Forest Fires

Forest fires are probably the most underrated disasters in the world; consequently, people don’t normally think of forest fires as being a big catastrophe. Most people are more worried about tsunamis or tornados rather than forest fires. In some countries, this is natural because their countries have a wet climate, so forest fires are not common. However in the United States, forest fires are a big problem; maybe even more so in some parts than tornados or other natural disasters. There are many causes of forest fires, also known as wildfires. Some of them include lightning, human carelessness, slash and burn farming, heat waves, and drought. The most common cause nowadays is probably human carelessness. Many fires get started when people are camping in the forest in the summer time when it is hot and dry. They make camp fires; and when a sudden gust of wind comes through and blows some ashes from the fire onto some dry, dead leaves, the whole forest starts to burn. The next most common cause is probably lightning. The lightning strikes a tree which causes sparks and flames to fly and they catch dead leaves and branches on fire and then once again the whole forest is burning uncontrollably. The last major cause of forest fires is slash and burn farming. In slash and burn farming fires are used to clear the land and make the soil more fertile, but in some cases the fires spread into the trees, resulting in a forest fire. There are many effects forest fires have on people and the environment. The most notable effect is the destruction of houses and fields. When a forest fire starts, it is very difficult to put out. The fire is blown many miles and spreads quickly by the wind. Eventually the forest fire will stop, but not after it has burned many acres of forest and communities. Recently, in California there were forest fires that burned almost 1,200,000 acres across northern California. Fifteen people died and 511 buildings were destroyed. Not only do forest fires destroy manmade structures, they also greatly affect the atmosphere. After the 1997 forest fire in Indonesia the fire was said to have released up to 2.5 gigatonnes of Carbon Dioxide into the atmosphere, which is about 40% of yearly emissions of fossil fuels. Although forest fires can also be started by lightning, the main cause of forest fires is people being careless. If people would just be more careful, they would prevent forest fires. The effects are noticeable; many acres of forest land are burned and lots of animals are affected by this. Many houses are also destroyed which leaves people homeless. The last effect is that the atmosphere is affected; more carbon dioxide is released and pollution is made.I think that forest fires are much underrated and people should be more aware of them. They should be considered very dangerous and people should try to avoid doing things that will cause them. The causes of forest fires mostly can be prevented which should make it less dangerous, yet people do not try hard enough to prevent them from happening. In conclusion, the causes of forest fires are both natural and human causes; the effects are substantial. https://jstrong14.wordpress.com/2009/05/21/cause-and-effect-essay/