History of Recent Wild Fires
The Wisconsin wildfire (1871) On 8th October 1871 the hot, dry climatic conditions were perfect for wildfire ignition near the town of Peshtigo. As the wildfire raged the superheated air destroyed the town, along with 400,000 hectares of vegetation, and killed 1,500 people.The Indonesian wildfires (1997) In September 1997, the burning of plantations raged out of control causing widespread bush land fires on the islands of Sumatra, Sulawesi, Borneo and Java. More than 3,000 hectares were destroyed. It is believed the El Nino related dry season had an affect on the extent of the fires. The fires caused major air pollution which affected 70 million people and caused the release of 2.6 billion tons of carbon, carbon monoxide and sulphur dioxide into the atmosphere. All of these pollutants are greenhouse gases which would have increased the effect of global warming.Victoria wildfires (1983) In February 1983, large areas of Victoria and South Australia were affected by wildfires. The area experienced classic 'wildfire weather' with temperatures over 40oC combined with winds speeds of 20 ms-1. 26 people died and 8,000 people were made homeless.