Forest fires are one of the most terrible and dangerous elements. A large number of people and animals die each year from uncontrolled fires. In this article we will tell exactly about what are the consequences of forest fires and how they influence the ecology and people’s health.
Of course, forests are not the last place in human life and fulfill their certain functions. One of the most important functions of the forest is the production of oxygen. In addition, the forests’ impact on the water regime, protection of the soil from water and wind erosion, mudslides and landslides, reducing the impact of drought and dry winds, restraining the movement of moving sands, preventing the destruction of the banks of rivers and lakes, settling dust particles from the atmosphere, emitting phytoncides, absorbing noise and, very importantly, having a beneficial effect on human health, is no less important. In addition to all this, forests are a source of obtaining various natural resources, which are simply necessary for the development of many industries in the national economy.
According to the terminology, forest fires are a spontaneous, uncontrolled spread of fire in the forest area. Their main danger is the speed of spread of raging flames, which is very difficult to fight.

Causes of forest fires

All causes of forest fires can be divided into two large groups: human error and natural causes.

The Human Factor

Statistics show that about ninety percent of all wildfires are caused by humans.

There are many reasons for fires caused by human carelessness:

1. Smoking
Very often when outdoors, smokers forget to put out a cigarette butt and dispose of it wherever it is convenient for them. Such a careless attitude can easily cause a forest fire.
2. Unextinguished bonfires.
Often, when camping in nature people forget to put out their fires or carelessly leave unattended burning embers, which can easily provoke a fire.
3. Burning garbage
Because trash that is burned smolders very slowly, it can cause something easily flammable to ignite and start a forest fire.
4. glass bottles and shards left in the forest
Light passes and refracts well through glass, causing a lens effect that can start a serious fire.
5. Fireworks
More and more often, people are choosing fireworks as their holiday decorations without thinking about the fact that they can cause a fire. Due to the fact that the rate of combustion is very low, the particles of fireworks land in a variety of places.Thus increasing the risk of a forest fire.
6. Deliberate arson
There are also cases where people deliberately set fire to forests, houses or any other property.
7. ACCIDENT
Large-scale forest fires can be caused by sparks and explosive substances in cars, as well as an explosion of a gas cylinder in a traffic accident.
8. Failure to follow fire safety rules
A fire very often starts due to the fact that people do not observe elementary fire safety rules. For example, it happens that drivers, when stopping, wipe the neck of the fuel tank with a piece of cloth or tissue and throw it on the ground, without thinking what it may lead to. Another person may walk by and throw a burning cigarette butt, which triggers the start of the fire.

The Natural Factor

There are not many causes of wildfires caused by nature, but there are.

1. Dry thunderstorms Despite the fact that this phenomenon is quite rare, it poses a serious threat. Dry thunderstorms are a meteorological phenomenon that occurs when temperatures are high and accompanied by a small amount of evaporating precipitation that does not reach the ground. This is accompanied by thunder and a powerful electrical discharge, which hits the trees, resulting in a fire due to lack of moisture.

2. Lightning
Almost always wildfires caused by lightning strike occur in dry weather. Very often such fires are more destructive than fires started by human activity. human-caused fires.

Volcanic eruption.
Causes fires by lava that spreads to nearby fields or forests.

4. Self-ignition of a peat bog
If the external temperature of a peat bog is over 50 degrees, self-ignition will occur.

Effects of forest fires on the ecology and the environment
The consequences of forest fires are divided into environmental, social, and economic.

Environmental consequences include:

• Atmospheric pollution. Since the forest is the main supplier of oxygen, no oxygen is produced after it is destroyed, hence no absorption of carbon dioxide, which is harmful to human health and which pollutes the atmosphere. The quality of the air decreases.
• Deterioration of drinking water quality due to the fact that groundwater, streams and rivers are not enriched with water after forest fires.
• Soil loses its fertility after wildfires.
• Soil after forest fires is not protected from intensive rainfall and is prone to erosion.
• Useful soil microorganisms die because of forest fires.
• If a forest is exposed to fires systematically, its productivity decreases, and over time the area can become barren.
• In areas where there are steep slopes, the land breaks into pieces and falls down when a fire occurs, so the ecological system cannot recover on its own.
• Natural forest resources are destroyed.
  Water bodies are polluted with ash that falls with precipitation after the fire, thereby harming fish and aquatic plants.
• When trees burn, the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere increases, causing global warming.
• As global warming occurs, there is a greenhouse effect, so the risk of hurricanes and typhoons increases.
• Forest fires destroy more than a thousand hectares of trees and vegetation cover.
• Loss of ecological systems and biodiversity.
• Forest fires damage the habitat of specific species of animals and plants.
• Fires destroy much of the plant life that supports many animals and insects.
• There is a possibility that wildfires may cause the extinction of some animal species.