THREAT TO THE FOREST

In every country of the world especially those with vast space of rain forest, wildfire is common to wreck havoc to many square miles of forest floor. The thickness of waste materials on the ground accumulated from many years, tinder dry waiting for a spark to start the dread wildfire. When no rain is fallen to protect the woodland, the dryness of the leave droppings and other combustible materials make the threat inevitable. If started, this rampaging blaze will threaten everything that comes into its path destroying, consuming every flammable dried waste until no one  is left except the exposed dry ground. And when the fire will go beyond from the forest area to the populated areas, homes, lives and the entire town will become a raging inferno that cannot be easily put off even the use of the most modern advances in technology for containment.

A fire will start when someone wandered in the forest floor throwing lighted cigarettes, or having a campfire that remained lighted while leaving the area. The most common cause is by a single bolt of dry lightning that strike the heavy materials in the forest floor or to an easy flammable tree hit by the electrical charge. When the tree explode, the splintering fire from the inner wood will be thrown to the ground. With too much high temperature and then overheating sap of wood, inching away from the source started expanding to different direction consuming every dry leaves (twigs, dry grass and brush, dead branch) on the ground that become a fuel to continue and spreading a devastating fire.

Even the wet portion of the forest started drying out, all the stuff of dried materials fueled stay on the ground remain lighted as long as many hours before the burning started subsiding.

In some parts of the country, burning of grasslands was done while cultivating a piece of land squatted for the purpose of crop production. This kaingin system is also a threat to the peaceful existence of the undisturbed forest. It started to be awaken by the man-made fire that slowly spreading to areas beyond his cultivated land.

The presence of the wind in all direction fanned the fire to ignite more reaching the heart of the forest killing all micro-organisms below and top of the ground. Wild animals fled to save their lives. Those unfortunate to run away from the fire were consumed and failed to survive.

A fire are both a friend and enemy. It become an enemy when a single fire responded to the moving air begin to glow, rekindling, reaching out more fuel, heated tremendously and begin to smolder. A failure to detect the early stage of burning is the cause why a wildfire cannot easily be controlled especially if already gathered strength and in full force, bellowing, and roaring out of proportion, alive and loose in different direction.

Rain is the only one that can save the forest completely from the onslaught of fire. Everything will stop circling when tons of water putting off the fire like a fire extinguisher calming its inner core and pacified completely its fury.