How to prevent forest fires

There are some basic measures that must always be respected to help avoid these fires. Here are some tips and Measures to prevent forest fires:

• Do not make fire in a risk season: It may seem very evident, but for many it is not so. In Spain, for example, this time is between June 1 and November 1. Any heat or spark source in these months can be disastrous.
• Do not leave waste: In forest terrain, any crystal or object that acts as a magnifying glass, or any combustible material can be equally fatal. Of course, smoking in these environments should always be avoided, and butts should never be thrown to the ground or from the car through the window.
• Pay attention to recommendations, Swork everything at risk: In addition to avoiding bonfires in forests and throwing waste, the authorities recommend that, in case of living in an area susceptible to fire, we do not propose species of hedges and plants that can easily burn. It also helps avoid barbecues.
• Have a fire prevention plan and acting: neighbors of areas with forest fire risk must be specially aware and prepared. Do not make barbecues on wind days, have no hedge or vegetation especially fuel in the garden and even have hydrants and water deposits every certain distance.
• Ask for authorization sI are going to make a fire: We must increasingly reduce irresponsible behaviors to avoid catastrophes. An example of this is to request permission and ask for the ideal conditions to make a fire.
• Do not make use of instruments or materials that can generate sparks: The causes of a fire can be or natural or human, so it is in our hand to reduce the maximum impact. Avoid using this type of mechanical utensils that can generate a spark.
• Do not take off vehicles anywhere in the forest: The exhaust tube is heat source and sparks. It should not be parking or circulating except in areas enabled for it. Similarly occurs with combustion or electric motor devices.
• Do not use forest and/or agricultural machinery at risk season: In the same way that vehicles represent a risk, forest and agricultural machinery is also.
• Increase the environmental awareness of people: Education is the best recommendation to prevent forest fires, how many more people are aware of the consequences they generate, there will be more prevention.
• Notify the authorities: Another of the tips to prevent forest fires is that whenever we suspect that some inadequate activity is being carried out in the forest that can lead to a fire or that one is already starting, we must go to the authorities to act as soon as possible and prevent the fire from taking place or, they can control it and extinguish it quickly.

There are different factors that can cause forest fires. Now, in order to prevent them properly, it is necessary to distinguish between the possible causes of forest fires, which can be natural or can be directly related to humans:

Natural causes of forest fires

With the arrival of heatespecially of the heat and the canicle waves, and the arrival of the drought, the plants are unable to maintain adequate levels of moisture and begin to dry, releasing ethylenea compound Highly flammable. This makes any spark in the environment can cause a great fire, and things like the fall of lightning are more than enough.

The fires caused by:

• Volcanoes
• Earthquakes
• Concentration of light by crossing certain minerals, which take on a magnifying glass.

However, natural fires are minimal if we compare them with those caused by the hand of man. In Spain, only 5% of fires are caused by natural causes.

Anthropogenic causes of forest fires

Now that we have seen the natural causes of forest fires, we will see the anthropogenic causes or, said more easily, by the hand of man. They are much more likely in areas where human activity is close to large forest masses, that is, in urban-forest interface areas.

Several types of anthropogenic causes of forest fires are distinguished, such as:

• Accidental: electric overloads, fallen cables, forest or agricultural machinery accidents and even caused by hunter ammunition.
• For negligence: They are very common and caused by human carelessness as a result of bad education or lack of awareness. They cause poorly performed agrarian practices such as burning stubble, or oversight with butts, fires or other heat sources by people in the environment. The illegal landfills also enter here.
• Intentional: These are those caused by economic interests or by people with pathologies of some kind that push them to it. Almost half of forest fires in the world are caused intentionally by man.

We recommend you learn more about this with this other post about forest fires: what are, how types and parts are produced.

In addition to the most obvious consequences, which are the habitat destruction of a large number of species both animals and plants and deforestation, the damage of a forest fire extends beyond, even to the death of animals and other living beings.

The loss of biodiversity can alter ecosystems with a greater range even than that of the fire, the large fires throw into the atmosphere huge amounts of CO2which contributes to aggravate the already undeniable and obvious global warming, and The soil is impoverished and desertified. In addition, the waters of the area can be contaminated, both superficial and underground currents, extending damage both to nature and the human being.

Finally, the loss of human livesalthough less frequent, it does not escape the list of consequences, and that is often affected by homes or populated areas, or even fire extinction equipment.

These are, in summary, the main consequences of forest fires:

• Deforestation.
• Habitat destruction.
• Deaths.
• Loss of biodiversity.
• Desertification
• Atmospheric pollution.
• Water pollution.
• Increased global warming.

Learn more about the consequences of forest fires with this other article and in this video of ecology, in which you will find very useful information.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kmv8Casjuy

If you want to read more articles similar to How to prevent forest fireswe recommend that you enter our category of other environment.