Drought and Fires: the Blazing Season
Mitra Thangudu is an 8th grader at Fishers Junior High in Fishers, Indiana.
Severe heat waves and droughts can affect the environment in many ways, one of which is increasing the intensity of wildfires. Changes in the climate can lead to warmer and drier conditions leading to a more intensive fire season, according to research by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
For example, Anthropogenic temperature rise increased aridity in the forests, leading to significantly lower moisture content in the forests of Western U.S. from 1979 to 2015.
Because of the rapid warming of the environment, snow is melting faster than usual, making forests more flammable by reducing water available to vegetation and drying trees, leaves, and shrubs. Trees that lack water may become homes to many insects, which can kill the trees, acting as fuel for the fires.
“[Forest fires] affect us economically, because they displace people and animals,” Deborah Kletch, a science teacher from Fishers Junior High School said.
There are also some positives to a wildfire: When they occur naturally, they are nature’s way of getting rid of all the underbrush.
“[Fires] can control or can put resources back into soil that is needed, which is why a lot of wildfires happen,” Kletch said.
Wildfire smoke is a mixture of many harmful gasses such as PM2.5, NO2, ozone, aromatic hydrocarbons, and lead. Wildfires also release other large amounts of dangerous gases such as carbon dioxide and greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere, World Health Organization reports.
“They affect us because the smoke that is given off causes pollution which then causes air quality to decrease,” Kletch said.
The cause of the many fires we have seen recently is drought. They can easily intensify by unusually hot temperatures, and lead to large scales of tree deaths, as reported by the National Integrated Drought Information System.
“It's horrible what has happened to these people and their homes [in the LA fires]. I can't imagine the amount of loss that was felt at the time. I only wish the best for the people and their families and hopefully they will be able to get back on their feet soon,” Alexios Perera, an 8th grader from Fisher Junior High said.
Photo courtesy of Pexels/Pixabay
Drought impacts areas all over the planet. The drought in Argentina led to farmers losing tons of crops and animals. Argentina, being the 3rd largest soybean producer, suffered a 43% drop in its crop for the 2022/23 season compared to the previous seasons, according to a Reuters article by Nicolás Misculin.
“Everything was dirty, a bunch of cows died due to the extreme drought, I think the real problem is droughts,” Perera, who hails from Argentina, said.
El Niño and La Niña can also contribute to droughts. Climate patterns impacted droughts in Australia, Argentia, and Indonesia. El Niño and La Niña can also lead to droughts in southwestern United States, and southern Africa, International rescue committee reports.
“One problem is droughts, as the one in L.A. currently has a major drought from the winter, because winter causes areas to dry, but [it was not raining] due to La Niña, this happened last year in Argentina, my home,” Perera said.
Many things can contribute to a wildfire, some of which are drying trees, leaves, scrubs, droughts, and warming of the environment. Although wildfires affect us in a negative way, they put back the much needed resources back into the area of the fire.
Humans can also cause the fires to be more intense. Choosing non-flammable options, keeping your vehicles out of dry grass, keeping sparks out of dry vegetation, checking conditions and regulations before using fireworks and making sure your campfire is put out are great ways to decrease the frequency of fires.
