Wildfire: Quick Facts

Written and fact-checked by

The Information Architects of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Facts

Also Known As	wild fire • wildland fire

Photos and Videos

Wildfire: Stanislaus National Forest

Dense pink fireweed (Chamaenerion angustifolium) grows among tall, blackened tree snags in a post-fire forest in Kootenay National Park, British Columbia.

Thick black and white smoke rises above a forest as flames burn near a road with cars evacuating during wildfire.

Can We Predict Natural Disasters?

Learn How the Phoenix RapidFire Software Help to Manage Wildfire in Victoria, Australia

Orange New York City Skyline

Learn About Phoenix RapidFire, a Computer Program Used by Australian Firefighters to Predict the Path of Wildfires

See All Videos, Images and Interactives →

Topics

bushfire 10 of the World’s Largest Fires Forest fire What Is the Deadliest Wildfire in History?Brush fire Australian bushfires pyrophyte fire ecology prescribed fire fire earthquake famine tsunami landslide avalanche flood drought lahar Storm fire storm

Chutes d'Ekom - a waterfall on the Nkam river in the rainforest near Melong, in the western highlands of Cameroon in Africa.

Ecosystems