Wildfire: Difference between revisions

A '''wildfire''' is any uncontrolled [[fire]] that occurs in the [[countryside]] or [[wildland]].<ref name="operations1">''Federal Fire and Aviation Operations Action Plan'', 4.</ref><ref name="Cambridge">{{citation |url=http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=90587&dict=CALD|title=Wildfire|publisher= Cambridge University Press|accessdate=2009-07-14}}</ref> Other names such as '''brush fire''', '''[[bushfire]]''', '''forest fire''', '''grass fire''', '''hill fire''', '''[[Peat#Fires|peat fire]]''', '''vegetation fire''', and '''wildland fire''' may be used to describe the same [[phenomenon]]. A wildfire differs from other fires by its extensive size; the speed at which it can spread out from its original source; its ability to change direction unexpectedly; and to jump gaps, such as roads, rivers and fire breaks.<ref name = NIFC>{{citation | url = http://www.nifc.gov/preved/comm_guide/wildfire/fire_4.html | title = The Science of Wildland fire | publisher = National Interagency Fire Center | accessdate = 2008-11-21}}</ref> Wildfires are characterized in terms of their physical properties such as speed of [[wikt:propagation|propagation]]; the combustible material present; the effect of weather on the fire; and the cause of ignition.<ref name=UToronto />

 

 

The strategies of prevention, detection, and suppression have varied over the years, but international conferences encourage "improved technology and research as weapons against wildfires around the world."<ref>{{citation|title=International Experts Study Ways to Fight Wildfires|url=http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-06-24-voa7.cfm|accessdate=2009-07-09|date=2009-06-24|publisher=VOA News}}</ref> Current techniques may permit and even encourage smaller fires in some regions as a means of minimizing or removing sources of [[fuel]] from any wildfire that might develop.<ref name=IS>''Interagency Strategy for the Implementation of the Federal Wildland Fire Policy'', entire text</ref><ref>''National Wildfire Coordinating Group Communicator's Guide For Wildland Fire Management'', entire text</ref> While some wildfires burn in remote forested regions,<ref>{{citation|url=http://www.getprepared.gc.ca/knw/ris/wldf-eng.aspx|title=Wildfires in Canada|accessdate=2009-07-09|date=2009-02-04|publisher=Government of Canada}}</ref> 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.<ref name=IS />