Wildfire

A wildfire, also known as a forest fire, vegetation fire, grass fire, brush fire, or bushfire (in Australasia), is an uncontrolled fire often occurring in wildland areas, but which can also consume houses or agricultural resources. Common causes include lightning, human carelessness and arson.

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Drought and the prevention of small forest fires are major contributors to extreme forest fires.

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The word "wildfire" originated as a synonym for Greek Fire, a napalm-like substance used in medieval Europe as a naval weapon; the word attained its present meaning by a common misunderstanding of the expression "spread like wildfire".

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Bushfire: A bushfire is a wildfire that occurs in the forests, scrubs, woodlands or grasslands of Australia or New Zealand. In the southeast, bushfires tend to be most common and most severe, during summer and autumn, in drought years, and particularly in El Ni?o years. In the north, bushfires usually occur d...

Australasia: Australasia is the area that includes Australia, New Zealand, New Guinea, and the many smaller islands in the vicinity, most of which are the eastern part of Indonesia. The name was coined by Charles de Brosses in Histoire des navigations aux terres australes (1756). He derived it from the Latin for...

Fire: Fire is a form of combustion. Most typically, the word fire refers to the combination of the brilliant glow and large amount of heat released during a rapid, self-sustaining exothermic oxidation process of combustible gases ejected from a fuel. The flames are a body of plasma that releases heat and ...