Why bush fires happen?

Answer 1

Bushfires occur through a number of factors:

• arsonists
• lit cigarettes tossed away
• prolonged heat and/or dry weather which causes vegetation to ignite easily
• strong, gusting winds
• a sudden change in wind direction
• lack of controlled burns prior to bushfire season

Answer 2

Bush fires happen mostly because of people playing around with fire or flammable objects and aren't aware of how quickly a fire can start and spread into the wildlife. Thus a bushfire begins.

Another less likely reason, unless you live in a place where it is very hot (32˚C+) is that the heat from the sun could start to burn on a bush, thus setting off a small fire, which leads to a chain reaction that ultimately leads to a bushfire.

Answer 3

The bushfires in February 2009 have been particularly bad because of the protracted heatwave that covered the southeastern portion of Australia for several weeks in January, culminating in record temperatures in early February.

Answer 4

Australia, particularly the southeastern region, is prone to bushfires for several reasons:

• It is a very dry continent with lower rainfall than other continents
• It is drought-prone, with long, hot, dry summers in the southern states, often with a tendency towards heatwaves
• Vegetation, as a result, becomes very dry, easily ignited and tinder for fires
• Gum trees (eucalyptus) are highly flammable, and likely to literally explode with the heat in fires, creating even worse conditions for fire-fighters. When overheated, the eucalyptus sap can literally blow the top off the gum trees and spread the fire.
• There is a great deal of natural bushland which is more flammable than vegetation in places like Europe and North America

  Bushfires also occur regularly in Queensland and the Northern Territory, but they are worse where there is less rain, rather than in areas where the wet season is clearly defined. Central Queensland and Rockhampton, for example, are bushfire-prone, and these areas are much drier than the southeast, where minor bushfires are usually quickly and easily contained.

Answer 5

Bushfires occur through a number of factors:

• arsonists
• lit cigarettes tossed away
• prolonged heat and/or dry weather which causes vegetation to ignite easily
• strong, gusting winds
• a sudden change in wind direction
• lack of controlled burns prior to bushfire season
• faulty power lines
• lightning strikes

Answer 6

• Statistics indicate that most bushfires are caused by lightning strikes.
• Bushfires are, unfortunately, also commonly caused by man's activities, whether arson or unintentionally lighting the fires such as by tossing cigarettes out of car windows, or not extinguishing campfires properly.
• The intensity of bushfires is increased by dry vegetation, often after a period of heatwave, together with strong, gusting winds, and absence of precipitation
• Faulty power lines are also often a cause. Sparking and arcing from these powerlines easily ignites into bushfires.