Forest Fires? House Fires? Smokey the Bear Needs Your Help!
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Fire Prevention and Survival Depends on You Learning About This Danger!
Fire. One of nature's most powerful forces. It can be helpful for humans by keeping us warm and by providing a way to cook food, but it can also be a deadly force--right up there with Hurricanes, Typhoons, and Tornados and Earthquakes.
As someone who has lived for many years in Montana, New Mexico, and most recently California, I've seen first-hand what forest fires, wild fires, and house fires can do. In fact, when I was a staff newspaper photographer and writer, I followed a team of firefighters into a New Mexican desert mountain wild fire to cover the story (and no, I wasn't getting "hazardous-condition pay"... I was young and stupid at the time--nowadays, I wouldn't do it--the fire fighters had protective gear and equipment and I didn't).
Every summer is a time of wildfires in the grasslands and forests of the world.
This Squidoo lens will give you more information on how fire works, and techniques on how to put out fires and prevent fires. It also provides links to such resources like the one below:
National Interagency Fire Center Website can give you more information on current fires in the U.S. and also the environmental conditions involved with those fires.
Remains of a Forest Fire from the Previous Year--Yosemite National Forest, California
Fire Extinguishers--Know How To Use One BEFORE You Have To Use It!
Smokey Bear's Motto.... "Only You Can Prevent Forest Fires" (and most likely other ones as well)
"Smokey Bear" was the name of an unfortunate bear cub who had been rescued from a forest fire that raged through the Lincoln National Forest near Capitan in New Mexico back in the 1950s.
The main premise of Smokey the Bear's motto--"Only You Can Prevent Forest Fires" was that many forest fires, wild fires, range fires, and house fires are started by improperly tended campfires, candles, lanterns, kids and matches, and other human-caused ignition sources. By just having more education, care, and consideration with how we train our children and how we handle fire-starting items, we could prevent many accidental fires from happening.
Sure, many fires occur naturally and are part of the ecology of the area--in the vast grasslands of America, the large evergreen forests of the Rocky Mountains and the West Coast Ranges, and the deserts of Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas, fires are essential to helping seeds break from their outer shells so they can sprout properly. In the large forests, naturally occurring fires clear out the underbrush to allow the larger trees more access to valuable water as well as to keep the underbrush from getting too thick such that a later fire would reach high enough to burn the crowns of the largest trees. This is why there are things called "controlled burns" once in a while--because environmental biologists and ecologists finally realized that regular small fires served a useful and natural purpose. This shocks many "nature lovers"--because they think that all fires are bad.
Of course, many times human habitation starts to encroach on the boundaries of natural "fire zones"--and this is what causes much of the great loss of homes, buildings, and businesses. We see this frequently in California--where the notorious "Santa Ana Winds" blow out from the desert toward the ocean (reverse of the natural moisture-bearing flow from the ocean). These winds pick up speed and generate conditions that if a fire gets started it turns into a raging phenomenon known as a "fire-storm". These fire-storms move rapidly and are deadly. Inside the fire-storms are additional vortexes that become "fire-tornados". These are seen frequently by fire-fighters in Southern California during the annual wildfires there.
Roadside fires can sometimes jump the roads -- This one is in the dry hills of California.
Good for that Emergency Use! Handy to Have Around the Kitchen, Garage, or Backyard!
FAMILY GUARD KFE2S5 * Fire Extinguisher
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Dangerous, Deadly, and Devastating!
Time to Be Alarmed! Fire Alarmed, That Is! Get Your Alarms Here!
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Firefighting Wear and Decorations...
Smokey Links! Fire Links!
- Smokey the Bear.com
- This website has a lot of educational stuff for teachers, homeschoolers, and kids! Lots of interactive activities to enhance the learning experience! Smokey the Bear's Birthday is on August 9th! Happy Birthday!
- The Story Behind Smokey the Bear
- This website tells the story behind the Smokey the Bear symbol and some of the other wildlife and other stand-ins for America's fire prevention mascots. Smokey has an interesting history--and this site really says it well!
- Smokey Bear Park, Capitan, New Mexico
- The original Smokey the Bear was a bear cub found after a raging forest fire ripped through the Lincoln National forest near Capitan, New Mexico. After Smokey the Bear passed away at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., his ashes were returned to Capitan and memorialized at the Smokey the Bear Park in Capitan. This website provides more great information if you are considering a visit.
- National Interagency Fire Center Website
- This site is continually updated with news of fires around the United States. Interesting with information as well as it provides good information on prevention.
- Fire Wise...
- This website of the Firewise Communities program is designed to reach beyond the fire service by involving homeowners, community leaders, planners, developers, and others to help people to understand how to protect property and natural resources from the risk of wildland fire.
- California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection
- This website can provide information on the state of forestry and fires in California --this is especially important now that California has entered fire season. All the smokey air from the current fires has filled the Central Valley with hazardous air conditions for those with respiratory risks.
- National Weather Service - National Oceanographic Atmospheric Administration Fire Weather Site
- This site provides information on the "red-flag" warnings for the fire-hazardous weather for the U.S. (and California)....
- California Fire Alliance
- This interagency website is set up to provide information on fire prevention and fire notices.
- The Best Fire-Retardent Plants Ever
- This Squidoo lens provides photos and resource links for fire-retardent plants that you can use to keep the fire danger down around your home and property. Links to fire-victim resources are also presented.
- Why Does California Burn Every Year?
- This website has information (somewhat biased, but still, it's decent if you can read between the lines) and photos of ongoing wildfires in California.
Firefighting by the Bay.... eBay, That Is!
Are You Getting All Fired Up? Don't Do a FlameMail, But Leave a Hot Note!
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firepro
Jun 7, 2010 @ 10:55 am | delete
- "Smokey Bear's Motto.... "Only You Can Prevent Forest Fires" (and most likely other ones as well)" My, how true this is. Thinking it will never happen to us is the wrong mindset. We need to remember another saying, "An ounce of prevention is a pound of cure."
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Tipi
Feb 13, 2009 @ 4:30 pm | delete
- I think this is a very informative lens. Those forest fires need to be prevented! :)
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