Intense fires tend to scorch the ground and kill the trees above. Slowly decomposing materials release nutrients steadily into the soil. This continuous release helps to maintain growth over a long period of time. Decomposition can last indefinitely as long as dead material on the forest floor continues to accumulate. In other areas of the world, a wildfire may happen once every 600 years.
Wildfires cause fast nutrient recycling.
An abundant supply of nutrients helps new seedlings, brush, and grasses to grow quickly and become established following a wildfire. This is nature's way of quick starting a forest. It usually takes a few years for the supply of nutrients to return to normal levels. The forest needs both slow recycling, from decomposition, and fast recycling from fires. However, fires ignited at the wrong time can quickly turn into catastrophic events.