BUSHFIRES

Bushfires are amazing Natural Disasters. There are many different reasons why they happen. It can be dry weather, high temperature or even flammable vegetation. Bushfires can even be started by lightning strikes when they hit the ground

Most fires happen in Australia. This is because we live in on of the driest countries and we have high temperatures. It is also because of the weather patterns Australia gets. Bushfires usually occur in places where there are lots to burn or it won’t stay alive very long.

Fires can cause lots of damage and deaths. Wildlife are usually killed by the smoke, the fire and also from their homes being destroyed and not having any where to live people can also be killed along with their homes being burned down. People can die from breathing in lots of the smoke. Power lines, forests and buildings can also be knocked over.

Fires need three different things to start. It is called the fire triangle which has oxygen, fuel a heat sources. Fires will not go even if one of these things is missing. The oxygen helps to burn he fire. The oxygen gas is in the air. Wind moves the air with the oxygen which will move the fire. Fuel is what bushfires burn. It can be stuff like leaves, grass, twigs or wood. If a fire runs out of fuel it will dry up very quickly. The heat sources are what start the fire. It can start by volcano eruptions, sparks or lightning strikes. Even if fires crackers or bombs go wrong they can start fires too.

Fire fighters spray water over smaller fires with a hose but with larger fires that are really big helicopters pour water to cool down the fire. They sometimes also put foam on the fires to stop the oxygen from getting to the fire. The helicopters pour it from high in the sky so that it will spread as its falling. Sometimes the chemicals are red so that the pilots can see where the chemicals are falling.

The safest way to get out of a fire is to do the method STOP, DROP, ROLL. You should always do this if your cloths or you skin is on fire. The rolling stops the oxygen from getting to the fire. If the fire doesn’t get oxygen it will more then likely dry up. That means that you will be safer then in danger.

There has been many different fires in history like the large fire in Chicago on October 8th 1871. the heat from the flames were so hot that it was burning the hair on the people standing at the nearby river called the Michigan Lake. Some people were even in the Michigan Lake to escape the heat and to avoid their hair being burned. This fire burned the water system pipes that were deep under ground. The fire only stopped when there was nothing left to burn. More then three hundred people died. It cost two hundred million dollars to rebuild the city of Chicago.

There was the deadliest fire in the United States also on October 8th 1871 People also were in the river to escape the heat and the fires flames. Many people died from breathing in to much smoke or burned to death. The fire storm ripped off the roofs off houses. The fire killed more then one thousand two hundred people and burned more than two thousand four hundred acres of the Wisconsin Forests. This fire burned down the entire city.

Bushfires are very interesting and have many interesting facts about.
- Fires can be fueled by flammable gases like Petrol.
- Bush fires are solar energy that is out of control.
- Fires can be good as much as bad.
- A crown fire is when the fire is on the tops of trees.

I got my information from four different books and websites
- Fires-By Tami Deedrick
- http://clearyexplained.com/nature/earth/disasters/05extrainfo.html
- http://library.thinkquest.org/10136/bushfire/bushtqu.htm
- http://www.kidcyber.com.au/