What are Wildfires?

by Sierra Darroch

Mom doesn’t enjoy talking about fire, but when she does, it’s usually to say, “Wu’akitaliñ pfla ja’itsä’ñu.” While it’s true, humans are a major source of wildfires, there is more to it than just Wu’akitaliñ. Many things, not just humans, cause wildfires. It’s important to understand wildfires and answer the question “What are Wildfires?”

Before I bonded with Fractal, I didn’t care too much about fire—wild or otherwise. But that spring had some of the worst fires the Pacific Northwest Dryad Grove had ever seen. Mom nearly died, Diana elevated to temporary Latñi, and Mother banished me. I did some research to learn more about wildfires, how they start, and how to manage them. I included all that information in my digital simulation, with help from Fractal. But I thought I would share what I learned here.

Wildfires, More than Just Tree Killers

When I first imagined wildfires as a young dryad, I thought they were like malevolent hackers out to destroy the forest for their own gain. I imagined something like this:

The forest, lit up by bright sunlight, celebrates the warm breezes of late summer. The birds are chirping and chipmunks chattering. My dryad sisters flit in and out of the trees, encouraging vigorous growth in their trees and helping them store energy for the winter cold.

Suddenly fire, orange and red and yellow, leapt through the trees, spreading like a virus attacking an unpatched system. The trees cry out for their dryad partners. Dryads tumble from trunks, racing to the creek to wash away the flames. Animals and birds follow, frantically trying to outrun the smoke.

The fire chases them, its burning hands touching trees that explode in crackling flames. Smoke pours over us. We cough and choke. The chaos crushes the false peace like malware corrupting files. It is the most terrifying thing I can imagine.

Grandmother says wildfires are nature’s way of cleaning a forest’s bugs. But they seem more like a ruthless hacker out to destroy, oblivious to the damage left behind. Fires consume trees and plants, animals and dryads—unstoppable malware devouring CPU resources. Anything in its path turns to ash, lost forever without a backup.

How Do Wildfires Happen?

Ja’itskä’ or a wildfire doesn’t just happen. Three things must be present for a wildfire. This is often called the “Fire Triangle”:

• Fuel
• Heat
• Oxygen

When these three elements come together, boom! You’ve got a wildfire on your hands. One of the common ways this happens is when a heat source, like a careless campfire, meets fuel in a dry, fire-prone environment. And with climate change, more and more places are getting drier.

Fuel Feeds Wildfires

Fuel for a fire is the dry, flammable material you find in forests, especially on the forest floor. This is stuff like dead leaves, grass and other small shrubs, and even the trees themselves. The fuel for a wildfire is the electricity that powers your laptop. If you don’t have fuel, your fire won’t start.

Heat Powers Wildfires

Heat ignites the fire. There are many sources of heat, like campfires, sparks from car accidents, cigarettes, and sometimes even natural things like lightning and even the scorching sun. But it’s not surprising that the dryad saying, “Wu’akitaliñ pfla ja’itsä’ñu” or “Humans cause forest fires” in English, is my mom’s favorite adage.

Oxygen Keeps the Wildfires Burning

The last thing fire needs is oxygen. Trees, dryads, and even humans need oxygen, too. If a wildfire doesn’t have oxygen it will die, just like we will.

What Can We Do to Prevent Wildfires?

Wildfires can spread at lightning speed, consuming everything in their path. They can leap from treetop to treetop or race across grasslands, leaving devastation in their wake. That’s why understanding how they occur and how to prevent them is super important.

I will be writing more articles about wildfires and how to prevent them. In the meantime, please check out these sources:

• National Geographic Education: Wildfires: How They Form, and Why They’re so Dangerous
• National Park Service: Wildland Fire Facts: There Must Be All Three
• Ready for Wildfire.org

Thank you for reading! Keep following for more updates and insights.

Klifal, Dear reader and Tsitwash for Reading!

Note: Klifal and Tsitwash are words in Dryadic. Klifal means "Hello" and Tsitwash means "Thanks."

I hope you enjoyed this article! If you liked my unique perspective, you'll love reading my full story in the novel Digital Dryad by Jennifer Kyrnin. Digital Dryad is coming out June 12, 2024, in print and ebook formats.

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Sincerely, Sierra

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