U.S. Wildfire Risks and Prevention

Wildfires have recently become widely discussed as a major concern for the climate and the ecosystem. Wildfires are a natural part of the ecosystem but there can be various causes ranging from natural means like lightning to human-related activities. This study illustrates that most wildfires are caused by humans rather than natural causes and shows that preventing just the start causes may help reduce the number of wildfire occurrences. Although there can be many causes, factors like temperature, wind speeds, humidity, precipitation, and vegetation that influence the risks of wildfires. This study investigates the relationship between these variables and wildfire sizes to realize ways of reducing wildfires. The work demonstrates that weather patterns like El Nino and La Nina strongly affect the occurrences of wildfires in certain regions of the U.S. It is also shown that there is a greater dependence of fire sizes with fluctuation in precipitation values. The study also shows that wildfires are more prone in the summer and in regions that are known to have hot and drier climates. The analysis of the attributes of large-scale wildfires also verifies that wildfires are affected by seasons, locations, and weather factors.