It's been a hot, windy summer, with many fires burning around Wyoming. Fire crews have spent many hours fighting wildfires in 2024.

Reports say that around 700,000 acres have burned this year, and the Elk and Pack Trail fires are still going.

It's incredible to know that so many people dedicate their lives to ensuring that everything possible is done to control the fires. Can you even imagine how devastating wildfires would be without them?

Wildfires aren't all bad, though. NPS.GOV explains why.

Fire is part of a cycle in most ecosystems. It
reduces dead vegetation, stimulates new growth,
and improves habitat for wildlife, many of the
details park visitors imagine when they think of
a national park. With fire suppression, fire was
removed from the cycle and ecosystems began to
get out of balance.

 

After nearly a century of no fires, fuels, such as
dead trees, pine needles, leaf litter, and shrubs
built up to unnatural levels in forests. In these
cases, restoring fire is no easy task; sometimes it
takes additional work such as manual removal of
the debris before the fire cycle can begin again.

Even though we hear about fires being fought all the time, some fires are burning that pose no threat to people or structures and will only be monitored by air every few days.

Nature is keen on taking care of itself, and when fire crews aren't needed to put out a wildfire, there are four main ways it can be extinguished naturally.

The Western Fire Chiefs Association explains the three.

  • Natural Barriers
    • Any area that obstructs the spread of wildfires due to the lack of flammable materials.
      • Wetlands
      • Stream banks
      • Floodplains
      • Other water bodies
      • Rock formations
      • bare ground with no fuel
  • Human-Made Firebreaks
    • Roads
    • Parking lots
  • Weather
    • Four elements are responsible for the spread or natural suppression of wildfires.
      • Temperature
      • Precipitation
        • Precipitation can dampen a fire but rarely will extinguish it alone.
      • Relative humidity
      • Wind Speed
  • Lack of fuel
    • Fire fuel is any living or dead organic matter that can burn.
    • A fire can stop burning when fuels are removed or separated from the fire.
      • If a fire approaches bare land, and the wind doesn't help it jump to flammable materials, it will run out of fuels to burn.
The Best Ways To Naturally Extinguish A Wyoming Wildfire
wfca.com
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