Wildfires
Common
During
Dry
Season
In Costa
Rica
The
summer
or "dry"
season
in Costa
Rica
means
hot and
sunny
days.
But it
also
means
wild
fires in
land not
in use
or "charrales"
in
Spanish.
The
Bomberos
de Costa
Rica
(fire
department)
reports
attending
an
average
of 22
wild
fires
daily,
for a
total of
more
than one
thousand
calls
throughout
the
country
in the
last two
months.
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Strong
winds
and dry
plants
are the
main
enemies
of the
Liberica,
Guancaste,
Bomberos
who
constantly
battle
wild
fires on
the
sides of
the
Interamericana
Norte.
San José
and
Guanacaste
are the
provinces
with the
highest
incidents
of wild
fires.
In 2009,
Bomberos
reports
attending
a total
of 5.562
wild
fires
and
5.058
the year
before.
Fortunately only person has been reported losing their life. Bomberos also
blame
wild
fires
for the
destruction
of eight
homes.
Ley 8228
prohibits
"burns",
a
practice
by many
landowners
to
eliminate
weeds,
which
sometimes
gets out
of
control.
Wildfires
from
Wikipedia
A
wildfire
is any
uncontrolled
fire in
combustible
vegetation
that
occurs
in the
countryside
or a
wilderness
area.
Other
names
such as
brush
fire,
bushfire,
forest
fire,
grass
fire,
hill
fire,
peat
fire,
vegetation
fire,
veldfire
and
wildland
fire may
be used
to
describe
the same
phenomenon
depending
on the
type of
vegetation
being
burned.
A
wildfire
differs
from
other
fires by
its
extensive
size,
the
speed at
which it
can
spread
out from
its
original
source,
its
potential
to
change
direction
unexpectedly,
and its
ability
to jump
gaps
such as
roads,
rivers
and fire
breaks.
Wildfires
are
characterized
in terms
of the
cause of
ignition,
their
physical
properties
such as
speed of
propagation,
the
combustible
material
present,
and the
effect
of
weather
on the
fire.
Wildfires
occur on
every
continent
except
Antarctica.
Fossil
records
and
human
history
contain
accounts
of
wildfires,
as
wildfires
can
occur in
periodic
intervals.
Wildfires
can
cause
extensive
damage,
both to
property
and
human
life,
but they
also
have
various
beneficial
effects
on
wilderness
areas.
Some
plant
species
depend
on the
effects
of fire
for
growth
and
reproduction,
although
large
wildfires
may also
have
negative
ecological
effects.
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