Types of fire

thumb|The August Complex fire in 2020, the largest fire in [[California's history]]

thumb|upright=1.35|Wildfire burning in the Kaibab National Forest, [[Arizona, United States, in 2020. The Mangum Fire burned more than of forest.]] A wildfire, forest fire, or a bushfire is an unplanned and uncontrolled fire in an area of combustible vegetation. Some natural forest ecosystems depend on wildfire. Modern forest management often engages in prescribed burns to mitigate fire risk and promote natural forest cycles. However, controlled burns can turn into wildfires by mistake.

thumb|A midsummer bonfire in [[Seurasaari, Helsinki, Finland]] thumb|On the beaches of Duindorp (pictured) and [[Scheveningen, both part of The Hague, teams annually compete to build the world's largest bonfire]]

thumb|200px|right|A campfire made using twigs and pine cones. A campfire is a fire at a campsite that provides light, warmth, and heat for cooking. It can also serve as a beacon and an insect and predator deterrent. Established campgrounds often provide a stone or steel fire ring for safety. Campfires are a popular feature of camping. At summer camps, the word campfire often refers to an event (ceremony, get together, etc.) at which there is a fire. Some camps refer to the fire itself as a campfire.

whirlwind induced by a fire and often partially composed of flame or ash

thumb|Simulation of a flashover event in a controlled environment A flashover is the near-simultaneous ignition of most of the directly exposed combustible material in an enclosed area. When certain organic materials are heated, they undergo thermal decomposition and release flammable gases. Flashover occurs when the majority of the exposed surfaces in a space are heated to their autoignition temperature and emit flammable gases (see also flash point). Flashover normally occurs at between and for ordinary combustibles and an incident heat flux at floor level of .

type of explosion

underground smouldering of a coal deposit

fire within a chimney

uncontrolled burning involving a motor vehicle, one of the most common causes of fire-related property damage

A boilover (or boil-over) is an extremely hazardous phenomenon in which a layer of water under a pool fire (e.g., an open-top tank fire) starts boiling, which results in a significant increase in fire intensity accompanied by violent expulsion of burning fluid to the surrounding areas. Boilover can only occur if the liquid fluid is a mixture of different chemical species with sufficiently diverse boiling points, although a so-called thin-layer boilover – a far less hazardous phenomenon – can arise from any water-immiscible liquid fuel. Crude oil, kerosene and some diesel oils are examples of f

waste ignition

Rapid spread of fire up an inclined surface

developmental stage of structure fires in a room or other enclosed area