Kauffman 1

Brandon Kauffman

Dr. Santosh Khadka

English 113B

02 November 2019

Global Fires

Many fires occur around the world, so what’s causing these fires to happen? With many

ideas, theories, research, and other evidence provided science is behind it all. Global warming is

a big crisis in our world today especially with fires. Now they may not be the most appealing

thing to see, but it is definitely a disaster you would not want to encounter. Fires are everywhere

but how do they come about? Are we having more fires the more we proceed to go through our

journey of life? Now that doesn’t sound like a good thing to our environment, but it is happening

in reality.

In prior research explaining the effects on global warming causing fires and causing the

world more damage than it already has, researchers claim that global warming has increased

fires. According to the article “ How Global Warming Has Increased US Wildfires”, by

carbonbrief.org many wildfires have spread in various regions like western US, Siberia, and

Europe. As stated in the article “This has focused a great deal of public attention on the role that

climate change plays in wildfires.” Now fires are very easy to spread and when they do, they do

it fast. In California there was about 14 major fires that had happened within a timespan of 15

years. Throughout those years the temperature has not been the hottest, but the warmest.
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With other evidence of temperatures in global warming causing fires, look at the Amazon

Rainforest. One of the most known forests to be is now on fire. The Amazon Rainforest is one of

the largest rainforest in South America. The fire in the Amazon Rainforest is so big that

researchers are saying the smoke can be seen from space. Knowing that our planet is giving off

this much smoke is very dangerous since all human and animal populations live here. This not

only causes harm to our planet, but it does a great amount of harm to us humans and animals

living here.

Now more than ever, we are having fires daily. Not too long ago, we had our first fire in

the valley in Sylmar. It started in Sylmar and got bigger until it made its way to Porter Ranch.

This fire not only made many people evacuate, but it was so big that nearly the entire valley was

covered in smoke. The streets at night were so foggy you couldn’t see the next car ahead of you

unless they had lights on. The fire was caused by our temperature in the valley and the high

winds as well. It caused a great amount of damage to the hills and burned down a house. People

were gathering their houses and animals before it was too late. I had witnessed all this happening

and it was quite sad that many people were scared and had no place to go at the time.

https://abc7.com/amp/deadly-saddleridge-fire-damages-homes-prompts-evacuations/5611

941/
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This fire was one of the worst we’ve had in a while. The cause of it was due to high

temperatures and crazy winds making it travel further from where it started.

Another recent fire broke out in Ventura county. It’s not to us people for causing these

fires, but climate change itself. Temperatures are rising more than ever and are causing harm to

the environment. Our winds in Southern California are causing harm especially from this dry air.

In the article “Crucial fire warnings extended through Saturday in L.A. and Ventura counties”

latimes mentions, “ As recent fire activity has shown, this remains a dangerous environment for

fire growth, even with weaker winds than earlier this week,” the weather service said.” Not only

are we dealing with an outbreak of fires, but winds are at their greatest point to cause them to

become even bigger than they should be. The air pollution is so bad it does us no good.

With recent research in the article “Climate Change Really is Causing California’s

Raging Wildfires”,by insidescience.org there is a new study linked to high temperatures causing

fires. Study shows that climate change is a main factor as to why we are gaining more fires more

than ever. Since our first fire we’ve had approximately 26 fires within two months. The valley

has become dry due to humid weather and dry air flowing all around making fires more likely to

occur. According to the article, “The study “documents pretty carefully that there’s a strong

relationship between summertime fire and temperature,” said Alex Hall.” This not only explains

a correlation between summer and fires, but the temperatures are maxed out during the summer.

It is also mentioned how many dried crops and land is more likely to cause a fire. With the

current winds and dry land, a fire can spread fairly quick making it harder to be put out. We

already have trouble with water itself, so wasting water on unnecessary fires is just making it

worse.
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In the article “July was the hottest month ever on Earth. Now massive wildfires are

burning across the globe”, by Trevor Hughes “Wildfires are burning across the globe, clogging

the sky with smoke from Alaska to the Amazon, and scientists say it’s no coincidence that July

was the warmest-ever month recorded on Earth.” The smoke from satellites can be seen from

Alaska all the way to South America. As fires are coming along more than ever, it’s stated that

the more fires we are having, the more likely it is to be causing fires to spread easily. The

average temperature in July was about 1.71 degrees F making it the hottest month in the past 140

years. Parrington mentions there is no confirmation of hot weather and progression of wildfires,

but it has been worse ever since 2010.

