ELi5: What causes wildfires and why are they so difficult to put out?

Question

Is there a way we can prevent them from occurring in the first place, or is it inevitable during the summer months?

In: 29

Answer 1

We don’t want to prevent them even if we could.

In many ecosystems, wildfires are nature’s way of regenerating the earth, allowing important nutrients to re-enter the soil, and creating new habitats for plants and animals to thrive.

They really are inevitable though. Large swaths of forests with dead stuff and lightning will always eventually lead to a wildfire even if we weren’t here.