Wildfires have taken a great portion of our world by storm so far in 2021, continuing the major damage and struggle they caused throughout 2020. Many of us know about this for various reasons, from watching the news, seeing the damage, living through it, or otherwise. But we also don’t often understand the actual depth to this issue when we aren’t the ones fighting the fires constantly.
In fact, the sheer mass of wildfires has caused so many consequences all across the United States and even surrounding countries that we truly have to pay attention. In case you aren’t sure what’s going on with wildfires in the US right now, or you want to know more about this issue, we’re here today to fill you in some. Here are how many wildfires are burning in the USA right now as well as why this is such a dire situation for everyone.
Overall Statistics
Recent information from the National Interagency Fire Center reported a total of over 30,000 fires that have burned this year to recent date, with millions of destroyed acreage in the country from these. Of these thousands of fires there were still over 100 active fires in the states when this information was released on August 8, 2021. Some of these were deemed non-threatening and under control, but 93 of them were large uncontained fires by national standards.
Deployed Help
One of the biggest reasons these fires are so dangerous and have a huge impact on the rest of the country is the sheer number of people that have to be and have been deployed for fire containment and fighting. Just the 110 active fires on August 8 had over 20 thousand personnel deployed for response. That is a huge number in itself, but even larger when you consider what families they may have to leave behind while fighting fires so hard and constantly; not to mention the physical and mental hardships that come from being deployed for these issues.
Ground Impacts
Fire is a dangerous and destructive force that takes everything in its path. Those millions of destroyed acres included forests, grasslands, residential areas, and much more. That means it absolutely destroyed our natural wildlife zones displacing or harming tons of important resources, animals, and more. It also took homes away from families and individuals, brought destruction to important keepsakes, harmed pets or caused them to be lost, and much more. Even if you aren’t one of the personally impacted people from this you can understand the gravity of losing your entire home and belongings from something you couldn’t even control.
Chances are, if you’re prone to general human nature and live far from the wildfires, you’ve wondered why exactly these fires actually matter to you to know about or keep updated on. Hopefully this information can give you some answers to that question, or at least give you a reason to want to keep an eye on the progression of these many wildfires in the United States as time goes on.
This isn’t the entire situation going on since wildfires are still ongoing and quite difficult to fight back with the heat waves many areas of the US are experiencing this summer. And since there are so many other major issues seeming to arise at every turn, many major news stations can’t even tell you the true issue behind wildfires from having more pressing or bigger matters to speak on, so it’s important to have a moment to update on this problem.