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Bushfires
A bushfire is any uncontrolled fire that occurs in the countryside and is comonly known as a brush fire.
Other names such as forest fire, may be used to describe the same phenomenon.
A bushfire differs from other fires by:
- its extensive size;
- the speed at which it can spread out from its original source;
- its ability to change direction unexpectedly; and
- to jump gaps, such as roads, rivers and fire breaks.
Bushfires are characterized in terms of their physical properties such as:
- speed of propagation;
- the combustible material present;
- the effect of weather on the fire; and
- the cause of ignition.
Fossil records and human history contain accounts of bushfires, and bushfires occur on every continent except Antarctica and can be cyclical events. Bushfires can cause extensive damage, both to property and human life. Along with the damage caused, they also have various beneficial effects on wilderness areas, such as plant species that are dependent on the effects of fire for growth and reproduction. However, large bushfires may have negative ecological effects.
Bushfire Prevention and Control
The strategies of prevention, detection, and suppression have varied over the years, but international conferences encourage 'improved technology and research as weapons against bushfires around the world.' Current techniques may permit and even encourage smaller fires in some regions as a means of minimizing or removing sources of flammable material from any bushfire that might develop.
While some bushfires burn in remote forested regions, they can cause extensive destruction of homes and other property located in the wildland-urban interface: a zone of transition between developed areas and undeveloped wilderness.
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