Hydrosphere Event 

A lack of moisture in the soil and in vegetation may have provided a dry environment in which the fires, once burning, could continue to burn.

Heat from the fire may have further removed moisture from the air, soil, and vegetation through the process of evaporation.

Atmosphere  Event

A lightning strike from the air may have started the fires by igniting the dry vegetation.

Biosphere  Event

Dead branches & pine needles on the ground may have provided fuel for the fires.

Gaseous pollutants such as carbon dioxide (CO₂) may have been produced during the burning of the vegetation and carried into the air by the wind.

Event Lithosphere

The intense heat from the fires may have caused some rocks to break apart.

Event Biosphere

The seeds of some plants may have required that their outer shells be burned before they could germinate; therefore they benefited from the forest fires.

Increased erosion of loose soil (see "Lithosphere  Biosphere," below) may have led to increased sediments (i.e. soil particles) in streamwater, making the water "muddier."

A decrease in vegetation may have resulted in increased soil erosion because there were fewer roots to hold the soil in place.

Ash particles in the air may have been carried by the wind and dropped on the ground miles away from the forest fires; the ash particles--which have a high pH--may have changed the pH of the soil. .

Ash particles in the water may have clogged the gills of fish and other aquatic organisms and choked them.

There may have been more precipitation in neighboring areas because ash particles in the air may have become condensation centers upon which raindrops could form.

Very dry, windy air may have drawn moisture out of the living grasses and trees through the process of evaporation.

Smoke in the air may have coated the lungs of animals--including people--and affected their ability to breathe.