Forest

fires
When you say,‘‘9 out of 10 forest fires are
caused by humans,”all I hear is,‘‘there’s a
bear out there who knows how to use
matches.’’
 What is
forest fire
A forest fire is a type of wildfire where an
uncontrolled fire rages through vegetation generally
more than 6 feet in height.
 Types of forest fires

01 02 03
Surface fire Underground fire Ground fire

04 05
Crown fire Firestorm
 SURFACE FIRE
• A forest fire may burn primarily as a surface fire, spreading along the
ground as the surface litter (senescent leaves and twigs and dry grasses
etc.) on the forest floor and is engulfed by the spreading flames.

• Its comparatively easy to put out this fire

Underground fire

● The fires of low intensity, consuming the organic matter

beneath the surface are sub-grouped as underground fire.

● In most of the dense forests a thick mantle of organic

matter is found on top of the mineral soil. This fire spreads
in by consuming such materials.

● These fires usually spread entirely underground and burn

for some meters below the surface. This fire spreads very
slowly and in most of the cases it becomes very hard to
detect and control such type of fires.

● They may continue to burn for months and destroy

vegetative cover of the soil. The other terminology for this
type of fire is Muck fires.
 Ground fires
• This fire burns root and other material on or beneath
the surface.

• There is no clear distinction between underground

and ground fires.

• They are more damaging than surface fires, as they

can destroy vegetation completely

• Usually ignited by surface fires.

 Crown fire
• A crown fire is one in which the crown of trees and shrubs
burn, often sustained by a surface fire.

• A crown fire is particularly very dangerous in a coniferous

forest because resinous material given off burning logs burn
furiously.

• A forest fire that advances often at great speed from crown

to crown often well in advance of the fire on the ground.
 firestorm
• Among the forest fires, the fire spreading most rapidly is the firestorm, which is an
intense fire over a large area.

• As the fire burns, heat rises and air rushes in, causing the fire to grow. More air
makes the fire spin violently like a storm.

• Temperatures inside these storms can reach around 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit.
 Causes of forest fires

01 02 03
natural Due to human controlled
neglect
 Causes of forest fires
• Natural causes - Many forest fires start from natural causes such as
lightning which set trees on fire. However, rain extinguishes such fires
without causing much damage. High atmospheric temperatures and dryness
(low humidity) offer favorable circumstance for a fire to start.

• Due to human neglect- Fire is caused when a source of fire like naked flame,
cigarette, electric spark or any source of ignition comes into contact with
inflammable material. Mostly the causes of forest fire are made.

• Controlled- Controlled burning is any fire intentionally ignited to meet

specific land management objectives, such as to reduce flammable fuels,
restore ecosystem health, recycle nutrients, or prepare an area for new trees
or vegetation.
 Impacts
of forest
fires
• Loss of valuable timber resources.
• Loss of biodiversity and extinction of
plants.
• Loss of natural regeneration.
• Global warming.
• Soil erosion affecting productivity of soil
and production.
• Affects the process of photosynthesis.
 More impacts
• Loss of recreational use.
• Loss of visual amenity .
• Changed water yield and quality.
• Extinction of various fauna.
• Increases CO2 emissions.
• Disturbs food web.
• Exposes plants and trees for diseases.
• Reduces the forest coverage area affecting the
oxygen production.
Flammability of different forests

Pine-oak
Burns more easily due
to resins

Other two
Very less cases observed
due to humidity

Survey of USA,observing which type of forest contributes most in forest fires.

 STATISTICS

50.8% 41% 85%

Forests Asia %age of

prone to contributes fires
fire in 41% of caused by
india forest fires human.
in world

