No, Canada can't simply put out all the fires Here is their analysis of the wildfires, edited for length and clarity: Sarah Budd, provincial information officer of the British Columbia Wildfire Service.Daniel Perrakis, a fire research scientist with the Canadian Forest Service in British Columbia.Paige Fischer, an environmental scientist at the University of Michigan.Quinn Barber, a fire science analyst at the Canadian Forest Services in Alberta.To get answers about Canada's wildfire, NPR contacted four experts: should simply get used to the idea that their summers will be marked by weeks of smoke rather than blue skies and clear sunshine. And there are concerns about whether this might simply be the new normal - if people in the central and eastern U.S. The smoke raises a number of questions, from why the fires have lasted so long to how smoke keeps ruining air quality for tens millions of people in the U.S.įor many people, the smoke is worse than any other time in recent memory. skies with an unhealthy haze for weeks, becoming a hallmark of the 2023 summer. The historic practice of putting out all fires also has caused an unnatural buildup of shrubs and debris, which can fuel larger and more intense blazes.Smoke from Canada's wildfires has filled U.S. Warmer temperatures have intensified drought and dried out forests. While many plants and animals need and benefit from wildfires, climate change has left some ecosystems more susceptible to flames, especially in the southwest United States. That sunlight can nourish smaller plants and give larger trees room to grow and flourish. At a low intensity, flames can clean up debris and underbrush on the forest floor, add nutrients to the soil, and open up space to let sunlight through to the ground. By clearing scrub and underbrush, fires can make way for new grasses, herbs, and shrubs that provide food and habitat for animals and birds. ![]() ![]() They can kill insects and diseases that harm trees. Wildfires also help keep ecosystems healthy. Some plants require fire every few years, while others require fire just a few times a century for the species to continue. Plants such as these depend on wildfires in order to pass through a regular life cycle. The leaves of these plants include a flammable resin that feeds fire, helping the plants to propagate. For example, some tree cones need to be heated before they open and release their seeds chaparral plants, which include manzanita, chamise ( Adenostoma fasciculatum), and scrub oak ( Quercus berberidifolia), require fire before seeds will germinate. Still, wildfires are essential to the continued survival of some plant species. For example, the 2018 Camp Fire in Butte County, California destroyed almost the entire town of Paradise in total, 86 people died. Wildfires that burn near communities can become dangerous and even deadly if they grow out of control. Topography plays a big part too: flames burn uphill faster than they burn downhill. Wind, high temperatures, and little rainfall can all leave trees, shrubs, fallen leaves, and limbs dried out and primed to fuel a fire. However, it is often the weather conditions that determine how much a wildfire grows. Wildfires can start with a natural occurrence-such as a lightning strike-or a human-made spark. Sierra Nevada forest fires often include both crown and surface spots. ![]() Some regions, like the mixed conifer forests of California’s Sierra Nevada mountain range, can be affected by different types of wildfires. Crown fires burn in the leaves and canopies of trees and shrubs. Parched grass or fallen leaves often fuel surface fires. Surface fires, on the other hand, burn in dead or dry vegetation that is lying or growing just above the ground. Ground fires can smolder for a long time-even an entire season-until conditions are right for them to grow to a surface or crown fire. Ground fires typically ignite in soil thick with organic matter that can feed the flames, like plant roots. Wildfires can burn in vegetation located both in and above the soil. They are not limited to a particular continent or environment. Wildfires can burn in forests, grasslands, savannas, and other ecosystems, and have been doing so for hundreds of millions of years. A wildfire is an uncontrolled fire that burns in the wildland vegetation, often in rural areas.
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