On September 9, 2012 lightning hit Washington State starting
the Wenatchee Complex Fire. According the Science Daily, the fire has grown
over 39,000 acres and in only 22 percent contained. The fire is becoming so bad
because there are a series of smaller fires inside the larger fires. The Canyon
Fire has consumed 7,601 acres, Byrd Fire: 13,978 acres, Poison Canyon fire,
5,999 acres, Pevine Canyon: 7,540 acres, First Creek: 1,237 acres, Pyramid
Fire: 431 acres, Klone Fire: 1,103 acres, Cashmere: 658 acres, Basalt: 136
acres, Misc: 737 acres. Most of these fires have not been contained yet. Within
these fires there is the Okanogen Complex Fire that started from a lightning
strike a day prior to the Wenatchee Fire, consuming over 5,000 acres. Inside of
this fire included Buckhorn, Leecher, and the Hunter Fire. Then, a week after
this, the Goat Fire started, with a cause still undergoing investigation.
Science Daily continues on to
explain the Table Mountain Complex Fire that also started by a lightning strike
on September 8 of this year. Currently 9,500 acres have been consumed. This fire
includes four larger fires along with some smaller fires as well. This behavior
has been caused by inversion lifting overnight holds on lightning strikes,
making them become active. As SD explains, “An inversion is smoke and warm
gasses which are generated by a fire that rises only until the temperature
equals that of the surrounding air; then, the smoke flattens out and spreads
horizontally because it has lost it’s lift. It’s a very stable condition which
may trap smoke or fog near Earth’s surface.” The cause of an inversion is wind
shifts which can create a much larger fire, rather than a fire that is
sustainable. Those embers can then spread to another forest, and catch flame
there, too.
Along with this fire, the Yakama
Fire Complex caught flame on the 8th because of, yet again, another
lighting storm. There have been over 3,000 strikes in Eastern Washington,
creating over 100 fires. Thus leaving forest to be completely destroyed and
with only 40 percent of these fires contained, more and more acres are being
consumed daily. The biggest concern right now is keeping the fires from moving
east onto the Yakama nation, and private lands.
In trying to search more research
about how to prevent wildfires, I went to SmokeyBear.com to find out more
information. A few shocking things were found when I visited the website. There
are 5701466 acres that have been burned this year, thus ruining lands that
could be used for agricultural purposes, houses, and animal habitats. This not
only destroys Mother Nature, but hurts our overall economy as well. We can’t
grow anything on dead land; we can’t build houses because of smoke and
chemicals, thus ruining our chances for a better economy and expansion.
Not
only do fires ruin the possibility of expansion, but they make the factory jobs
much harder while still trying to improve jobs. There is a lot of equipment
used in fire suppression, such as aircraft systems for cargo, fire-retardant
chemicals, water delivery systems, firefighter clothing, bulldozers and plows,
air tankers, helicopters, bambi buckets(collapsible bucket below a helicopter),
and Pulaskis. In trying to create these, lots of factory workers have to be
hired on overtime to make them in an efficient manner to help stop the fires as
quickly as possible. Operators of the machinery are required, along with the
makers of the equipment.
In
conclusion, wildfires are serious hazards for our world. While they are very
destructive, they also have the potential to create jobs to help with our
economy, but they also have the potential to destroy our economy as well.
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