Wildfires start by the ignition of light, dry fuels such as grass, leaves, pine needles and small twigs. Several ignition sources include lightning, cigarette butts, campfires and sparks from vehicles. The fire grows with the input of fresh air and heat from the present flame. The fire moves up slope the best because heat rises. This is much like tipping a match down, the fire will move up the stick. Potential areas at risk for forest fires are logged areas, areas with little or no recent precipitation, etc.

When compared to states like California, Wisconsin does not see a great deal of destruction as the result of wildfires. In fact, the United States experiences roughly 52,000 wildfires annually; of that number, Wisconsin comprises about 5,000. Some of the factors that influence fires in Wisconsin are as follows: Weather (precipitation levels, snow melt, relative humidity), Ground fuels (roots, organic material, buried logs), Surface fuels (stumps, logging slash, pine needles, and grass), and Aerial fuel (living and dead plant material, shrubs, and small tress).

Fire is often thought of as a foe to those who live in and around the virtually untouched natural landscape.  Although unfortunate, fires do provide a great deal of good in terms of forest ecology.  Take for example the red pine groves that populate the Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA) of Minnesota.  Without the presence of fire, these trees may vanish from the landscape they currently inhabit.  Fires clear the forest floor and enable red pines to drop their seeds and reproduce without a layer of slash between the tree and the forest floor.  Provided the fire reaches a critical temperature, seeds can be released that would have otherwise remained encased inside of the cone.  In an environment such as the BWCA, fire is a necessity that gives new life to the forest.  

Fire suppression starts with an analysis of the situation. From there teams of firefighters are sent into the fire area. Their first job is to clear fire lines. When they make fire lines, the firefighters clear a strip of land around the fire of all fuels. This is done in different ways. One way is to use machines such as a bulldozer or the plow pulled by a tractor. This is the fast and most effective because the ground is stripped. Where machines can’t get to, the lines must be cleared by hand. This involves workers using plastics, shovels, rakes, chainsaws and other equipment. If fire lines cannot be made fast enough, back fires are set. Firefighters set a fire to burn back towards the main fire to starve it of further fuel. Setting the fire to burn up hill works the very best.

The fires are also doused with water from many sources. Most of the time crews bring in water tenders and pump trucks to spay water o the fire and the surrounding vegetation. Planes and helicopters are also used to dump water on the fire from above. Big tanker planes are filled with water and release their load from the sky. The helicopters are equipped with hue buckets that are filled in area lakes and then dumped on the fire. Planes and helicopters are also used to send in teams of firefighters to remote areas. These men and women are call Smoke jumpers and Rapallers. They are highly trained elite firefighters that fight fire with only the equipment on their back.

Wildfire prevention starts with education. Smokey the Bear has been teaching kids from an early age how to extinguish campfires with water and soil. He is also on signs along roads. These signs warn people of the fire hazard in the area due to weather conditions. Other ways of preventing fires is to send out info on the radio, television, pamphlets and mail to warn people of fire hazards. Many local governments require burning permits certain times of the year. Around the Upper Midwest, these times are usually summer and fall.

Simple ways a person can prevent fires is by not flicking cigarette butts, smothering campfires, and placing spark arrestors on off road vehicle. Spark arrestors are wire meshes that collect hot debris from the exhaust of vehicles. Logging companies can help prevent fires by piling up brush cut from the trees to reduce the area of dried tinder. Also prescribed burns clear fuels lying on the forest floor. The prescribed burns are monitored and controlled on the scene by firefighters and other personnel.

On Saturday, May 5, 2007 in Ham Lake, a fire started in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA). The blaze started by an out of hand campfire, required residents and visitors to evacuate and caused 75,000 acres to burn in both the United States and in Canada. The fire burned up 118 square acres of forest and damaged 130 businesses, homes, campgrounds and lodgings. The fire was fought from both air and land and took three weeks to finally put it out. The fire in May 2007 isn’t the first for BWCA; in fact, it is the third major fire for the area in three years. Two fires started in July of 2006, these started by lightning strikes and another fire started on July 30, 2005. Massive amounts of trees had been blown down in 1999 on July 4th from a storm and the downed trees provided much fodder for the fire. The Boundary Waters is a loved wilderness area home to campers, seasonal residents, fishers, hikers and explorers many of whom had to be evacuated during the most recent blaze.

Evacuation and emergency management plans are assembled by county sheriff’s departments. The evacuation and management plans create maps and instructions giving routes, display where emergency contact can be made, who to contact, and areas to avoid. Also outlined are the duties conducted by specific professionals and how they carry out their work efficiently and safely. The Boundary Waters Canoe Area covers Cook and Lake counties which requires the two counties to combine efforts when executing management styles. The two counties work in unison in the event of extensive storm or fire damage in the area.

Conclusions

Fire will always be a hazard that will never go away. We need to embrace this hazard that we all live with on an everyday basis. Fire tends to have a negative impact on our lives when it gets carried away like most of the phenomenon's around us. However, fire is needed for our everyday lives. Without fire, the majority of the tools, equipment, and products we use would be none existent without it. In the end, fire will always benefit society and will sometimes have a negative impact on our lives and our landscape.

References

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**This site was created in part of a class project for Geography 361: Environmental Hazards at the University of Wisconsin- Eau Claire.**