Questions About Wildfires
Data Story
Students use data from the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) to ask and answer questions about wildfires. Students use the Language for Asking Questions handout to consider what types of questions they are posing.
Welcome to this Tuva data story! Most wildfires start by lightning or by human carelessness. How often wildfires start, where they start, and the total area of forest burned depend on several different factors. What factors can you think of that could affect whether or not a wildfire becomes a big wildfire that burns dangerously out of control? Wildfires are tracked as they happen by the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC), located in Boise, Idaho. The NIFC is the nation's support center for wildland firefighting. It is a partnership among eight different agencies that work cooperatively to monitor and fight wildfires. This data story explores how the area burned by wildfires annually has changed over time. Click Next to begin!
Topics and standards: Science, Climate Change, Earth Science, Life Science, Human Impacts, Ecosystems, Natural Hazards, Stability & Change, Grades 9-12, Grades 6-8, Ask-Questions