In nature, many types of natural disasters happen and hurt nature and the human population—hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, and wildfires. All of these can cause significant damage, but there’s something unique and terrifying about encountering a wildfire that seems to burn nearly everything down. Read on to learn more about the largest wildfires in the history of the world.
Northwest Territories Fires
There are very few people in the Northwest Territories of Canada, but there is a lot of land and forests. In 2014, there were over 150 different fires that broke out in the area, encompassing a space of about 442 square miles. Of these fires, experts believe that humans caused 13. In total, the fires destroyed nearly 8.5 million acres of forests. The smoke produced was so massive that those in Portugal and other parts of western Europe could see it as it traveled across the Atlantic. Many other fires have occurred in these areas, but this is by far the worst recorded.
Australian Bushfires
In 2020, Australia experienced the worst wildfires in the country, and one of the worst for animals worldwide. Fires burned approximately 42 million acres, destroyed thousands of buildings, and killed dozens of people and nearly 3 billion animals. Leading up to these fires, Australia was undergoing some of the hottest and driest conditions it has ever experienced. Rainfall was at its lowest since 1900, with temperatures about 1.52 degrees Celsius higher than normal. It was the hottest Australia has been since they began recording data like this.
Siberian Taiga Fires
There are many taiga forests in the Siberian area of Russia, but there used to be much more. In 2003, Europe was experiencing one of the hottest summers on record, and this heat, combined with little rain, was the perfect recipe for wildfires, and that’s precisely what happened. Multiple fires happened all at once in this area and spread across Russia, China, and Mongolia. Overall, around 55 million acres of forests got destroyed. The smoke was so extensive that it reached all the way to Kyoto, Japan, multiple thousands of miles away.
Learning about these largest wildfires in the history of the world won’t teach you how to put out fires yourself, but you can better understand just how devastating these fires can be. Putting out wildfires is a critical job that firefighters do, but something that everyone can do is learn the different ways to prevent wildland fires. Helping to prevent wildfires by managing your behavior outdoors is something you can easily do.
