Fire Safety in National Parks

National parks use a bunch of different types of safety procedures to help prevent wildfires from happening or to prevent them from getting out of hand. They ask visitors to be careful where they throw their cigarette away at and to barbecue close to water sources like a river or a lake. Report any abandoned vehicle or fly-tipping because they may be at risk to start a fire. Never drop glass because it could magnify the sun’s rays and starts a fire nobody would notice and it would get out of hand and become uncontrollable. These rules help prevent them but fires still get out of hand and there are some very helpful ways to help put them out to prevent further damage.

If a fire gets out of hand and is burning a lot of land in a very short amount of time they will call in a plane that farmers often use to put fires out. CAL Fire noticed how effective they are and took a WW2 aircraft and modified it to hold more water. The S-2A Air tanker holds up to 1,200 gallons of water and is flown by one person. There are 23 of them that CAL Fire uses and one is permanently stationed in Sacramento for maintenance relief. Nationals Parks often rely on these planes for fire relief if it is getting too dangerous for firefighters to combat. There, obviously, are other ways to put fires out, like a cross fire, helicopters with buckets full of water and a when needed DC-10 Air tanker that holds up to 12,000 gallons of water to fight the worst fires. Parks all around the world have many safety procedures to keep the forests healthy, animals and people safe and keep the beautiful forests for generations to come.

If you would like further information please visit Fire.ca.gov.