Front Line Investigators: Deadly Fires Scorch Millions of Acres

By Samantha-Rae Tuthill, AccuWeather.com Staff Writer

July 18,2013; 4:20PM,EDT

 

 

It is less than a month into the summer, and the 2013 wildfire season has already seen one of the deadliest days for firefighters in decades, as well as the most destructive fire in Colorado history.
Arizona's Yarnell Fire took the lives of 19 firefighters on June 30, a number that the Associated Press has reported makes it the deadliest day for American firefighters since Sept. 11, 2001. The Black Forest Fire in Colorado destroyed 502 structures and damaged 18 others. Thousands of fires have sprouted up across the country, in every state except Hawaii.
Fire burns through the trees on a wildfire near Pine, Colo., on Wednesday, June 19, 2013. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski)
A devastating aspect of these horrific fires is that many of them could have been avoided. According to Bob Stroud, a fire investigator with the Bureau of Land Management, about 60 to 80 percent of wildfires nationally are the result of human action and not of natural disaster.
Many of the fires that are started by people are the result of accidents or negligence. One of the causes of accidental fires that Stroud listed was vehicles in poor conditions, be they trucks, boats or trailers. Poorly maintained vehicles can overheat or create sparks, which could be enough to ignite a blaze that quickly gets out of hand. He advised people check their vehicles to make sure they are in good shape with properly inflated tires.
"People need to not park or drive over dry grass," added Mallory Eils, fire information officer for the Boise Bureau of Land Management. "They don't realize how hot the exhaust or undercarriage of their vehicle can get, and that can very easily spark a wildfire."
Campfires, improperly used fireworks and debris burnings are other major causes of wildfires. The easiest way to prevent these activities from turning into a potentially tragic disaster is to follow local codes and restrictions. Residents should always heed all burn bans.
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Not all fires caused by people are accidental. Some blazes are ignited intentionally by arsonists. According to the USDA Forest Service, 2001 was the most damaging year for fires in Kentucky. Of the 178,925 acres burned that year, 146,058 were caused by arsonists. Investigators, such as Stroud, have to take many elements into consideration to determine the cause of a fire.
The first thing investigators will look for are witnesses, but the way a fire burns can also tell how it was started. Weather and topography are significant determining factors in assessing the origin point of an inferno. Stroud stated that without factors such as wind, humidity and terrain, fires would burn outward in a circular pattern. By tracking the weather conditions, the landscape and the pattern the fire burned, they are able to follow a pattern to the original source of the flames.
Determining the cause of a fire can take a matter of hours or days, Stroud said. It all depends on the size of the blaze, when investigators can have access to it and what their data tells them. For example, to determine if a fire may have been caused by lightning, they will check for observations or detections that lightning had been in the area. If there is no indication of lightning, they may have to begin investigating for unnatural causes.
Last year's federal suppression of wildfires cost $1,902,446,000. With so many lives and homes lost each year to these blazes, it is crucial for fire investigators to be able to determine the cause of a fire to find ways to prevent more of them in the future.

Wildfires have burned 2,091,435 acres so far this year. The average annual acreage burned over the last 10 years is 7,262,448, with 2006 being the most devastating year at 9,873,745 acres.
Eils stated that no area is really safe from fires. People can take precautions to lessen them, but they can still occur naturally.
She advised that the best thing people can do to prevent an accidental fire is to plan ahead. Precautions should always be taken, whether it be safely handling campfires or keeping vehicles properly maintained.
"You can't stop all the arsonists," Stroud said. "It's better to focus on teaching people how to prevent them accidentally."