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The Alexander Mountain Fire when it was burning was the biggest fire in Colorado spanning 15 square miles or 9,669 acres destroying 47 structures and damaging 4 others. While fires destroy buildings they are also destroying the land where the fire burned.
High-intensity fires like The Alexander Mountain fire burn everything in their path destroying the land and making it unsuitable for most plants to grow. They can't grow because trees cannot survive in the heavy ash-covered areas. The main thing that grows back are grass and small shrubs but sometimes trees will grow back but a lot of places can't support trees anymore. As proven by the bobcat fire in 2000 which in some areas where trees used to cover are now covered by grass and small shrubs.
As shown in the image above this fire burnt high up in the trees as well as on the ground and destroyed everything in its path. If the fire burned just on the ground it would have helped the ecosystem by opening up areas for new plants to grow but not destroying the entire ecosystem. With all of the problems currently with climate change, it would be good if we could help to keep the ecosystem in one piece.
High-intensity fires destroy everything like trees shrubs grass and even the land around. They destroy everything while ruining the soil for anything to grow and prevent the future growth of plants. although low-intensity fires can cause some damage they are better for the ecosystem because they burn the grass and shrubs clean the forest floor and allow non-invasive plants to grow back in and keep the ecosystem flourishing.
Another thing that fire causes is the use of resources that could be used elsewhere instead of fighting fire they could be helping develop new things. It also drains natural resources like water that could be used to keep everybody with running water and fresh water to drink.
Some more bad things about fire are that it drops air quality which is caused by a large number of hazardous chemicals and particles released into the atmosphere which causes people to have problems breathing and even problems with their hearts. One of those hazardous chemicals is carbon monoxide which is very harmful and reacts very viciously with other compounds that make up your body.
Water quality is another thing that Is affected. The biggest way that it is affected is by more runoff in the area and that runoff will carry the ash downstream until it hits a large body of water and pollutes those large bodies of water destroying the ability for that large body to be used for anything significant for a large amount of time. All of this runoff also causes floods which will come for years after the fire has ended. Those floods cause a lot of damage to houses and the land making it even harder for the ecosystem to rebuild itself.
The last effect that I will be talking about is that of the drinking water. So when all of your large body of water and other sources around are polluted the problem comes up of where are you going to get your water which is a big problem for a lot of people around areas of fire. When your big body of water is not available for drawing drinking water from people go to natural springs in the forests which can be good but they can be very expensive and some natural springs harbor dangerous bacteria and can also be polluted by the fires.
The Alexander Mountain fire has been the worst fire in northern Colorado this year and has destroyed countless homes and ruined lots of acreage making it unsuitable for life to be sustained on the acreage where the fire burnt.
Daniel Jacobsen is a junior at Poudre High School in his first year working with the Poudre Press. He is involved in robotics, trap and skeet, and is taking a few AP classes and many other year-long classes in his free time at the school. Come back every other week for a look into nature and environmentalism with his weekly column.
Works Cited
Bedayn, Jesse. “Colorado Wildfire That Destroyed 27 Homes Was Human Caused, Officials Say.” Associated Press, 09 08 2024, https://apnews.com/article/wildfire-colorado-loveland-alexander-mountain-arson-4215be3601c4bc74f0967454fa3a8529. Accessed 27 08 2024.
Bedayn, Jesse. “Wildfire Doubles in Colorado Rocky Mountains as Evacuations Continue.” Associated Press, 30 07 2024, https://apnews.com/article/wildfire-colorado-loveland-evacuations-rocky-mountains-ebe5d0f5b1542c01f0db044b2be532b2. Accessed 27 08 2024.
Prentzel, Olivia. “Alexander Mountain Fire was Human-Caused, Investigators say.” the Colorado Sun, 09 08 2024, https://coloradosun.com/2024/08/09/alexander-mountain-investigation-human-caused/#:~:text=Investigators%20have%20determined%20that%20the,acres%20and%20was%2091%25%20contained. Accessed 27 08 2024.
Robinson, Cal. “How Does Wildfire Impact Wildlife and Forests? | U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.” U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 11 October 2022, https://www.fws.gov/story/2022-10/how-does-wildfire-impact-wildlife-and-forests. Accessed 29 August 2024.
Mendenhall, Jared. “Wildfire's Impact on Our Environment - Utah Department of Environmental Quality.” Utah Department of Environmental Quality, 27 July 2023, https://deq.utah.gov/communication/news/wildfires-impact-on-our-environment. Accessed 30 August 2024.
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