There will be many causes to fires occurring, but the most talked about is weather being

hotter in climate. Thoman states, “The more fires you have, the more land you open up, so in

future years you’re going to warm that land more because the trees aren’t there to shade it, which

will in turn melt permafrost, which will then release carbon and methane, which are greenhouse

gases, which contribute to warmer summers and more fires. This proves that the more land we

get to opening up, the more likely our weather is going to be hotter causing our fires.

https://www.carbonbrief.org/factcheck-how-global-warming-has-increased-us-wildfires/amp
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In a more recent accident dealing with fires, it’s not just the temperatures causing

massive fires. On Friday November 3, a fire started due to a company shutting off their power,

then turning the power back on causing an immediate spark that led to a fire. The power was

about 16,000 volts and all the energy went straight into a massive problem. The Maria fire where

all this took place, was not only involved in this fire, but has also caused 2 others in previous

years. It was to be associated with the Woolsey fire in 2018 and Thomas fire in 2017. All three

of these fires we caused by power lines failing due to damaged equipment from a company. The

2018 Woolsey fire destroyed about 1,500 structures in the Los Angeles county, and killed three

people as well. In 2017 the Thomas fire nearly destroyed 280,000 acres of land in the Santa

Barbara county.

Knowing the ideal message of having safe equipment towards the environment and

trying to protect your customers is a big slap on the forehead if not fixing the problem the first

time. The company has caused the damage and nearly gets nothing troubled. The meaning of

keeping an environment safe and out of harm means to check and make sure your equipment is

safe to begin with. Power outage is not the best way to have a fire especially since it damages

with the power lines causing a mass disruption towards the population. It may be fine to have

your lights on but knowing when you switch the light off and turn it back on causing a fire is

serious trouble. Not everyone will know when trouble is near or when you don’t have the safest

equipment, but putting an end to making it safer is a must. Maybe temperatures can play a part in

this but the majority would be the equipment going bad or failing some how. It happens and it

may not be the best but technology and power is everywhere, so fires are going to be caused by

both no matter what.

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Another global fire the world is dealing with is in the Canary Islands. According to

Trevor Hughes in USA TODAY, the article CANARY ISLANDS: Huge flames force

widespread evacuations, residents were being forced to leave. This occurred in a volcanic island

in northwest Africa where many people lived and were being evacuated do to the crazy fires. The

fire was about 160 feet tall nailing that a huge height compared to a human being. Nearly 8,000

people were evacuated and tourists are known to roam the island. The ideal message of high

temperatures causing massive fires is an actual thing and isn’t something to be vague about. High

temperatures will cause massive fires and now more than ever it's happening. People go from

ordinary lives to finding ways to find a better because of the fire. Homes are destroyed and lives

are taken.

As mentioned earlier with the Arctic, it’s scary now as well. In the article “The Arctic:

Areas of normally snow-covered Greenland are burning” by Trevor he also states, “One estimate

found that the amount of carbon dioxide emitted from fires burning within the Arctic Circle in

June 2019 was greater than all of the CO2 released in the same month from 2010 through to

2018 put together.” Nearly thinking a place that is known to be covered in snow and is burning

because of fires is something you wouldn’t be thinking makes sense. It’s hard to believe but it’s

true, a place that is covered in snow is now burning due to climate change. Weather speaks for

itself and soon enough it’ll reach a point till it crashes.

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/arctic-burning-greenland-melting-thanks-record-heat
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Greenland’s ice ponds are captured by satellites showing how they are melting because of

our climate change in our environment today.

In conclusion with all the temperatures rising and climate change making our fires

become more than what they should be, we all need to focus on what should be accomplished

first. Pollution towards our earth is a cause we may be able to fix with our personal fires, but

wildfires are on a different story. Dry winds, humid days, dried up landscape is something we

must deal with unfortunately. High temperatures may be causing our fires, but multiple things

play the part when a fire happens. Crazy winds spread our fires, making it hard for human and

wildlife. Our fires can’t stop if the climate is changing and making them happen. All we can do

is use unnecessary water to put them out, and make sure we stay protected and safe from the

pollution and smoke that may come to the valley again.

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Works cited

“Crucial Fire Warnings Extended through Saturday in L.A. and Ventura Counties.”

Google, Google,

www.google.com/amp/s/www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-11-02/critical-fire-warn

ings-extended-through-saturday-in-l-a-and-ventura-counties%3f_amp=true​.

“Climate Change Really Is Causing California's Raging Wildfires.” Inside Science, 30

July 2019,

www.insidescience.org/news/climate-change-really-causing-california%E2%80%99s-rag

ing-wildfires​.

“Fire Sparked as Edison Turned Power Back on Points to Another Hazard for Utilities.”

Google, Google,

www.google.com/amp/s/www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-11-03/fire-sparked-as-e

dison-turned-power-back-on-points-to-another-hazard-for-utilities%3f_amp=true​.

Hughes, Trevor. “July Was the Hottest Month Ever on Earth. Now Massive Wildfires

Are

Burning across the Globe.” USA Today, Gannett Satellite Information Network, 23 Aug.

2019,

www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2019/08/21/wildfires-july-hottest-month-ever-fires

-rage-across-globe/2070418001/​.

“The Arctic Is Burning and Greenland Is Melting, Thanks to Record Heat | Science
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News.” Google, Google,

www.google.com/amp/s/www.sciencenews.org/article/arctic-burning-greenland-melting-

thanks-record-heat/amp​.