Zombie Fire: An Unusual Type of Fire

Why do wildfires occur every year in snowy regions?

　　Recently, I've noticed forest fires occurring every year in snowy regions like  Canada and Alaska during the winter. How does this happen? 

　　When there is rapid atmospheric warming above ground, it causes peat, or organic soil which is highly flammable, to suddenly heat up and cause smoke without any sparks. After that, a fire suddenly emerges, even in the middle of cold winters. This is called a zombie fire.

　　Zombie fire can also come from forest fires that are still burning underground. Sometimes, embers from yearly forest fires do not fully extinguish. They remain active underground during the winter, staying alive for up to half a year. The more the forest fires, the more zombie fires that will occur.

　　These fires have been happening for a long time. Reports of zombie fires date back to 1940s, when they were rare, but they have  been getting more and more frequent. Normally, the soil in the Arctic is full of moisture, which helps prevent fires from spreading. But due to rising temperatures from global warming, the peat is drying out, making it more likely to catch fire.

　You might think people can’t predict fires but scientists actually can. The World Resources Institute (WRI), a non-profit organization established by companies and institutions worldwide to research global environmental issues, runs a project called Global Forest Watch. This project uses satellite data and statistics from various countries to visualize how forests around the world have changed since around 2001. 

　By mapping forest fires and forest conditions that are otherwise invisible to us, we can better understand the state of the world's forests, predict potential forest fires in the coming years, and prepare for them. From these maps, it has been revealed that the rate of forest loss due to fires has worsened, doubling in the past 20 years. Instead of seeing the forests of Canada and Russia as distant concerns, we should look at and understand them through these WRI statistics and consider what we can do now.