What are Bushfires?

A bushfire is a fire usually caused by naturally effects and spread quickly throughout bushland, forest and tundras with dry tall grass. Sometimes they are started on purpose and that is illegal and cause major damage to houses and can take lives as well. Bushfires are dangerous and you should keep well away from them and also if you live in a bushfire danger zone you should have a plan of what to do when bushfires come.  Bushfires are known to cause major damage and can kill many people and wildlife. Bushfires happens when there is low rainfall or droughts, heatwaves, high temperatures, strong dry winds, low humidity and human activity. They also occur when there is an El-Niño causing drought in Australia. Bushfires are common in Australia since we have many eucalyptus trees that are high in oil and very dry. The hot sun and dry atmosphere encourages dried leaf to be ignited and then the flames would spread quickly. Bushfires will burn down anything in its way and can spread from one bushland to another quickly. Bushfires also burns down human made objects such as houses and farms causing billions of dollars in damage. Firestorms are intense fires that happen when there are bushfires and this causes spot fires long distances away. The fire front spread the quickest so be sure to be out of the way. Bushfires can be clearly seen from out of space the heat can be felt hundreds of kilometres away.  

 

Analysis chart showing the Mean Sea Level Pressure (MSLP) pattern at 00 UTC (11am EDT) on Saturday 7 February 2009

Smokes from the Victorian bushfires