However, every year, wildfires burn millions of hectares of forest woodlands and other vegetation, causing the loss of many human and animal lives and an immense economic damage, both in terms of resources destroyed and the costs of suppression. Wildfire plays a mixed role for ecology and economy since some ecosystems depend on natural fires to maintaining their dynamics, biodiversity and productivity. The Global Wildland Fire Network Bulletin published by the Global Fire Monitoring Center ( GFMC) presents the most recent data regarding consequences of wildfire: in 2017, 36 fires in protected areas were recorded in 19 countries burning more than 196000 hectares worldwide. Lightning, burning campfires or cigarettes, hot winds, and even the sun can all provide sufficient heat to spark a wildfire ( National Geographic). Heat sources help spark the wildfire and bring fuel to temperatures hot enough to ignite. Air supplies the oxygen a fire needs to burn. The greater an area's fuel load, the more intense the fire. Fuel is any flammable material surrounding a fire, including trees, grasses, brush, even homes. There are three conditions that need to be present in order for a wildfire to burn: fuel, oxygen, and a heat source. Wildfire can be incited by human actions, such as land clearing, extreme drought or in rare cases by lightning (IRDR). Wildfire, also called forest, bush or vegetation fire, can be described as any uncontrolled and non-prescribed combustion or burning of plants in a natural setting such as a forest, grassland, brush land or tundra, which consumes the natural fuels and spreads based on environmental conditions (e.g., wind, topography).
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