean you're coming with me?

Kris: I can't -- I just -- Are you mad?

Barb: Mad? No. I'm a little hurt, I guess.

Dani: [to Sasha] Were those free with the tummy tuck and the lipo?

Bobby: The good news is I'm hosting a little soiree at my place tomorrow. Cocktails, swimming, hotties...

Matt: Whoo! Three of our favorite things.

Matt: What about Dani?

Junior: We can only hope her dark master calls her back to hell.

Danni: All work and no sex make Danni a dull girl.

Bobby: Girl, does your daddy even know where you are?

Guilty [1.4]

Kris: How is everything?

Matt: Great thanks, I'll meet you at the car.

Junior: Here you go, keep the change.

Kris: Whats this?

Junior: A tip.

Kris: Five dollars is a tip this is something different.

Junior: Yeah payment for the grief and the three dinners my sister sent back.

Kris: I'll get the change.

Dani: What's she doing here?

Junior: Waiting tables. Trying to decide whether to spit or put a dead cockroach in your salad.

Jean: I just wanna know what's in his [Matt's] mind.

Charlie: She's probably blonde and naked.

The Claiming Race [1.5]

Kris: So, you didn't want to?

Junior: No, you didn't.

Junior: What's the big deal? Go to a club. Spend some time together. Friends plus benefits.

Kris: I don't know.

Junior: One night of fun and romance. I guarantee you'll be back for more, and if not, no hard feelings.

Kris: Pick me up at 8:30.

Junior: So, back home to the wicked stepsisters?

Kris: Huh, not even.

Junior: Well just so you know, I put the claim in on Wildfire before we went out. Come on. Tell me I'm a great guy.

Kris: Yeah, you were a great guy...today.[Leans over and kisses him passionatly]

Pablo: [to Jean] If Wildfire goes, I'm gonna follow.

Pablo: [referring to Wildfire] He's counter-suggestive.

Lost & Found [1.6]

Junior: This afternoon when you talked about your mom and those guys. And that, you said it wan't a secret. But it was. I know it bothered you.

Kris: Are you trying to be a smart ass?

Junior: NO!

Kris: What do you know?

Junior: I know, and you know why? Because I watch you. I have no idea what makes me do it, but every time you turn your head, anytime you laugh out loud, or lift your hand to drink a cup of coffee. Or the way your smile spreads from one side of your face to the other. I don't just watch, I see. And I saw your face when you said that stuff today. I know it hurt you. And thats your secret. I won't tell.

Kris: What's yours?

Junior: Isn't it obvious? I mean it, I see you.

Kris: Maybe, but we're alone in the woods in the dark. Your eyes play tricks on you.

[Junior shakes his head and they kiss]

[Kris hands Dani her jacket when she gets cold]

Dani: This doesn't mean we're friends.

Kris: Just put it on.

Dani: [to Junior] Were you really looking for horses, or did you just bring Kris to go skinny-dipping?

Charlie: [referring to Dani] She seems like a nice girl.

Jean: Yes, she "seems" like one.

Junior: Blistering sun pounding down on your head, branches slapping you in the face, mosquitos dive bombing every patch of exposed skin. What lucky soul gets to ride horse #2?

Matt: Kris

Junior: Can I come?

Kris: I have never seen a place like this before.

Junior: Mosquitos, dry heat, and dead grass?

Kris: You can say what you want. The grass isn't dead. I've seen it get green the minute that it rains.

The Track [1.7]

Dani: [to Kris] Ya know, I always thought my brother was a superficial dork. At least he's not superficial. He's a good guy.

Kris: You can't fake a mother like that.

Ely: Pay up today or something's gonna happen.

Matt: What's that supposed to mean?

Ely: I think you already know.

Matt: There's a chance it wasn't an accident.

Kris: Who would want to hurt Wildfire?

Matt: I have no idea. But it wouldn't be the first time a horse was poisoned at the track.

Matt: Next time you want something come after me.

Ely: What?

Matt: Leave my horse alone!

Ely: I don't know what you're talking about, I love horses.

Dani: Give me the phone or I'll post your PSAT scores on my blog.

Junior: What were they again?

Dani: 490 Math, 550 Verbal.

Pablo: I know Carlos. I watched him work with horses for four years. I don't care how mad he is. He's not going to hurt one.

Junior: Come on, it's just dinner.

Kris: It's never just dinner.

Junior: That was a great kiss.

Kris: Yeah, it was.

Kris: I have faith in you Matt. You're going down a bad path, but you're going to turn it around. I know it.

The Party [1.8]

Junior: A curse on Sweden.

Matt: What about all the hot blondes?

Junior: Not the hot blondes.

Junior: You have a great right hook.

Kris: That's because men are dogs.

Junior: All men are dogs?

Kris: Well, different breeds, same goal.

Kris: So when are you giving Elvis back his car?

Win: When he pries the keys from my cold, dead fingers...And believe me that won't be anytime soon.

Win: You live here?

Matt: Yeah. 'Til my mom finds out I threw this party.

Win: Good luck with that.

Kris: [After laughing with Junior about trying their relationship again] We're not good at this!

Junior: No.

Kris: We're better at this. [Grabs and kisses Junior]

Kris: I mean about Matt and you...

Junior: We're just friends. We've never kissed.

Matt: I think you should quit while you're behind.

Bobby: Hey, that's good advice. Maybe you should take it yourself.

Junior: Did she say he was a friend?

Matt: No, an old, old, old friend.

Dani: What sport do you play?

Evan: I don't know, is calculus a sport?