Source: State of Forest Report of 1995 (FSI)

infamous fires around the globe
Amazon fire 2019

Bandipur fire india 2019

Camp fire US 2018

Uttarakhand fire India 2016

Australian bushfire 2019

Greek forest fire 2007

The Great fire US 1910

 Case study on 2019 AMAZON FIRE

cause impacts
Fire has been used to clear space in the
rainforest for agricultural crops, from 906,000 hectares of forest area has
soybeans to palm to cattle. been burnt.
In Brazil—which controls the majority of the It is estimated that 25 percent of the
vast forest—regulations were put into place
over a decade ago to curb the expanse of
pharmaceutical drugs sold in the U.S.
deforestation, but these rules have been are derived from 40 Amazon plants.
loosened by the new Brazilian These are all at risk. There are over 250
administration, and consequently fires are Species of trees per hectare.
spiking. Most fires are caused by human The Amount of damage it did was huge.
activity, especially clearing lands for
farming.
 Case study on 2019 bandipur FIRE

cause impacts
Karnataka's top forest official confirmed
that an "act of sabotage" had caused the Over 10,000 acres of forest in Bandipur
blaze. Forest officials have arrested two area was destroyed. small animals,
shepherds for allegedly setting fire to the reptiles, which are slow-moving, would
forest. Fearing tiger attacks on their cattle in
Bandipur, on 22 February 2019 they had
have borne the brunt, while bigger
sparked the fire to chase away a tiger which mammals like leopards and tigers would
was spotted in the area for a month or so, have fled to the Bandipur Tiger Reserve
leading to massive fire. Sudden climatic and taken refuge in nearby areas.
change, rapid growth of dry grass and
winds also made the fire to spread rapidly
 Case study on camp fire u.s.a

cause impacts
California Fire department has determined
that the Camp Fire was caused by electrical The fire, which started on Nov. 8,
transmission lines owned and operated by
Pacific Gas and Electricity (PG&E) located in
killed 85 people and destroyed
the Pulga area. nearly 19,000 homes, businesses
Cal Fire identified two ignition points, both and other buildings.
of which were sparked by PG&E power
lines. As Cal Fire notes,
The Camp Fire ultimately burnt a
the fires then spread with the help of warm total of 153,336 acres
temperatures, dry vegetation, and strong
winds
 Case study on uttrakhand fire

cause impacts
Resin is harvested from the pines,
These forest fires combined have
and fires are often intentionally set to
destroyed nearly 4,048 hectares of land,
remove the carpet of pine needles
in 1,857 incidents. The damage to
that come in the way of harvesting
biodiversity with loss of flora, fauna, and
activity. Even after the ban on this
bird species were significantly high than
practice some people carried on,
larger animals such as tigers, deer and
resulting in the fires, moreover high
elephants
temperature and lack of rainfall made
the situation worse.
 Case study on 2019 australian
bushfire

cause impacts
Bushfires can originate from
Around 70 per cent
both human activity and
of Australia's population was
natural causes with lightning the
exposed to bushfire smoke, tourism
predominant natural source,
,agriculture also got a major hit.18
accounting for about half of all
million hectares was destroyed
ignitions in Australia. The rest of
killing millions of animals. Human
the fires are from human origin
fatalities and much more
are classified as accidental or
deliberate.
 Case study on greek forest fire

cause impacts
Officials said these fires were the
During the 2007 summer period, 68
result of arson(act of deliberately
people were killed, while another 2,094
settings things on fire),
people were injured. More than 100
as the firefighters found many
villages and settlements were damaged;
bottles with gasoline in affected
the burned forest and agricultural land
areas. Arson is also suspected for the
constitutes about 2 % (190,836 ha) of
fires in Peloponnese, as more than 20
the total area of Greece.
fires started at about the same time.
 Case study on the great fire

cause impacts
A great number of problems The Great Fire of 1910 destroyed three
contributed to the destruction million acres of forests.
caused by the Great Fire of At least 78 firefighters were killed while
trying to control the fire.
1910. The summer sufficiently
destroyed numerous manmade
hot to have been described as structures, including several entire
"like no others.“ Hundreds of towns, and burned more than three
fires were ignited by hot cinders million acres of forest with an estimated
flung from locomotives, sparks, billion dollars' worth of timber
lightning.
THANKS!
Group members:
• Manan (20039)
• Shubham (20050)
 references!
• https://vikaspedia.in/energy/environment/know-your-environment/forest-fires

• https://nidm.gov.in/pdf/pubs/forest%20fire.pdf

• http://www.fao.org/3/ad653e/ad653e88.htm