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Wildfire suppression in the United States has had a long and varied history. For most of the 20th century, any form of wildland fire, whether it was naturally caused or otherwise, was quickly suppressed for fear of uncontrollable and destructive conflagrations such as the Peshtigo Fire in 1871 and the Great Fire of 1910. In the 1960s, policies ...
At this time in history fire was viewed as a threat to timber, an economically important natural resource. As such, the decision was made to devote public funds to fire suppression and fire prevention efforts. For example, the Forest Fire Emergency Fund Act of 1908 permitted deficit spending in the case of emergency fire situations. [4]
Canada contains approximately 3,964,000 km 2 (1,531,000 sq mi) of forest land. [28] Seventy-five percent of this is boreal forest, made up primarily of coniferous trees. More than 90 percent of Canadian forest land is publicly owned, and the provincial and territorial governments are responsible for fire-suppression activities.
The benefits of forest management have been seen throughout history, and natives knew the dangers of letting forests become overly dense. [18] Fire was used to keep large areas of forest and mountains free of undergrowth for hunting or travel. It also was a tool to help manage natural resources such as food.
The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) [2] [3] is the fire department of the California Natural Resources Agency in the U.S. state of California.It is responsible for fire protection in various areas under state responsibility totaling 31 million acres, as well as the administration of the state's private and public forests.
Controlled burns have a long history in wildland management. Fire has been used by humans to clear land since the Neolithic period. [48] Fire history studies have documented regular wildland fires ignited by indigenous peoples in North America and Australia [49] [50] prior to the establishment of colonial law and fire suppression. Native ...
A forest ranger died battling a brush fire along the New York-New Jersey border Saturday night – as dangerous wildfires continued to cause bad air quality across the tri-state region amid a ...
A wildfire, forest fire, or a bushfire is an unplanned, uncontrolled and unpredictable fire in an area of combustible vegetation. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identified as a bushfire ( in Australia ), desert fire, grass fire, hill fire, peat fire, prairie fire, vegetation fire, or ...