We all ride to ride our motorcycles in the mountains and in certain parts of the world wildfires are very common and most of the time its humans that create it, not mother nature. While certain conditions in nature can spark fires, more commonly than not, its humans.
Motorcyclists, most of the time play at least one role in accidently starting a wildfire. This makes it very important that each person does everything humanly possible to prevent these fires from ever occurring. By taking certain steps, we can reduce or even eliminate the possibility of a fire. Below are lists of steps:
– By keeping spark arrestors on the bike, you have less chance of a fire starting
– Always make sure there is no fire at all when you leave your campsite, even if you have to extinguish the fire, make sure there are no hot kernels.
– Making sure if you’re towing a vehicle that there are no chains dragging on the floor, the sparks made by the metal, along with the heat can start a fire by itself
– Your motorcycle tires should always be fully inflated and they should have no holes or nicks at all.
These steps above are the first four you should always do to prevent a fire. Spark arrestors are meant to catch sparks in the air released by the motor. This is done by inserting a screen into the tailpipe. You can find these at most motorcycle warehouses or motorcycle stores. The key is to make sure it’s approved by the U.S Forest Service; the reason is to make sure it’s an authentic piece of equipment that’s going to work like it’s supposed to. I have seen many motorcyclists that like to spark the exhaust and have flames out of the exhaust.
Forest fires occur many times, because certain people don’t fully put of their fire before leaving it un-attended. When the fire is out, there are usually still hot pieces of wood or kernels as I like to call it, around the area. These kernels are still very hot and can easily start a fire if sparked with the right thing. You must wait until the wood is cooling all the way, so there is not chance of an accident happening.
Dragging chains on the road when towing something is a big problem and a lot of people do it. Most people, who tow a trailer of some sort, don’t even realize when there chains are dragging on the floor. If you look closely when this is happening, there are sparks being generated from the steel rubbing on the floor. This also creates heat which is turn is probably the worst fire hazard. It’s very easy to safely secure your chains when towing any object, and most people would easily fix this problem, if they knew it was happening. Most of the time, the chain is just too long and needs to be replaced, which is a very cheap cost.
As you can see above, those are just a few very important and simple things that you can do to prevent fires. It takes almost no cost at all to do your share.
About the Author: Rebekka is a writer for FPO, the leader in fire safety equipment and devices.
