I grew up in the beautiful Appalachian Mountains just north
of the Shenandoah Valley. It rained often, which produced very moist and lush
forests for as far as the eye could see over rolling green hills. Naturally,
wildfires were not something I was accustomed to in my part of the world. When
I moved closer to the Atlantic Ocean, I dealt more with hurricanes than with
wildfires.
Although my
experience with fire is limited, that is not to say that the sight of a raging
fire consuming all around it, is still a powerful image to behold, such as the
one I chose to write about. On July 29, 2014 in Washington State near
Leavenworth, a wildfire broke out and scorched over 22,000 acres of land.
Photographer Michael Stanford captured an intense image of the blaze consuming
the mountain side, the orange glow of firelight set the night alight as bright
as day. The cause of the fire is not mentioned, but based on the fire behavior
triangle, the topography of the location is the first that comes to mind to
cause the fire to spread. Up hill, the fuel in front of the fire is closer to
the flame itself, because of the inclined angle so it dries out and hits the
combustion temperature (which at the cellulose level the ignition temperature
is around 350 degrees Celsius) faster. From the photo we can see the fire has
already come up and over the mountainside, slowing as it declines and heads
towards the river. With the aid of the wind, the fire fanned out and spread.
The
Chiwaukum Creek fire (as it was later known by) was eventually contained and
extinguished within several days. Although the fire is gone, this powerful
image still remains as a lasting reminder of the sheer force a wildfire can
have on an environment.
Work Cited
Visser,
Nick. "This Washington Wildfire Photo Shows The Raw Power Of A Raging
Blaze." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 31 July
2014. Web. 04 Apr. 2016. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/30/washington-wildfire_n_5635380.html?utm_hp_ref=wildfires>.
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