A wildfire is an unplanned, unwanted and uncontrolled fire in an area of combustible vegetation starting in rural and urban areas. Earth is an intrinsically flammable planet owing to its cover of carbon-rich vegetation, seasonally dry climates, atmospheric oxygen and widespread lightning and volcanic ignitions. Wildfires can destroy property and human life, although naturally occurring wildfires may benefit native vegetation, animals, and ecosystems that have evolved with fire. Today’s fires are both shocking and wholly expected. That’s the tricky thing about fires - it isn’t any one thing that’s causing them; it's multiple puzzle pieces fitting together. Climate change. First management. Human behaviour. Learning to adapt to the new reality and mitigating risks requires swift, decisive action from many different angles.
