Fire history

Okay kiddo, Fire history is a way of studying the fires that happened a long time ago. Just like how we can learn about history by looking at old books and pictures, we can also learn about the history of fires by looking at things like tree rings and soil samples.

You know how trees have rings when you look at them closely? Those rings can tell us when a fire happened. When a fire burns through a forest, it can leave a mark on a tree that shows the year it happened. Scientists can look at those rings and figure out when fires happened, how often they happened, and how big they were.

Soil samples can also tell us about fires. When fires burn, they release tiny bits of charcoal into the soil. Scientists can take samples of the soil and look at them under a microscope to see if they can find any tiny pieces of charcoal. If they do find some charcoal, they can figure out when the fire happened and how big it was.

By studying fire history, scientists can learn a lot about how fires have affected different places over time. This can help us learn how to prevent fires from happening or how to deal with them when they do happen.