The Rhinelander Daily News - Online news and information for the Rhinelander, Wisconsin region

How well do you know how to prevent forest fires? Take the quiz below and find out!

1. What 3 things does a fire need to burn?

2. In what months do most of Wisconsin's forest fires occur?

3. Name two of the factors used to determine the fire danger rating.

4. What three weather factors affect fires?

5. What is the major cause of forest fires in Wisconsin?

6. What was the most destructive fire ever to sweep across Wisconsin?

7. Name a tip to help prevent forest fires.

8. About how many acres are burned by forest fires each year?

9. What is Smokey's key phrase?

10. How old is Smokey Bear?

Answers:

1. Fuel, heat and air.

2. April and May. Forest fires can occur any month but there are peak seasons. The highest occurence is in April and May after the snow has left the ground and vegetation is still in a dormant stage.

3. Factors including relative humidity, fuel moisture, precipitation, wind velocity, temperature and condition of ground vegetation (dry, green or between the two) are used to calculate how many firefighters and what types of equipment will be needed to cope with the current fire situation.

4. Wind provides oxygen for the fire and blows the heat and flames toward unburned fuel. Moisture is important because damp fuel burns less easily than dry fuel, but even damp fuel can ignite through contact with heat from an existing fire. Temperature - each type of fuel requires a specific amount of heat to make it ignite and burn. On a day with high temperatures fire may start with little heat, but much more heat is needed to produce fire on a cold day.

5. People are responsible for starting over 90% of our wildfires and burning debris is the number one cause.

6. The Peshtigo fire of October 8, 1871. Other big fires include the fire of 1887 that nearly destroyed the town of Marshfield, the Comstock fire in May, 1891 that burned 64,000 acres in Barron County, and the Phillips fire of 1894 that burned more than 100,000 acres in Price County.

7. Make sure to have a bucket of water and/or a shovel nearby when you are burning.

8. At the turn of the century, fires burned about 500,000 acres each year. Now with an extensive fire fighting network in place, and thanks to public recognition of the seriousness of the problem, regulations governing open burning, effective detection and 50 years of fire prevention work, forest fires burn only about 6,000 acres/year in Wisconsin.

9. "Remember - Only You Can Prevent Forest Fires" or "Please Be Careful". Smokey Bear's message: Help prevent accidental, human-caused wildfires.

10. Smokey Bear turned 64 on August 9, 2008

Tell us what you think...

Comments »

Bobby wrote on Sep 8, 2008 2:14 PM:

" A few years ago, Smokey's message was changed to "Only You Can Prevent Wildfires", in acknowlegement of the fact that forest fires play an important ecological role. In fact, many acres of forest are now burned by professionals using intentionally set prescribed fires. These prescribed fires have been shown to lessen the severity of wildfires, by reducing the amount of fuel available to burn. Not all forest fires are bad, it is the catastrophic wildfires that we need to prevent. "

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