Effects of Wildfires

Effects on Wildlife

• Animals are trapped and suffer from smoke inhalation or get overwhelmed by the heat from the flames.
• After wildfires burn they result in secondary succession, which is when a disturbance removes all species in that ecological community and leaves it with rich soil so they can recolonize that habitat.
• Although natural forest fires are beneficial for the environment, having too many of them harms it.
• Wildfires force animals to move into a new habitat sometimes forcing them to interact with humans.
• The fires also allow for invasive species to move in before the native species which can have harmful effects on the landscape.
• In places such as the Amazon, fires burn the trees which can cause the whole environment to be altered. For example, the fires could cause the canopies of the trees to burn which would bring in light skewing the energy flow drastically.

Effects on the Environment

• Along with the initial physical destruction that wildfires cause, they also have long-lasting effects on the environment.
• Wildfires cause storm runoff, after secondary succession, the soil becomes hydrophobic which prevents water absorption leading to the transport of debris and other harmful material polluting large bodies of water.
• The flames destroy vegetation, the food sources for many animals.
• Wildfires also have a long-lasting effect on air quality. As the forest burns, large amounts of smoke can travel great distances posing a risk to human health as smoke particles are easily inhaled.
• Wildfires emit carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases which exasperate the warming of the earth.

Effects on the Economy

• There are enormous costs that go into extinguishing the fires.
• There are also damages to property, such as cars, homes, and buildings. Currently, in California, there are thousands of structures that have been lost due to the wildfires, costing an estimated 20 billion dollars. Fixing these damages will require time and labor.
• Due to the loss of buildings and the wildfires themselves, businesses relying on tourism are devastated. Due to COVID restrictions, the travel industry has already suffered but due to these wildfires recovery efforts are further hampered.