Summary Of Hot Spots By Brian Mccombie

In this article the author illustrates the disadvantages of wildfires destroying not only the wildlife but the wildland. It is explained throughout the article the pros and cons and the short and long term deprivations to the wildlife. McCombie lists many different points to back up his topic and gives many sources to verify his facts. By using classical appeals the article “Hot Spots” by Brian McCombie effectively argues that wildfires can benefit and also harm wildlife. Therefore, the author uses the appeal of pathos, also known as emotion, very effectively by giving many different situations to effect the reader’s emotions. The author uses an image of a forest full of ashes with a blackened elk rack to let the readers know how wildfires

McCombie states that usually the short term effects of wildfires are overlooked, saying “Turkey nests were wiped out and adult birds dispersed” (8). The author gives this as an example because this is a short term effect in the environment that can affect the long term because of the population size being decreased. It is also said that, “… fawns are such hiders that if a fire comes through, it can kill them where they lie” (McCombie 8). This lets the readers know that many fawns are killed during these fires because they hide and don’t know to get up. McCombie uses a great deal of pathos to effectively get his readers to feel unhappy about this

He does so to give the readers statistics about his argument. Texas wildfires can be catastrophic to wildland, “Three huge fires alone charred half a million Lone Star acres.” according to Texas Forest Service (McCombie 7). This fact provides the readers with a knowledge of just how much of Texas has been burned and an idea as to how greatly the wildlife has been harmed. In the article the readers are given a statistic stating, “Even without wind, a wildfire will sweep through a forest at approximately 6 miles per hour, demolishing habitat and vegetation, and burning at roughly 1,500 degrees Fahrenheit.”, enforcing that no matter the weather conditions a wildfire can be extremely dangerous to wildlife (McCombie 8). With this in mind, the audience now knows how fast a wildfire can damage wildlife without any additional factors such as wind or humidity to capitalize the outcome. McCombie uses excellent facts and statistics to efficaciously inform the readers of the power of