Junior: [to Matt] It takes a good son like you to enjoy wearing such a tight leash.

Junior: [to Kris] I think I'm in love with you.

Kris: You can't be we just met. You don't even know me.

Junior: But I can get to know you.

Identity [1.9]

Junior: You sure you don't want to go somewhere else?

Kris: [laughs] I have to get back but do you wanna hang out tomorrow?

Junior: Wait, you're asking me out?

Kris: Maybe...

Kris: [to Pablo and Jean] I'm sorry if that's not the future you guys want for me but that's what I want.

Matt: I'll do anything!

Jean: [crestfallen] I've heard that before...

Kris: Matt, you're a really good friend.

Matt: Do me a favor. Don't tell me that.

Henry: Kris isn't there.

Junior: I know, I've been knocking for five minutes!

Henry: She's in the hospital... took a bad spill.

Kris: You make me nervous!

Junior: So I do have an effect on you!

Tina: [to Kris] I hate to break it to you, but you're too old. I started [jockeying] when I was thirteen.

Dani: [to Evan] It's weird... I know more about this horse's mother than my own mother.

Junior: You love horses, Paris Hilton loves posing nude with small dogs.

Kris: Don't make this a big deal.

Matt: This is a big deal!

Tina Sharp [1.10]

Matt: Who's Luke Perry?

Dani: He was in the The Breakfast Club.

Matt: Oh.

Dani: Or Aerosmith.

Junior: Okay, there are probably gonna be some photographers here from Horse and Track, so get ready to smile.

Kris: Photographers? Like they're gonna care about us.

Junior: Come on. You're a hot young jock riding the horse whose life you saved. Plus, my dad owns the magazine...

Kris: Matt, is this thing between you and Tina for real or is it just a fling?

Matt: I don't know. What about you and Junior?

Kris: I don't do flings.

Kris: [to Tina] You know, I'm starting to get why you don't have any women friends.

Tina: [to Kris, about Junior and Matt] You win a couple races, you can have both of them and anybody else you want!

Evan: I think this is about something else.

Dani: All right. Like what?

Evan: You freaking out that your mother isn't a princess from Barcelona.

Dani: What'd you do, take a freakin' Tom Cruise pill?

Junior: Blame it on her. [pointing to Kris]

Dani: [to Junior] I just wanted someone... I could talk to... Of course, that's just stupid.

Kris: [to Tina] I'm not here for you! I'm here for him [Wildfire].

Impressions [1.11]

Dani: I'm going to find my mother. I don't care that you sent your lawyer to intimidate me into not looking for her. Did you forget about that? I didn't.

Ken Davis: Dani we have a guest.

Dani: Oh. This isn't a good time? Because I've been waiting two weeks and you haven't said a word.

Dani: [to Isabelle] Are you my mother?

Kris: [to Tina] ... but I'll never see things the same way as you!

Matt: You know, I'm sick of people riding my ass. You're not my dad.

Pablo: I know.

Junior: [to Kris] Welcome to the Davis "Family Circus."

Pablo: [to Tina] The best part was when I thought I'd never see you again.

Kris: What are you doing?

Tina: Hi! I'm putting on my game face.

Loyalty [1.12]

Kris: Why are you doing this to Matt?

Tina: I think it's actually what he's doing to me.

Kris: You know that's not what I mean, he cares about you.

Tina: Are you scared you're not going to get him back?

Kris: That's not what I'm saying.

Tina: No? Bring Wildfire out to the track when you're done, OK?

Kris: [to Junior, about having sex] Yeah. But not here. And there's a big rock under my back.

Pablo: Tina Sharp wins races 'cause she's passionate and has to prove something. They say fight fire with fire.

Tina: [to Matt, after kissing him goodbye] You're cute.

Charlie: [to Jean, about Matt & Tina] The more you hassle him, the more attractive she'll look.

Junior: [after sex] That was...

Kris: It was.

Junior: [after sex] What are you doing?

Kris: Remembering this.

Junior: But I'm still here.

Kris: You'd better be.

Junior: [to Kris, after she breaks up with him] I thought you loved me.

Kris: I... I do.

Season 2

Try it Without the Porsche! [2.1]

Dani: So is this what you mean by trying it without the Porsche?

Kris: [After seeing Junior alive] I thought you were dead... and the car... the car was!

Junior: Yeah, well, that's dead. Hey, It's a convertible, I landed it in the water. Look there's not a scratch on me, its me! [Grabs her hand and puts it to his face]

Kris:[slaps Junior] How could you do that to me? How could you do that to your sister, and to Matt?

Junior: Oh My God, are they going to slap me too!

Kris: Oh God! [Grabs him and hold him in her arms while crying.]

Opportunity Knocks [2.2]

Junior: [After kissing Kris] I miss you. Come over to my house for dinner. [Kris looks shocked] Ok. I'll see you at seven then. [Leans over and kisses her]

A Good Convict Is Hard to Find [2.3]

Cast

• Genevieve Cortese - Kristine "Kris" Furillo
• Micah Alberti - Matt Ritter
• Nicole Tubiola - Danielle "Dani" Davis
• Greg Serano - Pablo Betart
• Nana Visitor - Jean Ritter
• Dennis Weaver - Henry Ritter
• Andrew Hoeft - Todd Ritter
• Ryan Sypek - Junior Davis
• James Read - Ken Davis
• Shanna Collins - Amber (Season 1)

External links

Wikipedia has an article about:

Wildfire (TV show)

• Wildfire quotes at the Internet Movie Database
• Wildfire at TV.com