The Control of Fire

Controlling a fire source can be justified as being just as important as the discovery of fire itself. Fire has a multitude of uses – it is a natural tool - which have the capacity to, and have dramatically improved the standard of living for all humans. It covers and enhances all aspects of basic living necessities. The cooking of food, in particular, was a major step forward in reducing disease and food related illness. Furthermore, generating heat and light enabled people to migrate to colder climates. There is evidence for controlled fire from 1 to 1.8 million years ago.

Fire has also been used and controlled from landscape clearing and in agriculture. The ’slash-and-burn’ farming technique depends on fire to reduce unwanted plant material to mineral and nutrient rich ash. This enables a rotation of crop in fertile soil. And it goes on. Fire is used to extract and treat metals, drive cars and vehicles and generate power in the form of electricity. Fire is also utilized for less productive means. It has long been at the pinnacle of conflict and warfare – eg. during World War II cities were fire-bombed using incendiary bomb technology. Without being able to control and manage fire, its uses would be much, much more limited. In fact without control, fire is incredibly dangerous and a hazard to all lifeforms and the environment.