Forest fires are the "scariest things" in California, the "most extensive" single occurring environmental problem in Europe, a "major concern" in Africa and the "most devastating" phenomena in Australia.
It is the burning of surface vegetation in the wild which starts from uncontrolled heat sources and often spread to human imprints. It is recorded in literature that most of the forest fires experienced in the world today have been caused by humans. The only true natural source of heat for these fires, which is lightning, accounts for only very few cases.
It is almost impossible to prevent forest fires or wild fires, if you like, since they occur yearly across the globe. Suppose the human causes are prevented with a high degree of success, what do we do about the natural cause, lightning?
Several prevention laws, policies, strategies and actions have been implemented by various responsible authorities across the globe but with a mean "level 3" success rate across the globe (supposing we create an imaginary success meter calibrated from level 1-10).
Fires can only thrive in the presence of three conditions which are oxygen, heat and combustible material (fuel). Hence the fire triangle described by many. However, starting a fire does not ensure it's sustainability given rise to a new fire triangle with four faces (fire tetrahedron). The fourth condition which ensures a fire remains sustainable is the "sustainable chain reaction." The earlier three mentioned conditions must continue to be present to sustain a chain reaction that would ensure the fires continuity.
Forest fires have intrigued me for some time now. I have also nursed the theory that since trees have so many adaptative and survival strategies, that there just might be some trees which when threatened, release combustible gases such as a oxygen gases in high amounts. Another theory is the production of alkane gases in high amounts from the decaying vegetative matter covering a forest floor. Imagine a lot of trees in forest giving out high amounts of oxygen during respiration or a forest saturated with alkane gases such as methane and lightning strikes that forest. It is possible you'll have some kind of explosion. Maybe vegetation experts would want to do more in that area. After all, the fires in California (USA) have been described to "move very fast and spreads quickly." Reminds me of premium spirit or gas fires.
Fire prevention measures are supposed to be far more effective and economical in the long term than control measures. But prevention measures have most often failed us especially when implemented in a human population. In a Job Hazard Analysis for example, control and recovery measures are also recommended for incidents to reduce their effects after occurrence. This is already the practice in planning for forest fires.
However, since forest resources are now becoming an issue for conservation experts, fires which destroy them have become an unacceptable environmental problem. Trees as we know are very important resources and they are our most effective weapons against the rising CO2 levels globally. It's recorded in literature that global CO2 levels drop when it is spring and wet season in most part of the world due to the high rate of its utilisation by vegetation. It again rises during autumn, winter and dry season its utilisation by vegetation is low.
One way of ensuring a minimal effect of fires on forest resources is to customize the existing forest resources globally. It is a huge task for governments but would have a "level 7" success rate if you remember our imaginary meter from earlier on.
Now here is what to do:
1. Have a GIS team map out your entire forest resources
2. Create a baseline data bank for the following environmental components around the forests to be updated periodically to monitor changes:
o Climate (Thunderstorms, Lightning intensity, precipitation amounts etc)
o Air Quality (Wind speed, wind direction, atmospheric gases, humidity etc)
o Vegetation (Species composition, occurrence, tissue analysis, etc)
o Groundwater ( Aquifers, direction of flow, water table, etc)
o Wild life ( Species composition, occurrence and interaction, etc)
o Surface water (Physical and chemical characteristics)
o Seismic activities
o Relief
o Human activities in the area (social, cultural, and economic activities)
3. Use GIS mapping capabilities to show the interaction between the baseline data acquired and the forested areas (What to look for- high risk areas most likely to generate and sustain fires). Having identified the areas most likely to generate and sustain fires, it now important to plan for effective control measures. (Keeping in mind that prevention has a level 3 success rate).
4. All the areas marked as fire high risk areas form the GIS manipulations must be isolated. Have a team of surveyors measure boundaries of reasonable width and length around those areas
5. The boundaries between the high risk areas and the surrounding forests should be cleared of all vegetation. These boundaries must have widths enough to either prevent the spread of fire completely or delay its spread for a reasonable amount of time.
6. Automatic sprinklers that can dispatch reasonable volumes of water quickly in all directions should be located within the high risk areas and the boundaries created. Boreholes can be established if aquifers exist or surface water bodies can be used. Alternatively, in the absence of the two sources, water can be directed to the area through underground pipes.
7. The established sprinklers must be:
o automated
o evenly distributed throughout the high risk areas including boundaries and
o attached with smoke detectors and an alarm system
Now here is how it works. If at all a fire starts in one of the high risk areas, it might not be detected immediately depending on the expanse of the area and distribution of the sprinklers. But once the smoke hits one of the fire detectors, the sprinklers all turn on automatically throughout the area and the alarm is triggered at the monitoring station. Remember the boundaries created? There are sprinklers there too which when turned on would also spray water partly into the surrounding low risk areas. All these control measure will surely partner favourably with preventive strategies to limit the effects of forest fires on our already depleting forest resources. If you think they are expensive try handling one forest fire. I hope the "rich developed nations" which experiences this environmental problem annually adopts this or try something similar and assist poorer nation achieve same. It simply works...!
MR. ABAH ROLAND is an environmentalist working in the Niger Delta area of Nigeria with an interest on the effects of global warming and sea level rise in Nigeria.
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