Fire

A fire is an oxidation process of combustible gases ejected from a fuel subjected to heat. Fire is one of the four classical elements, as well as one of the five chinese elements. Controlling fire was one of humankind's first great achievements and made possible migration to colder climes which otherwise would have remained out of reach for colonization?.

Fires and burning have often been used in religious sacrifices, as the smoke of the fire disperses into the heavens.

The burning of wood is often the first association to the word fire, and trees have since ancient times supplied much of the energy needed by humans. Especially metal smelting and coal production consumed much wood in the fires required for production. Nowadays, large scale energy is usually not produced by fires of burning wood, but wood burning remains a heat source in third world countries and where other sources of energy are unavailable.

There are three components that maintain the combustion process, namely fuel, oxygen and heat. Fire fighters tackle fire by cutting off the supply to one or more of these components. For example, water is poured on a fire to reduce the heat (latent heat for water evaperation); controlled burning to exhaust the fuel sources; explosion to drive out air to suffocate a fire (e.g. in Kuwait's oil field fire after the gulf war).

/Talk