Fire has been around forever, so we ask the question why is a fire important?
It might sound like a naive question considering the effects of how fire has shaped the lands we all live on and our lives and existence.
We indeed owe a lot to fire.
So Why is a Fire Important
If you did not know it, fire has shaped every living creature’s existence on this earth.
And don’t get me going about fire and the universe…
If it is not the substance that keeps us warm during the days by the raise of the sun.
It is the fires that have kept us from freezing during the cold nights since the dawn of time.
Why Is A Fire Important?
Fire whether we like it or not has shaped our past and is most probably going to have hand in shaping our future as well…
Fire removes:
- gets rid of low-growing underbrush
- nourishes the earth’s soil
- cleans the forests floor of its debris
- opens forests up to sunlight
- fuels our industries
- keeps us warm
Let’s have a look at the Forrest for one.
Trees had evolved to rely on fire to get rid of debris on the bottom of the forest floor.
It is also beneficial for many trees to open up their seed pods to germinate.
Yes…
Trees have worked this out for themselves.
By cleaning out the undergrowth of a forest, and by reducing competition for nutrients that many trees need.
This allows established trees to grow stronger and healthier.
History has taught us that hundreds of years ago forests had fewer trees, yet they were larger in height and overall size, indeed they were healthier trees.
Yet this in turn did not go well for the newer trees that were trying to establish themselves.
Yes…
There is even competition in the tree world.
Fires have given trees the opportunity to fight their way through the forest’s undergrowth to find their place in the stream of life.
When a tree falls or is just not well, fire can get rid of these trees and when they are gone they open up the canopy above.
Thus letting in the light that would otherwise be shadowed by the taller trees.
As you know everything needs light to live, and when the light comes through the canopies to hit the ground, then trees have one of the substances to grow.
And where does this light/heat come from?
The sun and what is the sun?
A big ball of fire so intense that it reaches its tentacles millions of miles to our own planet and gives us sustainable life.
How is Fire Beneficial for Humans?
We could go right back, but as the written language was not around back then.
More less… any language apart from a few grunts and a lot of body language and pointing. and most probably showing as well…
We can not say for sure how stone age man came across fire in a way to use it in their lives.
It was most probably by accident I am sure of this.
But how did they learn the ability to ignite a fire to get their fires going in the first place…
That is a mystery.
Humans have used fire as a means for:
- cooking our food
- hunting
- Keeping warm
Yes…
That was one of the first major developments of human civilization as we know it.
The element of fire is one of nature’s most essential agents of change we know, and by harnessing fire, mankind has used it to its capacity.
Yet we can not be complacent and need to respect fire for what it is.
Controlling fire, it can be of benefit to us, if we do not control it, it can also be our enemy.
Fire is also an important part of maintaining our wildly diverse and healthy ecosystems on this planet.
Is Fire Unique to Earth?
Maybe people who have lived under a rock for most of their lives might think so.
All you have to do is look up and see that massive ball of fire millions of miles away from us to know that fire was the one instigation that most probably bought us into being.
So the earth is not a unique fire planet.
And humanity is a unique fire creature that relies on fire?
Who really knows?
It is a big universe out there.
And the ecology of both their interactions is both as ancient and profound as you can go.
Fire on Earth is a pervasive feature of the living world that which we all live.
Life has created the oxygen that combustion requires for fire and has also provided the hydrocarbon fuels that feed it.
Is Fire Necessary for Life?
I think that you would have got the idea after getting this far in the article that it is.
So many ecosystems benefit from periodic fires that go on around us.
Cleaning out dead organic material from the earth’s landscapes.
Plant and animal populations alike require the benefits that fire brings in order to survive and carry on life in all its prospects.
Why Is A Fire Important you may ask?…
I think you would agree that without fire there can be no existence.
Without fire, we could not build the societies that we have today.
And we also owe our evolution to the fire that has sustained us from the beginning.