Fire Wars
|  |
Student Handout |
Fire Season Statistics
The National Interagency Fire Center, a partnership among government agencies that helps states and towns fight fires, has released its tallies on all recorded wildland fires for the year 2000 season. Your job is to make sense of the numbers. Look at the data below and see what it can tell you.
 |
|
Bureau of Land Mgt.
|
Bureau of Indian Affairs
|
Fish and Wildlife Service
|
National Park Service
|
USDA Forest Service
|
State/Private
|
Naturally Caused
|
|
Lightning
|
Fires
|
2,567
|
1,293
|
185
|
342
|
6,371
|
7,659
|
|
Acres
|
1,355,209
|
258,658
|
217,162
|
101,013
|
1,676,414
|
1,218,187
|
Human Caused
|
|
Prescribed
|
Fires
|
485
|
33
|
1,068
|
111
|
2,954
|
**
|
|
Acres
|
125,600
|
3,353
|
201,052
|
19,072
|
728,237
|
**
|
|
Camping
|
Fires
|
64
|
109
|
47
|
56
|
1,260
|
1,876
|
|
Acres
|
84,152
|
1,401
|
1,931
|
16,082
|
52,467
|
18,953
|
|
Smoking
|
Fires
|
23
|
160
|
31
|
23
|
237
|
3,418
|
|
Acres
|
4,038
|
20,295
|
15,098
|
83
|
15,930
|
44,951
|
|
Incendiary
|
Fires
|
57
|
707
|
89
|
61
|
817
|
25,259
|
|
Acres
|
60,294
|
18,465
|
6,609
|
13,522
|
157,144
|
847,914
|
|
Equipment
|
Fires
|
121
|
180
|
75
|
36
|
194
|
10,107
|
|
Acres
|
16,856
|
7,712
|
97,479
|
1,387
|
8,311
|
308,681
|
|
Railroads
|
Fires
|
10
|
10
|
12
|
13
|
56
|
2,711
|
|
Acres
|
86
|
47
|
476
|
338
|
55,561
|
85,260
|
|
Juveniles
|
Fires
|
11
|
631
|
13
|
14
|
65
|
3,193
|
|
Acres
|
117
|
14,762
|
1,041
|
80
|
211
|
12,729
|
|
Misc.
|
Fires
|
257
|
1,440
|
177
|
138
|
866
|
49,786
|
|
Acres
|
50,112
|
190,121
|
8,800
|
18,142
|
172,872
|
1,165,084
|
Grand Totals
|
|
Natural and Human
|
Fires
|
3,595
|
4,563
|
1,697
|
794
|
12,820
|
104,009
|
|
Acres
|
1,696,464
|
514,814
|
549,648
|
169,719
|
2,867,147
|
3,701,759
|
Source: National Interagency Fire Center Web site:
www.nifc.gov/fireinfo/2000/stats.html
**State/Private data not available.
Questions
Write your answers on a separate sheet of paper.
Look at this data. What does it tell you in its current form? Calculate all totals for the data set and choose a way to represent them, using bar graphs, pie graphs, or some other presentation method. Which source is the cause for the most fires? What source of fire is responsible for the most acres damaged? Which source has the highest fire-to-acres-burned ratio? Considering human causes of fire only, and excluding the miscellaneous category, which source is the cause for the most fires? Which source is responsible for the most acres damaged? Which source has the highest fire-to-acres-burned ratio? Which source was the cause of the fewest fires? What source is responsible for the fewest acres damaged? Which source has the lowest fire-to-acres burned ratio? The 10-year average number of fires (1990-1999) was 106,393. The 10-year average of acres burned during the same period was 3,786,411. What does this information tell you when compared to the year 2000 totals? What are some conclusions you could draw from the facts above? What questions do you have about the data presented in this data set? What additional information would you like in order to test your conclusions?
|
