Wildfires

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Firefighters in Colorado are battling a huge, wind-driven wildfires in rugged canyons.  The fire was most likely made by a lightning strike.  Wildfires in Colorado are occurring a lot earlier than usual.  Why?  There is less rain than there usually is.  So, this leads me to wonder why they don’t come up with alternatives to reduce fires, such as, occasionally watering the land instead of using up tons of water to try to put out the on going fires. They can dump water near the houses.  They can thin out the forest.  You can use the wood to build houses or other necessities.   Are the fires occurring in the same places or are the fires occurring where there hasn’t been fires before?

Authorities said that this was the worst fire seen in about 25 years on Saturday, June 9th, 2012.  The fire moved at a rate as fast as 1 ½  miles an hour.  The rate of spread is directly related to the amount of heat received by the fuels ahead of the flaming zone, winds, and topography.  I think the fire will do a lot of damage and take a lot of water to control and stop it.  I wonder how long it will take.  I believe that the state will have to make some changes regarding fire materials and prevention in order to stop the fires from occurring so frequently.

The state might ban fireworks on the fourth of July because of such dry conditions.  I don’t understand why they are having fireworks in the first place.  If just a lightning strike starts a fire, why wouldn’t it make sense that a spark from a firework work starts a fire as well.  It is just like banning campfires except that campfires are more protected.  Campfires are surrounded by rocks and are more secure than sparks flying everywhere.  Sparks that if they were to hit the ground you wouldn’t be there in time or at all to put the fire out.

~Mackenzie Rossi

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