Tri Nguyen is a sixth grader at Hawthorne Elementary in Boise, Idaho. This is his opinion, research and writing on wildfires.  

Wildfires are increasing in Idaho

Did you know, wildfires burned 9904 acres in Idaho in 2024 and almost burned expensive houses? Wildfires happen all year round now because more carbon in the atmosphere traps the heat, which causes more fires. Source: Wildfires in the West

Healthy wildfires

 Wildfires can be beneficial to ecosystems by helping plant reproduction, clearing out dead material, and getting rid of invasive species. Plant reproduction is helped by fires by the seeds released from the pine cones when fires melt the sap, and fires allow more seeds to get to the soil and grow. Wildfires can also be good because wildfires burn the dead material so the soil and nutrients can grow because wildfires burn dead material at the top of the soil. Fires are bad for invasive species because the invasive species is not used to living with fires on the land that they grow, so they never reproduce again.

Understanding the good effects of fire can help us adapt to wildfires and protect our ecosystems. Source: Ecological Benefits of fire

Why are wildfires becoming more common and causing more damage?

Wildfires used to be more common in the summer, but now they have gotten worse overtime because they can happen year round. So now we have more droughts which makes wildfires become more dangerous. Wildfires always have 3 ingredients: first, is oxygen, next is fuel, and lastly is heat. Heat is increasing because of more carbon trapping heat in the atmosphere. In Idaho, cheatgrass is growing more and covers the ground so native plants can’t grow, which makes more fuel for the fires. Wildfires impact humans because people breathe the air of wildfires burning and the clot of the smoke will harm your lungs. Wildfires become damaging because the asthma attacks and hospital visits increase from fire smoke in the air. Source: Wildfires made Worse

What is being done to help prevent wildfires in Idaho?

Federal agencies like the Forest Service are working on stopping dangerous wildfires. For example, they start controlled fires to burn areas that have extra fuel, so wildfires don’t become dangerous. Federal agencies are also trying to reduce invasive species and planting native species to reduce fuel for fires. Why do they try to stop the wildfires problem?

Because they don’t want to spend money on wildfires and agencies don’t want wildfires to harm us. Source: Wildfires how they form

What can we do to help?

Everyday citizens can help government agencies not to waste money on wildfires. The people can also help by not burning flammable things to start fires. Remember don’t try fireworks on grass on the 4th of July, but use fireworks in safe areas. Citizens always don’t want to start fires on purpose, but people want to stop fires. So people want to burn debris to get rid of invasive species, and have to be the right way. If it’s windy outside don’t burn debris because if you do you would get fire to start on accident by one mistake. The thing that I can help with is to restore the seeds from the plants that already burn from wildfire. They can help by planting native plants that can live on wildfires. Source: 10 tips for preventing wildfires