Prediction and Prevention of Wildfires
INTRODUCTION
Forests are lungs for the planet , it is not an exaggeration to say that without forests the planet cannot be sustained . Wildfires are one of the major hazards of global warming ; they destroy forests and speed up the deforestation process .
Global Warming and Climate Change are at the top of all government agencies ’, business houses ’ and world forums ’ agendas . There is an interdependency between wildfire and climate change ; climate change is causing more wildfires and wildfires are increasing carbon emissions . Although the exact quantities are difficult to calculate ,
scientists estimate that wildfires emitted about 8 billion tons of CO2 per year for the past 20 years
1 and estimate that wildfires make up 5 to 10 percent of annual global CO2 emissions each year .
Following are some key statistics related to wildfire from the past year :
• 60000 + Wildfire Incident reported ( alone in US for the year 2022 )
• 60 + Loss of life
• Spead across 7 Million Acres
• $ 2 Billion worth damages
• $ 55K – average suppress cost for a wildfire .
Figure 0-1 : Wildfire statistics – US . Source : NOAA 2 .
2 https :// www . ncei . noaa . gov / access / monitoring / wildfires / Journal of Innovation 119